Navy Seal breaks silence on night he shot Osama bin Laden
US Navy Seal breaks silence on the night he shot al-Qaeda chief - and how he's now jobless, without a pension and afraid for family's safety
The US Navy Seal who killed Osama bin Laden has broken his silence, recounting the night he shot the al-Qaeda leader three times in the head and the financial anxiety he now faces as an unemployed civilian.
The former commando kept his identity secret in the Esquire magazine interview, but revealed his role in the daring May 2011 raid for the first time, as well as the worries he has for his family's security.
"He looked confused. And way taller than I was expecting," the now retired Seal said of bin Laden.
When the commandos came upon bin Laden in the dark on the third floor of his hideout in the town of Abbottabad in Pakistan, the al-Qaeda mastermind had his hands on his youngest wife's shoulders, "pushing her ahead", and there was an AK-47 assault rifle nearby.
"I don't know if she's got a vest and she's being pushed to martyr them both. He's got a gun within reach. He's a threat. I need to get a head shot so he won't have a chance to clack himself off [blow himself up]," the commando said.
"In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead. Bap! Bap! The second time as he's going down. He crumpled onto the floor in front of his bed and I hit him again, Bap! same place. He was dead. Not moving. His tongue was out."