- The story of Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy’s gunshot wound has apparently taken a new turn.
- Sheehy told WaPo he lied about a shooting he said happened in a national park.
- But in newly released documents, a park visitor “called the park dispatcher” to report a shooting.
Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy apologized for discharging a gun in the state’s Glacier National Park in October 2015, a revelation uncovered by the Washington Post after the recent admission from Sheehy that he lied about being shot in the park.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and the leading Republican to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in November, recently told the Washington Post that he received a gunshot wound to his right arm while serving in Afghanistan, not during a shooting in Glacier National Park.
The GOP candidate told the Washington Post that he lied about dropping his Colt .45 revolver to the ground and discharging it in order to protect his former platoon members from being questioned about what he was saying being a shooting that occurred in 2012 abroad.
Sheehy previously told the newspaper that he did not know whether his gunshot wound came from friendly or enemy fire.
But after filing a Freedom of Information Act request, The Washington Post obtained National Park Service documents from 2015 in which Sheehy said a shooting took place in Glacier National Park.
“As a highly trained and combat experienced injured veteran, I can assure you that this was an unfortunate accident and we are grateful that no other people or property was damaged,” he said. he declared at the time. “Due to my current security clearance and involvement in national defense-related contracts, I request leniency for any charges related to this unfortunate accident.”
The recently released National Park Service report states that “a park visitor called park dispatch” and said a firearm had discharged in Glacier National Park, apparently contradicting Sheehy’s current statement that he was shot down in Afghanistan.
The National Park Service summary did not reveal the name of the person who reported a firearm being discharged in the park, according to The Post.
Sheehy, in his 2015 National Park Service statement, said he kept a gun in his car in case a bear posed a threat, adding that his firearm fell to the ground while he was reloading the vehicle .
“My sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused by this incident,” he said in a statement at the time.
Daniel Watkins, an attorney for Sheehy, said in a letter to the Post that the ranger did not disclose that he spoke to a visitor to the aforementioned park as part of his investigation. And Watkins suggested that hospital staff in Kalispell, Mont., informed park dispatchers about the incident at Glacier National Park after Sheehy’s initial lie about the shooting.
“The published reports corroborate the information we provided and confirm Mr. Sheehy’s recollection of what happened,” Watkins said in the letter.
Montana’s Senate race is poised to be one of the nation’s tightest contests this fall.
Tester, now in his third term, is running for re-election in a state that leans decidedly conservative. Yet the lawmaker has managed to fend off his Republican opponents over the years, starting with his first election to the Senate in 2006.
Republicans touted Sheehy, the founder of Bridger Aerospace, as one of their most promising senatorial recruits.
Business Insider has contacted the Sheehy campaign for additional comment.
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