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'American Sniper': What Happened in Real Life After the Movie Fades to Black

Jan 20, 2015, 3:12 PM ET

The record-breaking film "American Sniper" tells the story of soldier Chris Kyle's life, and while the movie was based on his autobiography, the ending changed after the production of the film had already started.

The film focuses largely on Kyle's four tours of duty and how his long list of targeted kills earned him the title of the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

For those who missed the original coverage, Kyle was killed in February 2013, four years after he was honorably discharged from the Navy.

The film, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper as Kyle, does not show the moment when the father-of-two was killed but it does show him leaving his home as he headed to the gun range where he was later fatally shot.

The film's epilogue then tells what happened to Kyle, but here are more details about the tragic day.

Breaking the Tragic News

In the years leading up to his death, Kyle had begun working with wounded veterans and, in some cases, he spent time with them on the shooting range. This particular session turned deadly.

"The suspect's mother, she may have reached out to Mr. Kyle to help her son, and we kind of have an idea that maybe that's why they were at the range for some type of therapy," Sheriff Tommy Bryant said at a news conference after the Feb. 2, 2013, shooting.

Marine Corps veteran Eddie Ray Routh, 25, was arrested after allegedly fatally shooting Kyle and Kyle's friend Chad Littlefield before fleeing the scene in Kyle's truck.

The Chilling 911 Call

Later, the frantic 911 call made by the shooter's sister and her husband revealed some details about what they believed made him snap.

Routh reportedly went to his sister Laura Blevins' house after the shooting. Once he left, she called 911, saying that her brother admitted to her that he killed two people at a shooting range, and she was terrified that he was going hurt her.

"He was recently diagnosed with PTSD. ... He just got out of a mental hospital last week," her husband Gaines Blevins said later on the call, referring to post traumatic stress disorder.

Routh's trial is set to begin next month.

Kyle's Widow's Emotional Eulogy

His funeral was held at the Cowboy's Stadium to allow for crowds and his wife Taya gave an emotional eulogy on stage.

"When you think you cannot do something, think again. Chris always said the body will do whatever the mind tells it to. I am counting on that now," she said. "I stand before you a broken woman but I am now and always will be the wife of a man who was a warrior both on and off the battlefield."

The film showed clips of the ceremony and Kyle's flag-draped coffin, but some of the most moving moments came when it showed how hundreds of people lined the sides of the interstate to salute the procession as the coffin was moved from the stadium to the Texas State Cemetery about 200 miles away.