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| Meet Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill |
Joby Warrick of the Washington Post interviewed this Navy SEAL who fired the shot that killed Osama bin Laden.
Rob is a highly decorated veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who agonized for months over whether to publicly reveal his role in one of the most storied commando operations in U.S. history.
In a recent interview, O’Neill confirmed to The Washington Post that he fired the fatal shot that struck bin Laden in the forehead. He also acknowledged that shots were fired by at least two other SEAL team members, including Mark Bissonnette, who famously described the raid in the book, “No Easy Day.”
Over the course of several meetings with The Post, O’Neill said he decided to go public after becoming convinced that his identity was about to be leaked by others. What once was a closely guarded secret had spread widely through military circles, he said, and was known by members of Congress and at least two news organizations.
Martin Gould of MailOnline, interviewed Rob's father, Tom O'Neill in Montana, who said, 'People are asking if we are worried that ISIS will come and get us because Rob is going public. I say I'll paint a big target on my front door and say come and get us.'
Rob described that night to Warrick. As other team members peeled off to search different rooms of bin Laden’s residence, O’Neill found himself in the No. 2 position, behind the point man, for the final assault on bin Laden’s bedroom. When bin Laden briefly appeared at the door, the SEAL at the front of the line fired a shot that apparently missed.
O’Neill recalled, “I rolled past him into the room, just inside the doorway. There was bin Laden, standing there. He had his hands on a woman’s shoulders pushing her ahead.” Though the room was dark, O’Neill could clearly see bin Laden’s features through his night-vision scope.
“In that second, I shot him, two times in the forehead,” “Bap! Bap! The second time, as he is going down. He crumbled to the floor in front of his bed and I hit him again.” O’Neill told The Post that it was clear bin Laden had died instantly, as his skull had been split by the first bullet.
At the time of the raid, O’Neil had served nearly 15 years as a SEAL, eventually earning a spot in the elite unit known as SEAL Team 6. He served in other celebrated missions, including the 2009 rescue of merchant marine Capt. Richard Phillips from pirates off the coast of Somalia, as depicted in the 2013 movie “Captain Phillips.”
While other missions were likely more dangerous, the bin Laden raid was the first in which he believed he would likely be killed, O’Neill told The Post. The SEALs assumed that bin Laden’s compound would be both heavily guarded and booby-trapped to ward off attacks.
“I didn’t think I would survive,” he said.
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