Iraq War veteran Eddie Ray Routh is preparing to stand trial, charged with capital murder in the shootings of “American Sniper” author and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield. Routh’s post-traumatic stress disorder brought the men together, as Kyle and Littlefield sought to help the ex-Marine. Routh’s parents think that diagnosis should carry some weight with the jury. Here are some questions and answers about the proceeding, and how PTSD might play a role.
Q: Did Eddie Ray Routh and Chris Kyle know each other?
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A: Littlefield, 35, had a wife and young daughter. According to a June 2013 New Yorker Magazine story, the two men met on the sidelines of a youth soccer game and became friends. They lived in the same neighborhood, and hunted and worked out together. Although he had never been in the military himself, Littlefield — facilities and logistics manager with a lab in DeSoto, Texas — also volunteered his time to work with veterans. By the time of that fateful outing with Routh, he had accompanied Kyle “on similar trips dozens of times,” according to an April 2013 article in D Magazine. Routh’s trial is set to begin on what would have been Littlefield’s 38th birthday.
Chris Kyle
