His first kill was a woman who cradled a toddler with one hand and held a grenade in the other.
“I had to do it to protect the Marines,” Kyle told Time magazine a year ago. “You want to lose your own guys, or would you rather take one of them out?”
Standing 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing a muscular 220 pounds, Kyle developed a deadly reputation in Iraq, prompting insurgents to put a bounty on his head, according to his autobiography.
“I’m a better husband and father than I was a killer,” he told Time. “I’m pretty comfortable with not having to kill anyone. Now, don’t take deer hunting away from me.”
When Kyle’s military career ended after a decade, he joined other former SEALs to start Craft International, a security company with the motto “Despite what your momma told you, Violence does solve problems.”
He also became a best-selling author, a reality TV personality, a supporter of fellow vets suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, an avid hunter and an outspoken opponent of gun control.
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“Chris was a wonderful man, a good friend, and a true American hero who loved our country and served honorably. He was loved and admired by so many, and he will never be forgotten,” the Palins said in a statement Sunday.
Much of Kyle’s time since leaving the military was spent building Craft International, which offers military training for law enforcement and provides security services.
His company also organizes “civilian and corporate shoots” at gun ranges, he said. “It is only fun day shoots, self-defense, or weapons familiarization,” he said.
In a Guns.com interview at a gun dealers convention in Las Vegas last month, Kyle was asked about President Barack Obama’s gun control proposals, which he said he believed to be aimed at “trying to ban everything.”
Banning 30-round magazines for assault rifles would be “opening the door to start taking more of our rights,” he said.
CNN’s Nick Valencia and John Branch contributed to this report.
