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The man who in 2014 said he fired the shot that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was arrested in Frisco last week on two misdemeanor charges, according to police.
Robert J. O’Neill, 47, was booked into the Collin County jail Wednesday, according to online records. He was released later the same day on a $3,500 bond, records showed. Many news outlets, including those outside Texas, reported the arrest of the former member of U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6.
Here are four things you should know about O’Neill:
The shot that killed bin Laden
In 2014, O’Neill said he fired the shot that killed bin Laden during the 2011 raid on the terrorist leader’s compound in Pakistan. U.S. military officials have not confirmed or denied O’Neill’s story.
“A few feet in front of me, on two feet, was Osama bin Laden,” O’Neill said in an interview with The Associated Press in 2014. “I shot him three times in the head and I killed him.”
While many praised O’Neill after he went public, some in the military community have criticized his decision to share the information, the outlet reported.
Other high-profile missions
O’Neill wrote a memoir, “The Operator,” that detailed some of his missions as part of Navy SEAL Team 6. The book was published in 2017 and was on the New York Times’ best seller list.
In addition to the high-profile mission that killed bin Laden, O’Neill wrote that he helped rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from Somali pirates. The 2009 hostage situation was dramatized in the 2013 film “Captain Phillips,” with Tom Hanks playing the titular character.
O’Neill, a Butte, Montana native, has been awarded two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor and a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor. He served 16-and-a-half years in the military, according to The Associated Press.
Run-ins with law enforcement
Frisco police have said O’Neill is facing two misdemeanor charges — public intoxication and assault causing bodily injury.
O’Neill has not responded to requests for comment and it is unclear if he has an attorney.
On Friday, Frisco police declined to release more information related to the arrest. Social media posts showed that O’Neill was in Frisco on Tuesday to record a podcast.
O’Neill was accused of driving under the influence in Montana, but the charge was dropped in 2016 after prosecutors and his attorneys agreed that he was on medication prescribed to him to treat a condition, according to a Montana Standard report.
Banned by Delta Air Lines
In 2020, O’Neill was removed from a Delta Air Lines passenger plane headed to Newark, New Jersey from Minneapolis after he was seen not wearing a mask, according to The Associated Press.
In a social media post, O’Neill said he had his mask on his lap.
It is unclear whether his ban is still active. Delta announced in 2022 that it has started allowing people who had been banned for mask rules back on its flights, according to a NBC News report.