Thirteen months ago, I wrote a piece in which I compared Chris Kyle, the former Navy SEAL and lead author of the book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, to former Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart, the man whose life I chronicled in my first nonfiction book, Three Days In August. Then, late Saturday night, I read a shocking news report about Kyle being shot to death at a gun range. Amidst so much anti-gun vitriol floating about these days, something didn’t seem right, but I couldn’t place it.
Things started to come together today, however, after I saw a graphic posted by a Facebook friend. It showed the images of three firearms experts in the United States — Keith Ratliff, 32; John Noveske, 36; and Kyle, 38 — and information about their untimely deaths — all within a one-month period.
On Jan. 7, Guns.com reported the death of Noveske three days earlier after driving off a highway and “crashing into boulders.”
On Jan. 8, Defense Review reported reported the death of Noveske, describing him, among other things, as “known for building high-end/high-quality AR-15 rifles.”
Also on Jan. 8, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Ratliff had been shot once in the head on the evening of Jan. 3.
Alone, any one of the three deaths could be overlooked. Viewed together, however, it’s difficult to believe foul play is beyond the realm of possibilities.
It will be interesting to see if my suspicions “grow legs” beyond this page.
Bob McCarty is the author of Three Days In August: A U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier’s Fight For Military Justice, a nonfiction book that’s available in paperback and ebook via most online booksellers, including Amazon.com. His second book, The CLAPPER MEMO, is coming soon.
Here’s a list of people that have died in the last year, their cause of death, and date of death:
Andrew Breitbart, heart attack, 3/1/2012
Mark Craighead (of Crossbreed Holsters), heart attack, 8/24/2012
Larry Dever (Sheriff of Cochise County, AZ – strong anti-illegal immigrant stance, supported AZ SB1070), single car accident, 9/19/2012
Keith Ratliff (producer of the FPSRussia YouTube channel), shot in back of the head, 1/3/2013
John Noveske, single car accident, 1/4/2013
Chris Kyle, shot by PTSD suffering vet, 2/2/2013
and while not dead Mas Ayoob survived a recent helicopter crash on 1/26/2013.
There is one person who hasn’t been accounted for (witness to Breitbart’s death) and one coroner photographer who died the next day under suspicious circumstances (arsenic in his blood). One internet “freedom” guy, Aaron Swartz (not a right-leaning guy, but for “freedom” nontheless).
personally, I’d add in the man with Kyle when he was killed because, obviously he was connected to Kyle and believed the same things Kyle believed.
Pingback: The Dead Pool Links | Conservatively Speaking
Pingback: Today I Bring You Skippy’s Version Of The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. | Fellowship of the Minds