Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL who was the subject of “American Sniper,” and his friend Chad Littlefield were wearing fully loaded handguns in their waistbands when they were found fatally shot at a Texas firing range in 2013, an investigator testified Thursday.
Michael Adcock with the Texas Department of Public Safety said he also found shell casings, ammunition and several firearms on the ground when he arrived at the Rough Creek Lodge firing range outside Dallas on February 2, 2013.
The guns on Kyle and Littlefield’s bodies were loaded, but two “old-style Western” revolvers were lying on the ground with all the bullets fired, Adcock testified. The slain men had fired these pistols at targets, the prosecutor has said.
Eddie Ray Routh has been charged with murder in the deaths of Kyle and Littlefield. The two men took Routh, a veteran with mental problems, to the firing range as a kind of therapy, lawyers have said.
The trial began Wednesday with a lawyer using Kyle’s own words to bolster an insanity defense.
In his opening statement, defense attorney Tim Moore read a text Kyle sent to Littlefield about Routh as the three men rode in Kyle’s pickup truck to the range.
“About an hour and a half into the drive, Chris Kyle was sitting in the driver’s seat and he texts Chad Littlefield sitting right next to him. He texts, ‘This dude is straight-up nuts,'” Moore said. “Chad Littlefield texts Chris Kyle back, ‘He’s right behind me, watch my six [military lingo for ‘watch my back.’]. So while we don’t know what the conversation was, we do know what Chris Kyle was thinking at the time he was in that truck.”
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Kyle learned to shoot on hunting trips with his father, then went on to serve four combat tours in Iraq with the SEALs, though his official biography notes he also worked with Army and Marine units.
He received two Silver Stars and other commendations before leaving the Navy in 2009 after 160 confirmed kills, which he called a record for an American.
He said that while killing did not come easy at first, he knew it meant saving lives.
“The first time, you’re not even sure you can do it,” he said in the interview. “But I’m not over there looking at these people as people. I’m not wondering if he has a family. I’m just trying to keep my guys safe.”
Kyle’s story and the movie made from it have triggered broad enthusiasm but also drawn criticism and doubts about some of his accounts.
A sniper’s view: ‘When you are bred to kill, you know’
CNN’s Jason Morris reported from Stephenville, Texas, and Ralph Ellis and Jason Hanna wrote from Atlanta. Greg Botelho and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.
