GLEN ROSE, Texas
(AP) -- A 25-year-old man was charged with murder in connection with
a shooting at a central Texas gun range that killed former Navy SEAL
and "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle and his friend, the Texas
Department of Public Safety said Sunday.
Sgt.
Lonny Haschel said in a news release that 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh of
Lancaster was arraigned Saturday evening on two counts of capital
murder.
Haschel said Erath County Sheriff's
deputies responded to a call about a shooting at the Rough Creek Lodge,
west of Glen Rose, at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Police found the bodies
of Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, at the shooting range. Glen Rose
is about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Police
said Routh opened fire on Kyle and Littlefield around 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, then fled in a Ford pickup truck. At about 8 p.m., Routh
arrived at his home in Lancaster, about 17 miles southeast of Dallas.
Police arrested him after a brief pursuit and took him to the Lancaster
Police Department.
Officer Kyle Roberts at the
Erath County Jail said Routh arrived there Sunday morning and is being
held on a combined $3 million bond - bond for one charge of capital
murder was set at $1 million and bond for two charges of murder was $1
million each. Roberts did not have information on whether Routh had a
lawyer.
The motive for the shooting was unclear.
Kyle,
a decorated soldier, wrote the best-selling book, "American Sniper: The
Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,"
detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents from 1999 to 2009. According
to promotional information from book publisher William Morrow, Kyle
served was deployed to Iraq four times.
Kyle
helped start the nonprofit FITCO Cares, which provides at-home fitness
equipment for emotionally and physically wounded veterans. Travis Cox,
the organization's director and friend of Kyle's, spoke with the AP on
Sunday morning.
"What I know is Chris and a
gentleman - great guy, I knew him well, Chad Littlefield - took a
veteran out shooting who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him,
try to help him, try to, you know, give him a helping hand and he turned
the gun on both of them, killing them," Cox said. Routh then took
Kyle's truck and fled, he said.
Littlefield
was Kyle's neighbor and "workout buddy," Cox said. He was a gentle,
kind-hearted man who often called or emailed Cox with ideas for events
or fundraisers to help veterans.
"Chris was
literally the type of guy if you were a veteran and needed help he'd
help you," Cox said. "And from my understanding that's what happened
here. I don't know how he came in contact with this gentleman, but I do
know that it was not through the foundation.
"It
was just two great guys with Chad and Chris trying to help out a
veteran in need and making time out of their day to help him. And to
give him a hand. And unfortunately this thing happened."
Kyle is survived by his wife, Taya, and their children, the nonprofit's release said.
Kyle
was sued by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura over a portion of the
book that claims Kyle punched Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over
unpatriotic remarks. Ventura says the punch never happened and that the
claim by Kyle defamed him.
Kyle had asked that
Ventura's claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be
dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge
said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for
trial by Aug. 1.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
