NEW: “The Curious Case of Tim Sheehy’s Gunshot Wound”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 27, 2024

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rehm@mtdems.org

Sheehy’s continues to refuse to release his medical records, raising questions ahead of Monday’s debate
 

Helena, MT – Ahead of Monday’s U.S. Senate debate, Tim Sheehy is back in the spotlight for his refusal to release his medical records from the gunshot wound records say was the result of an accidental weapon discharge in Glacier National Park, per new reporting from Mother Jones. 

Catch up quick: 

Sheehy has repeatedly claimed on the campaign trail that he has a bullet in his arm from Afghanistan. But a federal citation reported by the Washington Postshows the gunshot wound in his arm was the result of Sheehy accidentally shooting himself in Glacier National Park in 2015.

Now, he’s refusing to release his medical records that would reveal whether his gunshot wound was from Afghanistan or Glacier National Park. Read more below: 

Mother Jones: The Curious Case of Tim Sheehy’s Gunshot Wound
September 27, 2024
Noah Lanard

• There appears to be a bullet lodged in Tim Sheehy’s right forearm. That is not in dispute. But how and when it got there has become the subject of an ongoing mystery that has dogged the campaign of the former Navy SEAL challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in one of this election cycle’s most high-stakes races.
   

• The question of how Sheehy was shot first came up last spring in a Washington Post exposé by Liz Goodwin who reported that Sheehy had said on the campaign trail he has a “bullet stuck” in his right arm from his time serving in Afghanistan.
   

• The problem was that Sheehy had told a National Park Service ranger in 2015 that the bullet wound in his right arm came from him accidentally shooting himself with a Colt .45 revolver while in Glacier National Park.
   

• Sheehy’s account should be easy to substantiate. Medical records would presumably show whether he arrived at the hospital with a fresh bullet wound or an injury sustained from a fall. The medical professionals who treated him could potentially recall what happened. A family member who was with him that day could back up his story.
   

• But Sheehy has not released records or made available any witnesses of the 2015 incident who could backup his version of events.
   

• In terms of medical records, the Sheehy campaign only shared an X-ray with the Post that it provided on the condition that the image not be published. Doctors who reviewed it for the paper concluded that it does not provide strong support for Sheehy’s story that a “friendly ricochet bullet” hit him in Afghanistan:
   

• Sheehy’s campaign told the Post back in April that he had requested medical records from the hospital visit but had not yet been able to obtain them. Later that month, the campaign declined to comment about the status of that request and referred the paper to Sheehy’s lawyer, Daniel Watkins of Meier Watkins Phillips Pusch.
   

• The statement Watkins provided claimed that the “released reports corroborate the information we have provided, and they confirm Mr. Sheehy’s recollection of what took place.” The information provided—that is, the X-ray—does not confirm Sheehy’s account.
   

• I reached out to Sheehy’s campaign on September 3 asking if they would be able to provide any more records to support the candidate’s account, or if they would make someone available to defend Sheehy’s story on or off-the-record. The campaign did not respond to the email or a follow-up sent last week.
   

• On Wednesday, I emailed Watkins, who, according to his official bio, is a “nationally ranked trial lawyer and reputation counselor specializing in high-stakes crisis and defamation cases.” Watkins confirmed that he is representing Sheehy, and asked to review the request I sent to the campaign. He did not respond after receiving it.
   

• Sheehy (who was fined for discharging a firearm in a national park) went on to “request leniency with any charges related to this unfortunate accident” due to his “security clearance and involvement with national defense related contracts.”
   

• As the Post noted, lying to a park ranger is a crime, although the statute of limitations has now expired. According to his current story, Sheehy lied out of a selfless desire to protect former platoon-mates from an investigation that experts say was highly unlikely to have been triggered by him saying he had been hit by friendly fire years before.
   

• This doesn’t have to be this complicated. Sheehy just needs to release the medical records. He won’t. Which begs the question: Why not?

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