'Friendly Fire' Likely Killed Tillman

‘Friendly Fire’ Likely Killed Tillman

By Chuck Neubauer

May 30, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Pat Tillman, who gave up a career in professional football to fulfill his dream of becoming an Army Ranger, was probably killed by “friendly fire” during a skirmish in Afghanistan last month, the Pentagon announced Saturday.

Earlier reports had suggested that Tillman’s April 22 death resulted from enemy fire, but the Army said that, “while there was no one specific finding of fault, the investigation results indicate that Cpl. Tillman probably died as a result of friendly fire while his unit was engaged in combat with enemy forces.”

Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger, commanding general of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, announced the finding at Ft. Bragg, N.C., on Saturday.

The investigation also found that an Afghan militia force soldier fighting alongside the Rangers was probably killed and two other Rangers wounded by friendly fire.

“The results of this investigation in no way diminish the bravery and sacrifice displayed by Cpl. Tillman,” Kensinger said. “Cpl. Tillman was shot and killed while responding to enemy fire without regard for his own safety. He focused his efforts on the elimination of enemy forces and the protection of his team members.”

The finding will not affect Tillman’s posthumous receipt of the Silver Star.

“His Silver Star was based on his heroic actions under fire and not on his death,” said Capt. Bruce Frame, a spokesman for Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

According to the Silver Star citation, Tillman ordered his men up a hill toward the enemy. “Through the firing Tillman’s voice was heard issuing fire commands to take the fight to the enemy on the dominating high ground. Only after his team engaged the well-armed enemy did it appear their fires diminished.”

Becoming a Ranger had been so important to Tillman after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that not even the success of his football career could stop him, according to earlier accounts by people close to him.

The 27-year-old athlete had walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals to become a Ranger in 2002, along with his brother Kevin, a minor league baseball player.

Kensinger’s statement described how Tillman and his platoon were ambushed “by 10 to 12 enemy personnel from multiple locations over approximately 1 kilometer in very severe and constricted terrain with impaired light conditions.”

The platoon had been split into two sections half an hour before the ambush. When one section was attacked by enemy small-arms and mortar fire, the other section returned to help them.

A one-page unclassified executive summary prepared by U.S. Central Command tells what happened next:

“During the firefight that ensued, an AMF [Afghan militia force] soldier who was engaging enemy forces, was misidentified by a Ranger squad leader as being part of the enemy force and was attacked. Other members of the platoon, observing the direction of fire by the squad leader, oriented their fire in the same direction.

“This fire fatally wounded one Ranger and the AMF soldier,” the summary said. The fatally wounded Ranger was Tillman.