Tillman’s death recreated

The AP has recreated the friendly-fire incident that killed Pat Tillman. “It was like (Tillman and Spc. Bryan O’Neal, who was next to him) were trying to say, ‘Hey, it’s us,'” with their hands straight up in the air, he said. Shouting “cease fire!” Sayre reached back and grabbed Ashpole’s leg. “I screamed ‘no’ and ...

606253_Tillman2.thumbnail5.jpg
606253_Tillman2.thumbnail5.jpg

The AP has recreated the friendly-fire incident that killed Pat Tillman.

The AP has recreated the friendly-fire incident that killed Pat Tillman.

“It was like (Tillman and Spc. Bryan O’Neal, who was next to him) were trying to say, ‘Hey, it’s us,'” with their hands straight up in the air, he said.

Shouting “cease fire!” Sayre reached back and grabbed Ashpole’s leg. “I screamed ‘no’ and then yelled repeatedly several times to cease fire.”

“No one heard me,” Sayre said. The deafening gunfire drowned out his cries.

Sayre says he then made a critical decision. If he stopped the Humvee, it would have offered a stable platform for the shooters, he later explained. Instead, he said, he kept driving, hoping to carry the shooters out of range.

Instead, it had the opposite effect, giving the Rangers a better angle to blast away at their comrades as the assault vehicle raced across the valley.

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