Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - An ex-U.S. Navy SEAL who has said he fired the shot that killed al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was arrested in Montana early late Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence , a police official said.
Robert O'Neill, 39, was found sleeping in a 2005 Nissan Sentra at a convenience store in his hometown, Butte.
Customers at the store in Butte called police to report a sleeping man behind the wheel of the running car around 2:30 a.m., Butte-Silver Bow County Undersheriff George Skuletich said. The officer who responded woke the man up, identified him as Robert O'Neill and noticed odd behavior.
"He was confused. His actions were consistent with somebody who might be under the influence of something," Skuletich said.
He declined to take a breathalyzer test and was arrested for driving under the influence - his first offense of that kind - and booked into jail before he was released on bail of $685, Skuletich said.
Although O'Neill was not seen driving the car, under Montana law a person found drunk behind the wheel can be arrested for driving under the influence even if the vehicle was not moving at the time, Skuletich noted.
O'Neill gained public attention when he told The Washington Post in 2014 that he fired the fatal shot that struck Bin Laden in the forehead during the 2011 Navy Seal commando raid on the al Qaeda leader's compound in Pakistan.
The Post said O'Neill acknowledged shots were fired at Bin Laden by at least two other SEAL team members, including Matt Bissonnette, who wrote a 2012 book about the raid entitled "No Easy Day."