FORT WORTH, Texas (TheBlaze/AP) — On Tuesday night, TheBlaze reported that police released a 911 recording along with documents that reveal more about the possible state of mind of the Iraq War veteran charged with gunning down a former Navy SEAL sniper and his friend at a Texas shooting range.
Eddie Ray Routh told his sister and brother-in-law that he and the two men “were out shooting target practice and he couldn’t trust them so he killed them before they could kill him,” according to a Lancaster police search warrant affidavit.
Shortly after the shootings, Routh’s sister told a 911 operator that her brother had come to her house and confessed to killing two people and was “psychotic,” according to a recording of the frantic call to Midlothian police.
You can hear the dramatic 9-11 call, below:
Routh, 25, is charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of murder in the deaths of Chris Kyle, author of the best-selling book “American Sniper,” and his friend Chad Littlefield on Saturday. He’s jailed in Erath County on $3 million bail and is on suicide watch.
Laura Blevins told police her brother seemed “out of his mind saying people were sucking his soul and that he could smell the pigs. He said he was going to get their souls before they took his,” according to the affidavit, which was first obtained by WFAA-TV. Routh told his brother-in-law, Gaines Blevins, that everyone was out to get him, according to the affidavit, which says Lancaster police obtained a warrant to search Routh’s home for weapons and other evidence.
In the 911 call, obtained by The Associated Press, Gaines Blevins told the operator that Routh was released from a mental hospital about a week earlier and had been “acting a little weird.” He also told the operator that Routh was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Routh was taken to a mental hospital twice since last fall and told authorities he suffers from PTSD, according to police records.
Routh, a member of the Marines Corps Reserve, threatened to kill his family and himself Sept. 2, according to police records in Lancaster, where Routh lives.
In a 911 call obtained by The Dallas Morning News, Routh’s mom, Jodi Routh, told an operator in September that her son “probably needs to go to the VA to the emergency room and they need to admit him to the mental ward.” Later, she said one of her son’s Marine Corps buddies had taken weapons from the house for safekeeping.
Lancaster police took Routh to Green Oaks Hospital for psychiatric care. Dallas police records show Routh was taken to the same mental hospital in mid-January after a woman called police and said she feared for Routh’s safety.
Green Oaks will not release patient information, citing privacy laws.
On Tuesday, Routh remained in his jail cell instead of meeting with his court-appointed attorney or relatives, Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said in a telephone interview. Routh had demanded a cigarette in exchange for a meeting, but smoking isn’t allowed in the jail, Bryant said.
The sheriff said he didn’t know which relatives came to visit Routh in the jail in Stephenville, about 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
Kyle and Littlefield apparently had been helping Routh work through PTSD, said Travis Cox, director of FITCO Cares, the nonprofit that Kyle set up to give in-home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans.
Kyle, 38, left the Navy in 2009 after four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military’s most lethal snipers. Littlefield, 35, was Kyle’s friend, neighbor and “workout buddy,” and also volunteered his time to work with veterans, Cox said.
Routh joined the Marines in 2006 and rose to the rank of corporal in 2010. His military specialty was small-arms technician, commonly known as an armorer. He had been stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and served in Iraq from 2007-08 and in the Haiti disaster relief mission in 2010. He is now in the individual ready reserve.
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Glenn Beck’s charitable organization, Mercury One, began taking donations for those wishing to honor Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield.
To donate by mail:
Mercury One
PO Box 140489
Irving, TX 75014
Make checks payable to Mercury one but in the memo field please write “Chris Kyle Fund.”
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Comments (111)
llcarmack
Feb. 6, 2013 at 7:12pmCould it be that the evils of Islam penetrated this young Marine mind? He looks like a Muslim in that mug shot with the beard. With all the sensitivity training toward Islam in the American military, this guy just might be a convert.
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JandMmichels
Feb. 6, 2013 at 7:10pmEveryone needs to stop placing blame on Kyle and Littlefield for the results of their attempts to save this Marine. What is the point of it? They do not deserve to have their records discredited.
Unless you’re one of the “let’s hug it out & everything will be OK” delusional group of Americans who have never had a stressful day in their lives and think we can wish all of the evil in the world away,then continue in your fairyland world.
If Routh had been killed by police, we would already have his military record information. Routh had issues before enlisting in Marine Corps.
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Pickles327
Feb. 6, 2013 at 7:05pmhmm Armorer ? I heard he was MotorT if so he was a remf and if an armorer he sat in an armory still a remf ! Not a grunt it does not matter this man was not a brother Marine nor a brother in vets just a sicko that slipped in and yes it happens a lot to all branches !!
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cycom
Feb. 6, 2013 at 6:16pmIt is hard to believe that some of the comments would blame Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. The system has let everyone down. If Routh was taken to the psych ward twice why was he let out. Should the doctors or the hospital take the blame for releasing him out into the population?
Is there evidence that Chris and Chad new that he had been in the psych ward? I think Chris and his neighbor should be praised for their selfless acts of kindness not just to Routh but to all the vets that were befriended by them. I admire Chris and the Navy Seals both retired and active duty as well as OUR ARMED Forces! Thank you for your sacrifice.
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blackfeather
Feb. 6, 2013 at 5:12pmmaybe we can ban mental instability now.
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yourpaled
Feb. 6, 2013 at 4:53pmThere are other expressions which mean the same thing, such as a race car driver who dies in an accident whether on the track or on a highway. He died doing what he loved best. He was smiling even in his death. etc
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peaceangel
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:58pmAccording to the american psychiatric association 50% of all Americans suffer from “clinical” depression meaning they have a serious brain disorder that could include Bi-polar disorder or Schizophrenia and the reason for that is that our politicians on both sides of the aisle have been POISONING Americans for more than 6 decades to include DDT, Agent Orange and flouride in all our food and water and they have allowed 55 of 110 nuclear power plants to leak radiation into our ground and ground water for decades. And all our RX and vaccinations especially baby vaccinations are filled with poisonous metals that have caused us to be number one for every psychological disease and disorder known to man. AND the GMO’s our foods must be grown with are all poisonous.
AND on top of that the government determined in the NDAA act of 2011 that ALL our war vets are “dangerous” “psychotic” and a “threat to national security” and these men and women are disappearing (into concentration camps) nationwide.
The reason the gov. has labeled our vets as such is because they KNOW that 90% of ALL the people they killed in these useless desert wars were civilians. They are told in debriefing to NEVER talk about this fact, not even to a therapist who is NOT military.
Having said all of that this Kyle should have never taken this guy to a gun range knowing he just got out of a mental hospital and knowing the things he had going through his head. So Sad.
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KKC003
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:46pmI bet there is some correlation between all these killers & bet its specific psych care w/ specific legal meds.
NO other time in history has this happened where people are shooting all over the world and they all have the blank stare. What is the common denominator here? drugs and psych care! I bet its some kind of mind control. Does anyone really know what kind of care is going on behind closed doors- what are they doing to these people to make them killers? Remember the movie Conspiracy Theory? doesn’t sound so far fetched.
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awkingsley
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:25pm@Rowgue: @Netmail: Excellent comments. It is time we quit paying Psychiatrists huge salaries for inadequate patient maintenance, no cures for chronic mental illness and thoroughly inadequate diagnosis. Chronic mental illness has a disease pathology that does not just reside in or originate in the head. The pathology of mental disease affects the brain through chemical imbalances, and mental illness cannot be cured with counseling – not ever. This is the problem: Allopathic Medicine has no cure for mental or any other chronic disease. Ancient Natural and Alternative Medicine had cures for chronic disease; however, treatment of chronic disease starts with expert patient diagnosis and ability to evaluate treatments. Expert Pulse Diagnosis can either be Oriental or Indian Ayurvedic. Expert Pulse Diagnosis takes the most time to learn, but is absolutely necessary for any physician who wants to diagnose chronic disease or assess a patient’s status and the efficacy of treatments. An expert pulse diagnostician can detect the progression of the disease and the area of the body from which the disease originates. Pregnancy can be diagnosed within 24 hours of conception by a physician expert in pulse diagnosis. The major solution to high health care costs and successful treatment of mental disorders is for states to mandate medical schools to teach expert diagnostic techniques to first year medical students.
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MrKnowItAll
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:08pmTo Glenn Beck: Stu and Pat Stink. That Obligation you feel toward them should NOT Cloud your Business Mind. Put them in the Control Room and keep them from the Viewer’s. Obligation OVER!
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LeadNotFollow
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:07pmI think Routh just wanted to go down in history for murdering Kyle, the famous SEAL.
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weezygirl
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:05pmI understand it was the killers mother who asked Chris Kyle to help him..I feel Kyle had no idea how bad this mans instability was.. He was only trying to help as he has done with many. RIP Chris, you are a Hero to all.
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LeadNotFollow
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:03pmMaybe Routh’s sister was just merely laying some groundwork, so her brother could play the PTSD and crazy card when his trial comes up.
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S-A-L
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:03pmSorry, crazy or not, this cat should be hung at sunrise. Can’t be so crazy that you can leave the scene, drive a truck 30 plus miles, find your sisters home, leave, plan on going to Ok. to avoid capture, find your own home, then take off when the police arrive. Actions have consequences!
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loveoursoldiers
Feb. 6, 2013 at 2:30pmSomethng does not add up. A psychotic nut kills 2 men… one of whom was a navy seal?
Somehing is missing…… we may never know. If Routh dies soon then we will know it is to shut him
up.
Was an assasination via crazed person…… engineered by someone?
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loveoursoldiers
Feb. 6, 2013 at 2:19pmSTFU
This is so
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AmericaMustBeFree
Feb. 6, 2013 at 1:32pmI am wondering why the mental hospital let him out so soon.. its apparent he should never have been released until he showed that he wouldn’t hurt himself or others. I feel for both families..what a total waste of life!
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pudssweetie
Feb. 6, 2013 at 12:55pmThere are certainly a lot of questions that need answering, but I do have some thoughts myself that no one else has thought about. First, in my opinion, I think Routh had other underlying, maybe undiagnosed, mental health issues such as Schizophrenia. The other thing I also question is the fact that the media was very quick to blame Routh Iraq tour of duty for his PTSD, yet today was the first time we heard that he also was in Haiti after the major earthquake. After the earthquake, the US sent Troops, along with other Country’s, to aid in search and rescue efforts. Many dead body’s were found under rubble during the search and rescue and many people who survived were injured. Could there be a possibility that Routh’s PTSD was caused by seeing all of the dead body’s and all of the injured, and not from his tour of duty? And could it be that is what Kyle and Littlefield were helping Routh with and not because of his tour of duty in Iraq? I think the only person who has that answer is Routh himself.
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weezygirl
Feb. 6, 2013 at 3:21pmI think they need to do a complete check on his background, even back as far as before joining the Marines. Did he slip through the cracks? Those that sit and Blame Chris for this have no understanding of his dedication to men who come back from war with PTSD, but Chris did, and because they didn’t get the real help they needed he was dedicated to do all he could to help. You all should be ashamed of yourselves for having those thoughts. You can be sure the whole truth will come out, let’s wait and see before you make snap decisions.
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pudssweetie
Feb. 6, 2013 at 5:26pmWeezy, you completely missed my point. As of right now, there is much speculation of what exactly happened and why. The point I was trying to convey was the fact that in 2010 after Routh returned from Iraq was sent to Haiti to help, which I assume, was to aid in the search and rescue of those who were buried in the ruble. All I asked, was his PTSD caused from being in Iraq, or was it caused when he went to Haiti or both. We don’t know and may never know, but today was the first time I had heard that he was deployed to Haiti. I also said in my comment that it appears that he also has underlying Mental Health issues, like Schizophrenia, which can cause a person to go off like he did. I do not condone what he did, just trying, like everyone else, to get some needed answers.
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pudssweetie
Feb. 6, 2013 at 5:28pmOh and by the way, not once did I blame Chris for trying to help someone in need, go back and read my comment again.
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jrcess
Feb. 6, 2013 at 12:50pmPut this murder on fast track, Send him to Huntsville and sap the *****.
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MJ88
Feb. 6, 2013 at 12:48pmAfter serving two deployments with Routh I’m still shocked to hear about all this. He was always a goofy crazy guy, kinda like the class clown. He was good at his job and was in control of my units weapons and ammo during the deployments (on ships). I don’t think PTSD was the right label def something else wrong here.
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TEOTWASWKI
Feb. 6, 2013 at 12:31pmAs a former Marine and combat veteran I can tell you all vets aren’t the same any more than all of the civilians are the same. I have a neighbor who is an Iraqi war vet who is a POS.
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COFemale
Feb. 6, 2013 at 10:41amSo did Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield know he was in mental hospitals prior to them taking him out to the shooting range. Either they did and ignored the warnings to their own detriment or they had no idea. Did family members purposely withhold vital information. I am inclined to think so. Did they not tell him they removed guns out of the home?
This whole situation could have been prevented, if people were forthcoming. Does the spouses of these two have a lawsuit action against the family? Face the fact a family member has mental issues. Don’t be silent.
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