By Gil Aegerter and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News
A former Navy SEAL who wrote "American Sniper," a best-selling book about his lethal career as a marksman in Iraq, was shot to death with another man at a gun range near Stephenville, Texas, on Saturday.?
Decorated former Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle, author of a new book about the super-secret military personnel who are assigned the most-dangerous missions, talks about some of the bloodiest battles of the war in Iraq.
Chris Kyle, 38, and the other man were found dead at the shooting range of Rough Creek Lodge on Saturday afternoon, Texas Highway Patrol spokesman Lonny Haschel told KXAS.
The gunman, identified as Eddie Ray Routh of Lancaster, Texas, was arrested after a brief pursuit, Trooper Haschel said. The other victim was named as Chad Littlefield, aged 35.
Kyle, a Texas native who grew up hunting, served four tours in Iraq with Navy SEAL Team 3. His shooting during battles in Ramadi and Fallujah became legendary, and insurgents nicknamed him the "Devil of Ramadi" and put a bounty on his head.
He was credited with 160 confirmed kills, including one in 2008 in which he said he fired from 2,100 yards away -- 1.2 miles.
The Star-Telegram described him as "America's deadliest sniper."
Haschel said Routh is believed to have shot the victims at around 3:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET) before leaving the shooting range and returning to his home in Lancaster in a Ford pickup truck.
The link between Routh and the two victims wasn't immediately clear, Haschel said. The?Dallas Morning News reported?that Routh was 25 years old and had military training.
NBCDFW.com
Chris Kyle was credited with 160 kills during his time as a Navy SEAL marksman.
Rough Creek Lodge is a resort and conference center about 90 miles southwest of Dallas and 24 miles southeast of Stephenville in the Texas Hill Country. Lancaster is just south of Dallas.
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.?
After leaving the Navy, Kyle founded Craft International, which provides training to military, police, corporate and civilian clients, Reuters said.
"It just comes as a shock and it's staggering to think that after all Chris has been through, that this is how he meets his end, because there are so many ways he could have been killed" in Iraq, Scott McEwen, who co-wrote "American Sniper," told Reuters.
Kyle appeared on the NBC reality TV show "Stars Earn Stripes" last year.
Kyle was married with two children.
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