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Chris Kyle (courtesy commonsenseevaluation.com)

“A former Tarleton State University student who wrote the best-selling book, ‘American Sniper,’ was one of two victims shot and killed at Rough Creek Lodge Saturday,” yourstephenvilletexas.com reports. “Chris Kyle and another [as yet unnamed] man were found dead at Rough Creek’s shooting range between 3:30 and 4 p.m. Saturday, according to Sheriff Tommy Bryant. Eddie Ray Routh was arrested just before 9 p.m. Friday in Lancaster . . . Kyle, 38, was a former Navy SEAL who served four tours of duty in Iraq, where he was given the nickname ‘The Devil of Ramadi’ by insurgents. In 2008, he made his longest successful shot after he spotted an insurgent with a rocket launcher near a U.S. Army convoy at a range of 2,100 yards (1.2 miles).”

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89 COMMENTS

  3. Gentlemen of TTAG; could you guys please start wearing kevlar? I’d hate for anything this strange to happen to you.

    It’s getting weird out there.

    • And of course like anyone else who commits a crime that could harm others, he gets released and finally hurts somone

      Mr Kyle, thanks for your service and wherever you may be now, I hope whoever runs the show is better than the ones you fought for here.

  11. Wow. I am in shock. I never imagined the day would come to such a man so early in his prime. My condolences go to him and his family. R.I.P.

  14. This is why you always want to bring a buddy to the range. Questionable just how helpful it’d have been, especially if the other guy was his buddy anyway, but good practice nonetheless. Regardless of that, no one deserves to be cut down in recreational time. A decorated veteran…that only makes it worse.

    Rest in peace; you’ve earned a heroes respite.

    • The other guy is now being reported as a friend or neighbor of the suspect they arrested.

      RIP Chris Kyle… They should torture the lost soul that did this.

      • Wouldn’t that be counter to what Mr. Kyle was all about? I believe this should reinforce the need for psychological assistance in a combat veterans return to civilian life. I’ve heard of men , especially Nam Vets, who were in firefights and find themselves discharged and, thankfully, back home in less than a week with no “decompression” from the battle environment. And please don’t forget the shooter was a vet, too. I believe that means he developed PTSD serving US.

        And, as much as I hate to say it, Shooting is not a good form of mental therapy in most instances.

        I thank the Kyle family for their sacrifices. May the Creator be merciful on Chris Kyle’s soul.

    • Hi CG-23 Sailor,

      I Googled “Ave Atque Vale” (Hail and Farewell) and found the poem which your tribute was from. I didn’t have the honor of knowing Chris Kyle personally, but not to step on anyone’s toes I am posting the entire poem (one of three written by Catullus, mourning his brother’s death) as IMHO it is very appropriate.

      Carried through many nations and over many seas,
      I arrive, brother, for these wretched funeral rites
      so that I might present you with the last tribute of death
      and speak in vain to silent ash,
      since Fortune has carried away from me you in the flesh.
      Alas, poor brother, unfairly taken away from me,
      now in the meantime, nevertheless, these things which in the ancient custom of ancestors
      are handed over as a sad tribute to the rites
      receive, dripping much with brotherly weeping.
      And forever, brother, hail and farewell.

      It’s sad. If there were any National pride or love for the service rendered by Mr. Kyle it would be a half mast day, but not under this administration.

  18. I’m halfway through reading his book. This is shocking. To prevail as he did in combat and then be subject to this back home. I’m so sorry for his wife and kids.

  22. RIP Chris Kyle, you were an America Hero!

    This is a real blow to all of us, Chris Kyle was a cool dude and his book was awesome.

  25. This is crazy, I am really shocked. Truly sad…
    Waiting to hear the rest of the story. Something does not make sense here. Not saying a conspiracy, but this guy had situational awareness beyond most, how does this happen.

  28. Though these deaths are getting eerily frequent, I’ll refrain from dawning the tin-foil hat out of respect. If there is a God and Heaven then I’m sure Chris Kyle and John Noveske are slinging lead on a 1000 yard range as we speak. I loved his book too. RIP.

  31. If he took many a human life himself purely because of the targets nationalist & patriotic stance consider it an act of karmic bankruptcy, the scales of justice will never balance.

  32. Let’s break this down:

    A pair of trained and situationally-aware individuals are taken down for no reason whatsoever, at a gun range presumably filled with trained and situationally-aware individuls. The attacker somehow retreives the keys to Kyle’s truck, eludes all other range attendees, and makes a clean break.

    Doesn’t completely sit well with me. Especially on the bleeding tail end of the mass letter signed recently by spec ops operators in support of 2A. Kyle was very well known in the spec ops community. A subtle message?

    Just sayin…

    • Relax, he was working with PTSD victims apparently and one snapped and started shooting. Tragic, yes. Conspiracy, hell no.

  34. What a horrible tragedy. They took the young man out there to reach out to him, knowing he was having a hard time coming back to the world after his service overseas.

    Enough with the dumb-arse conspiracy theories, geesh.

  35. God Bless Kyle and his family he did a great service to his country. See you on the high ground some day, SALUTE!

    What truly saddens me are the comments in the Yahoo article. They could care less about this brave soul who helped veterans and served his country. Most of the comments really pissed me off.

  36. This is horrible news.

    Worse yet, I know at the next anti gun rally, this will be brought up to de-bunk the “No one goes to a gun range to kill people” argument.

    Sad, on both accounts

  37. In a February 2012 interview with NBC News, Kyle said he didn’t want to put the number in the book but the publisher insisted.
    “If I could figure out the number of people I saved, that’s something I would brag about,” he told NBC News’ Lester Holt.

  38. Trying to understand what happened… as my first thought was that it was a “hit” job. Some of you are saying that the murderer was brought to the range WITH Kyle? He was “working” with PTSD sufferers at the range? And, one of them “snapped” and started shooting? What is the source of this version of the story? Links? I have not seen anything corroborating this story.

    Very sad. I have the book… hadn’t read it, yet.

    • I really hope no one attempts to break into your house. Because then, you’d have to “murder” them to protect your family. With your logic, you’d then deserve death as well. All this man did was defend his country. If he wouldn’t have killed them, they would have surely killed him. That’s how war goes.

      • Wrong. The U.S. military illegally and immorally invaded the lands and homes of foreigners, then killed them when they tried to defend themselves. That’s murder.

        I’m not saying Kyle deserved to die, but he damn sure wasn’t a hero who defended freedom. He followed orders and killed on command.

        • Based on your comment, you arent human Henry so how could you actually understand the concept of praying for someones soul whom you never knew?

        • So if you do a little history , these rag heads have been killing Americans for many years, many attacks even on non-military , so you are saying it’s ok to kill US , but do not kill the bad guy attacking you…. WHEN were you in a WAR… tell us meat head…. then you can sit in judgement….been there they have no rules , they kill us , each other and so on….. you are giving up all your guns … correct ? as any defense is evil… as i said you take care of your men in combat, and yes American troops are about the only one in this world that have rules and checks to insure we follow the rules … not so even in Viet Nam they killed more of their own people that we ever did… that’s the real world…

    • And we, too, will pray for your soul, if you indeed have one. You hold the prize for the most soulless, bitter, disgusting person that has posted here in recent memory. Yes, I have read your later posts. They only reinforce my opinion of you as a man, and as a human being.

      Congratulations. I doubt that your parents are proud of you.

    • And what if Karma is real? With that statement to answer for Henry? and are we not supporters of the 2a. How does such statements help us garner support from the military and others such as the police?

      There’s a subset of peopleon this site that seem determined to drive away 2a supporters and paint us all as the lunatic fringe.

  40. I just finished reading this book, He says he wanted to get the bad guys to save American lives, He put his life on the line many times : 2 silver stars,5 bronze stars with valor,2 Navy and Marine corps commendation, and Grateful nation award….160 confirmed kills, but in the book he had much more, but someone had to see it …A GREAT AMERICAN >>>>>>>THANKS

  41. R.I.P., Chris Kyle. Ordered & read his book after seeing him on O’Reilly. A truly great American. Sympathies & prayers to his family.
    Thank you Chris Kyle for being someone who understood the threat(s) America faces & for doing what was necessary to protect us.

  42. Henry, You may not agree with a war, but does that justify calling a soldier a murderer? And the last time I checked, a man is innocent until proven guilty… Did someone anoint you as judge and jury?

    I think karma might affect you more than it ever would Chris Kyle.

    • Innocent until proven guilty is an American legal construct and has no bearing on moral judgement. Kyle admitted to his killings, even celebrated them. You’re right that I can’t judge his heart, I’m just judging his actions. Those actions were the deliberate taking of human life without moral justification. While he claimed “defense of self or others”, the fact is that he had no business being there. It’s analagous to a home invader claiming self-defense when he kills the resident because the home owner resisted his invasion.

  47. Zeroharbor,
    Innocent until proven guilty is an American legal construct and has no bearing on moral judgement. Kyle admitted to his killings, even celebrated them. You’re right that I can’t judge his heart, I’m just judging his actions. Those actions were the deliberate taking of human life without moral justification. While Kyle claimed “defense of self or others”, the fact is that he had no business being there. It’s analogous to a home invader claiming self-defense when he kills the resident because the home owner resisted the invasion.

    • I guess my first reply to GLG was a little too harsh. It didn’t get a flame deleted. It got dissapeared. So I’ll wish GLG gets to meet the one he stole his handle from, real soon.

  50. Zeroharbor,
    Innocent until proven guilty is an American legal construct and has no bearing on moral judgement. Kyle admitted to his killings, even celebrated them. You’re right that I can’t judge his heart, and I’m not, I’m just judging his actions. Those actions were the deliberate taking of human life without moral justification. While Kyle claimed “defense of self or others”, the fact is that he had no business being there. It’s analogous to a home invader claiming self-defense when he kills the resident because the home owner resisted the invasion.

    • Henry, how arrogant does a man have to be to make a statement like the ones you’ve made here? Illegal wars? No moral justification? Is that your call to make? Calling a man a serial killer? You sound like that horses azz matt.

  52. Seems like when you’re a prominent 2a defender one buddy isn’t enough.
    How about all you leaders keep an extra sharp lookout while I straighten my tin foil hat. You’ll be safer and I’ll be spared any illogical thoughts about government conspiracy – as if any government would ever conspire against its citizens.

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