Ex-Navy SEAL GOP candidate apparently caught in another lie about battle wound: WaPo

Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy claims he suffered a gunshot wound while serving as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan — but newly revealed documents suggest he's been caught in a lie.

The decorated war veteran says he was hit, possibly by friendly fire, by a ricochet bullet during a 2012 firefight.

The Washington Post revealed earlier this month that Sheehy actually reported to officials that he shot himself in the arm three years later when he accidentally discharged a firearm in Montana's Glacier National Park — an account he told the newspaper was a "lie" he'd made up, "To protect himself and his former platoonmates from facing a potential military investigation into an old bullet wound."

But a newly discovered detailed written statement from Sheehy to a law enforcement officer seemingly confirms that he accidentally shot himself in 2015 when his Colt .45 revolver fell and discharged in the national park.

“As a highly trained and combat experienced wounded veteran, I can assure you this was an unfortunate accident and we are grateful no other persons or property were damaged,” Sheehy said in a 2015 statement apologizing for illegally discharging his firearm in the park. The statement was obtained by the Post after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

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“Due to my ongoing security clearance and involvement with national defense related contracts, I request leniency with any charges related to this unfortunate accident.”

Sheehy told investigators he had kept the gun in his vehicle as bear protection, according to the National Park Service documents released to the Post.

But he had told the newspaper that he made up the accidental shooting story in October 2015 to cover up a wound he says he sustained while fighting in Afghanistan.

"A National Park Service summary of the incident, which was also included in the newly released documents, says an unidentified park visitor reported an accidental gun discharge in Logan Pass," the Post reported. "That differs from Sheehy’s current account, that law enforcement was first contacted by personnel at a hospital that treated him for wounds that he now says he received from falling during a hike. The summary does not identify the park visitor who made the report of a gun discharge."

The Park Service documents were filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, and Sheehy went to a hospital in Kalispell to treat the gunshot wound, according to records, and he first spoke to the ranger who responded to the shooting call at the hospital and later paid a $525 fine for illegally discharging his weapon in the national park.

Sheehy now claims the gun never went off, and he told the Post he decided to lie to hospital staff and then the ranger to ensure the older wound would not launch a military investigation that could have harmed the careers of his former platoon mates, according to his campaign and an attorney who represents him.

That lawyer, Daniel Watkins, questioned whether the park visitor mentioned in the documents actually existed, saying the ranger never indicated that he had interviewed that individual as part of his investigation, and suggested that hospital staff notified park dispatchers of the incident after Sheehy lied about the accidental shooting.

“The released reports corroborate the information we have provided, and they confirm Mr. Sheehy’s recollection of what took place,” Watkins wrote in a letter to the Post.