SEAL Team 6 Member Who Claims To Have Killed Osama Bin Laden Arrested

Retired Navy SEAL Robert J. O'Neill, the SEAL Team 6 member who claims to be the man who fatally shot al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama bin Laden, was arrested in Frisco, Texas, earlier this week, the Dallas Morning News reported on Friday (August 25).

O'Neill, 47, was charged with assault causing bodily injury (Class A misdemeanor) and public intoxication (Class C), Frisco Police confirmed in a written statement to the newspaper, which specified that only the assault charge was listed on jail records. The retired Navy SEAL was released on $3,500 bond the same day as his arrest, according to Collin County records obtained by the Dallas Morning News.

Frisco Police declined to release additional details regarding the arrest of O'Neill, who the Dallas Morning News said didn't respond to its request for comment.

O'Neill, a native of Montana and Tennessee resident, was in Frisco to record a podcast at a local cigar lounge, according to posts he shared on his social media. The 47-year-old initially said he was the man who killed bin Laden during the 2011 SEAL Team 6 raid publicly in 2014, though the U.S. government has never confirmed nor denied his claim.

O'Neill was previously arrested in 2018 for driving under the influence in Montana, but the charge was later dropped by prosecutors as both sides stipulated that it stemmed from prescription medication the veteran had used to treat a condition connected to his military service, the Montana Standard reported at the time. O'Neill received two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars and a Joint Service Commendation Medal for his military service, which he chronicled in the 2018 memoir The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011, nearly 10 full years after engineering the September 11 attacks.