Sheehy, who is running in Montana, says he was shot during combat in Afghanistan, but ex-ranger says he shot himself at US national park

Summary

Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has admitted lacking medical records to substantiate his claim of being shot in combat, a story he maintains despite conflicting accounts.

An ex-park ranger alleges Sheehy accidentally shot himself in 2015 while hiking in Glacier National Park, an incident Sheehy insists was a gun misfire that did not injure him.

Additional controversies surround Sheehy, including accusations of derogatory remarks about Crow Native Americans and scrutiny over financial practices at his former firefighting company.

Despite these issues, Sheehy leads the race against Democratic incumbent Jon Tester.

  • @Boddhisatva
    30•17 days ago

    As he repeated to Kelly, Sheehy says he fell while hiking, which made his gun go off – and the only reason he went to the hospital was because he was worried the bullet already in his arm from his service in Afghanistan might have become dislodged.

    Holy shit! I’ve heard some nonsense lies from republicans but this is hilarious. He fell down thought that the bullet lodged in his arm for the last however many years became dislodged, whatever that means.

    • abff08f4813c
      5•17 days ago

      Wow, you’re right. When I first read that sentence I assumed that he meant that the gun went off when he fell down, and it fired into his arm - into his old wound from the war - and that’s why he worried the new bullet might have dislodged the old one, along the lines of https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3846953/ or https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5731308/

      But then I reread it and it says,

      Sheehy himself has sought to parry Peach’s version of events by saying he had never been hit by gunfire that day in 2015.

      So you’re right. The bullet would have to be dislodged by his act of falling down. I’m not a medical or a firearms expert so I can’t say for sure on this point, I can only note that my internet searches don’t seem to come up with any other examples of this ever happening.

      I guess Sheehy might have gotten irrationally worried over nothing that day - a strong enough fall can do that and much worse to the good ol’ noggin, I suppose. But that also means he never tried to get a bullet removed after so many years? Isn’t that really dangerous to leave the bullet in? And couldn’t the doctors who saw in in 2015 tell if the bullet was recent or really old?

      • @Boddhisatva
        6•17 days ago

        I don’t buy it. There is no way you can just fall down and knock a bullet out of your arm so that it looks like a fresh bullet wound to a cop and/or doctors.

        • abff08f4813c
          1•17 days ago

          Also, he has confessed to telling the ranger back then that he shot himself. Surely the ranger would have known he was lying or not if he saw the wound? You’re right again - it doesn’t add up.

    • @BeMoreCarefulEnglish
      3•17 days ago

      Rifle rounds are well known for “lodging” within the first couple of inches of impact.

      Pistol rounds ricocheting of rocks however are almost always through and through wounds.

      Being shot twice in the exact same space is to be expected as bullets tend to roost is lodging places.