Former Navy SEAL who claims he killed bin Laden arrested: report

FRISCO, Texas (NewsNation) — The former Navy SEAL who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden was arrested in Texas.

Robert J. O’Neill, 47, was booked Wednesday in Frisco and charged with a Class A misdemeanor of assault causing bodily injury and a Class C misdemeanor charge of public intoxication, The Dallas Morning News reported, although jail records listed only the assault charge.

Frisco police have not yet released any further details about the arrest.

O’Neill was released the same day on a $3,500 bond.

He had been in town to record a podcast at a local cigar lounge, the New York Post reported.

In 2016, O’Neill was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Montana after authorities said they found him sleeping in the driver seat of a car, which was still running. He entered a not guilty plea, saying that he had taken “a prescribed sleep aide to help with long-standing severe insomnia.”

Prosecutors later dropped the charge against O’Neill after both sides in the case determined his medication was to blame, The Montana Standard reported. He was instead charged with negligent endangerment and deferred prosecution while he underwent treatment through the Department of Affairs.

In 2020, O’Neill was banned from flying Delta Air Lines after he posted a photo of himself on a flight without a mask, which were required at the time, The Hill confirmed.

O’Neill, who is originally from Montana, first said in 2014 that he fired the shots that killed bin Laden in an interview with The Washington Post. Recounting the 2011 mission, O’Neill, who had been a SEAL for 15 years at the time of the raid, said he feared the mission would be his most difficult.

Some in the military community have wondered whether O’Neill can claim to have killed bin Laden since there were at least two others in the room who fired their weapons, according to CNN.

Still, the former SEAL Team 6 member recounted the story in his 2017 memoir “The Operator.”

The U.S. government has never confirmed or denied O’Neill’s story.