Montana
‘So Confusing’: Montana GOP Senate Candidate Gives Shifting Explanations About Gunshot Wound
Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy offered shifting explanations for a gunshot wound he’d sustained on his arm in a new interview on Friday — a controversy that has nagged his campaign against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana).
Last month, Kim Peach, a former U.S. Park Service ranger, came forward publicly and said that Sheehy accidentally shot himself with a gun on a family trip in 2015 at Glacier National Park in Montana — contradicting the former Navy SEAL’s campaign bio, which says he was “wounded in combat.”
Recently, Sheehy has claimed that he actually lied to the ranger in 2015, telling Peach that he’d accidentally shot himself, in order to conceal the fact that he may have obtained the bullet wound during a friendly-fire incident while deployed abroad.
Asked Friday if there were medical records to prove his story, Sheehy told former Fox News host Megyn Kelly there is “not an extensive medical record” from his emergency room hospital visit. He said he had “internal bleeding” after the bullet in his arm became dislodged after he fell while on a hike in the park.
“There’s not a whole lot to talk about,” Sheehy said, calling the story “a distraction.”
“So confusing,” Kelly responded during an interview with Sheehy on her SiriusXM radio program.
Sheehy has also offered contradictory explanations for who may have been responsible for the gunshot wound.
In his interview with Kelly on Friday, the 37-year-old GOP Senate hopeful suggested that he may have been shot by an Afghan ally in a friendly-fire incident. He called the environment at the time “messy” and described the challenges of operating alongside Afghan forces, saying it was “very, very common where you’d have Afghans who, either intentionally or unintentionally, would end up shooting friendly forces.”
“It was a hazardous environment when you’re dealing with actual hostile forces … but half the time, you’ve also gotta have one eyeball looking at our partner forces,” he added.
But in his 2023 memoir, Sheehy wrote he was “struck by a friendly fire ricochet bullet” by a fellow SEAL who he wanted to shield from repercussions.
“I didn’t want the teammate who had fired the shot, a total stud who went on to have a successful career as a SEAL, to be punished officially or reputationally ― by an accident that was in no way his fault,” Sheehy wrote in the book. “It wasn’t even a tough or dangerous mission; it was a milk run, just like this training flight, but it went bad quickly.”
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When the Post asked Sheehy about that passage in his book in April, he said he was not certain whether he was shot by friendly fire or by whom, describing an incident where his team came under fire at night.
“To be very clear, I don’t know where the bullet came from,” Sheehy said. “Sometimes people find that hard to believe, but in Hollywood, they make it look like [in] a gunfight everyone knows exactly what’s going on. … That’s just not how it goes down.”
Meanwhile, the ranger, Peach, told The New York Times earlier this month he was “100 percent sure [Sheehy] shot himself that day” in 2015. He recalled unloading Sheehy’s gun at the time and “finding five live rounds and the casing of one that had been fired,” as the Times reported.
Republicans have dismissed the allegation on the basis that Peach has a history of supporting Democrats.
Polls show Sheehy leading Tester in a critical race that could determine which party controls the Senate next year. The three-term incumbent senator is trying to pull off an upset in a state Donald Trump won by 16 points in the 2020 election.
HELENA, Mont. — Montana counties have accepted enough signatures for Seth Bodnar, running for U.S. Senate and Michael Eisenhauer, running in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, to be on the November ballot, although counts are still unofficial.
County election officials are continuing to verify signatures submitted by Tuesday’s deadline as part of the candidate petition process.
The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has not yet verified, certified or accepted the petitions, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Counties must submit candidate petitions to the Secretary of State’s office by June 1.
The Secretary of State’s office will then conduct its “statutory review to ensure the petitions meet the necessary legal requirements under law.”
The deadline for the November general election ballot to be certified is Thursday, Aug. 20. By then, all qualifying candidates and any potential ballot issues that qualify for the general election will be officially certified.
The following was out by the Montana Secretary of State’s Office:
The attached report is unofficial. It includes totals that the county election officials have processed and entered in the system. These totals do not represent what the Secretary of State’s Office has received, reviewed, tabulated, or certified. The certified totals may differ from what is reflected.
Seth Bodnar, U.S. Senate
- 13,327 required
- 18,772 accepted
- 7,812 rejected
Kimberly Persico, MT-01
- 6,742 required
- 563 accepted
- 156 rejected
Michael Eisenhauer, MT-02
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- 7,274 required
- 7,754 accepted
- 4,720 rejected
Severe storms moved through parts of Montana on Thursday, prompting a total of 5 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. Reports included strong wind gusts and hail in several communities, including Augusta, Choteau, Sunburst, Bigfork, Kalispell and Evergreen.
The strongest reported wind gust was 60 mph near Augusta, while hail up to 1 inch was reported near Evergreen and Kalispell.
STORM REPORTS:
12 SE Grant — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
7 NNE Augusta — 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust
5 ENE Choteau — 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Sunburst — 54 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Ennis — 59 mph thunderstorm wind gust
3 SSW Ennis — 52 mph thunderstorm wind gust
2 E Helena — 54 mph thunderstorm wind gust
19 E Swan Lake — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
2 NNW Yaak — thunderstorm wind damage – Multiple downed trees reported along Highway 2 between MM 3 and 8
3 WSW Blacktail — 53 mph thunderstorm wind gust
1 NNW Troy — 49 mph thunderstorm wind gust
5 ENE Choteau — 56 mph thunderstorm wind gust
Turah — 0.88″ hail
1 NNW Bigfork — 0.75″ hail
3 SW La Salle — 0.50″ hail
2 N Evergreen — 1.00″ hail
1 W Kalispell — 1.00″ hail
3 WNW Kalispell — 0.75″ hail
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Have a storm photo to share, UPLOAD it at NBCMontana.com/chimein
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A man from Las Vegas has been sentenced after stealing coins and precious metals from a Helena shop in Montana.
This comes after Bishop Lott, 47, pleaded guilty in January to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.
A judge sentenced Lott on Thursday to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $276,153.08 in restitution to the Helena business as well as five other theft victims.
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The government alleged in court documents that Lott, along with Ricky Rynell Rose, broke into Wayne Miller Coins in Helena and stole nearly $59,000 in coins and precious metals from a Helena business.
Rose pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 39 months in prison.
The Helena Police Department received a call on March 3, 2024, reporting that Wayne Miller Coins had been burglarized earlier that day.
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As part of their investigation, Helena police officers reviewed surveillance footage from multiple businesses. They analyzed email account data, which led them to Lott and Rose, who had taken the stolen material to Nevada.
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