A key prosecution witness told a Texas jury Friday that he overheard a former Marine say he shot Chris Kyle after the "American Sniper" hero ignored him.
Kyle and a buddy were gunned down at a rural Texas shooting range. The accused gunman Eddie Ray Routh, 27, claims he was insane at the time of the 2013 shooting.
"I heard Mr. Routh say, 'I shot them because they wouldn't talk to me,'" former Erath County sheriff’s deputy Gene Cole testified. Cole said Routh made the admission after authorities jailed him for the shootings.
Cole, who is now a police officer with another agency, quoted Routh as saying he was riding in the back seat with Kyle and the other man. They were headed to the shooting range and Routh complained nobody would talk to him, the witness said.
"I feel bad about it, but they wouldn't talk to me. I'm sure they've forgiven me," Routh said, according to Cole's testimony.