Affidavit: Iraq vet refers to stolen truck

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The Iraq War veteran charged with killing a former Navy SEAL sniper and his friend on a Texas shooting range told a relative that he “traded his soul for a new truck,” according to police documents.

Eddie Ray Routh, 25, is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of ex-Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, author of the best-selling book “American Sniper,” and his friend Chad Littlefield at a shooting range Saturday.

Authorities say the three men arrived at the sprawling Rough Creek Lodge in Glen Rose on Saturday afternoon, and a hunting guide discovered the bodies of Kyle and Littlefield about two hours later and called 911. They were shot multiple times, and numerous guns were at the scene, according to an Erath County arrest warrant affidavit obtained by WFAA-TV.

Routh then drove Kyle’s pickup to his sister’s house in Midlothian and told her that he killed two people, and she called police, the affidavit says. Routh also said he wanted to drive to Oklahoma to avoid Texas authorities, the affidavit says. Routh was arrested after a short police pursuit in Lancaster, where he lives.

Police records from Lancaster show Routh was taken to mental hospital on Sept. 2 after threatening to kill his family and then commit suicide.

Routh’s mother told police that her son had been drinking and became upset when his father said he was going to sell his gun. She said Routh began arguing with them and said he was going to “blow his brains out.”

Dallas police records show Routh was taken back to the same mental hospital Jan. 19 after a woman called police and said she feared for Routh’s safety.

Routh is on suicide watch in the Erath County Jail, where he’s being held on $3 million bond, Sheriff Tommy Bryant said.

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youruncle 3 months, 1 week ago

As tragic an event this is, one must wonder why, and what were they thinking in taking an apparent sucidal individual, who recently threatend others, and threatend harm to himself to a shooting range. I would suspect Routh's family and councilor, if he has one would be dead set against that plan.

asb 3 months, 1 week ago

Should Routh have been able to buy a gun after two visits to the nervous hospital? And more on the point, should there be a system in place to confiscate his already owned guns once he had been know to be in mental distress? His father's urge to sell Routh's gun is as protective and valid a wish as a parent could have, but should the mental health system have a say in that decision? This is where the "taking our guns" smoke meets a spark. What evaluation and confiscation authority could be designed that wouldn't be open to abuse? This is a road we have to go down, in some manner or other.

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