A 25-year-old man has been charged with murder in
connection with a shooting at a Texas gun range that killed former Navy
Seal sniper Chris Kyle and his friend.
Sgt Haschel said Erath County Sheriff's deputies found the bodies of Mr Kyle, 38, and Chad Littlefield, 35, on Saturday at the Rough Creek Lodge shooting range, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Fort Worth.
Police said Routh opened fire on Mr Kyle and Mr Littlefield, and then fled in a pickup truck. He was later arrested near his home in Lancaster after a brief pursuit.
Officer Kyle Roberts at the Erath County Jail said Routh is being held on a combined \$3m bond.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
Mr Kyle, a decorated soldier, wrote the best-selling book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History, detailing his 150-plus kills of insurgents (?) from 1999 to 2009.
According to promotional information from book publisher William Morrow, Mr Kyle was deployed to Iraq four times.
The former Navy Seal helped start the non-profit FITCO Cares, which provides at-home fitness equipment for emotionally and physically wounded veterans.*
Travis Cox, the organisation's director, told the AP news agency that Mr Kyle and Mr Littlefield had taken Routh - who he described as a veteran "struggling" with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - to the gun range.
He said: "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 give him a helping hand and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them."
Routh then took Mr Kyle's truck and fled, Mr Cox added.
Mr Kyle is survived by his wife, Taya, and their children*, the non-profit's release said.
He was sued by former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura - a former professional wrestler and Navy Seal - over a portion of the book (?) that claims Mr Kyle punched Mr Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks.
Mr Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Mr Kyle defamed him.
A trial had been set to start on August 1.
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* emotionally and physically
wounded mercenary assassins, mass murderers, rapists, sodomites, thieves, ...!
** When they murder Muslims and Arabs we almost never know the names of their victims, of their wives or children!
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