Montana GOP Senate candidate accused of treating accidental self-inflicted guns as war wounds
A former Park Service ranger said Friday that the U.S Senate hopeful Tim Sheehy of Montana lied about a bullet wound the candidate said came from fighting in Afghanistan — going public with an accusation that has plagued the Republican campaign for months.
Former park ranger Kim Peach’s claim that Sheehy had in fact shot himself during a family trip in Montana was immediately dismissed by Sheehy and his allies as a smear campaign by the Democratic Party in a race that is expected to be decisive control the Senate.
But with the election less than three weeks away, that adds to the enormous pressure this political newcomer faces in challenging three-term Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Test .
Sheehy is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and his military record is central to his bid for office. In stump speeches and in a book Sheehy published last year, he recounted how he was injured multiple times while fighting, including in his arm in 2012.
Sheehy was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in a separate combat incident and was also awarded the Bronze Star.
A Sheehy campaign spokesman said Peach is a partisan Democrat pushing a “defamatory narrative.”
“Anyone who tries to dismiss the fact that Tim Sheehy signed up for war as a young man and spent much of his 20s in some of the most dangerous places in the world is a partisan hack, a journalist has an agenda or is just a completely disgusting person,” spokeswoman Katie Martin said.
He has faced scrutiny over his arm wound since April, when The Washington Post quoted an unnamed Glacier National Park ranger as saying that Sheehy accidentally shot himself himself in 2015, when he was traveling with his family and his gun fell out of the car and went off when it hit his arm. located in a parking lot at Logan Pass. The ranger mentioned in the story is Peach.
Sheehy was cited by Peach and fined $525 for illegally discharging a gun in Glacier, government records show.
The Republican candidate responded to a story in April that he lied to park rangers — not about being injured in Afghanistan.
Sheehy said he fell while hiking in Glacier and injured his hand, then made up the story about the bullet wound to cover up the fact that the 2012 incident may have been the result of friendly fire. He said he did not want the members of his SEAL unit in Afghanistan to suffer any consequences.
With absentee voting in Montana underway and Sheehy poised for a potential victory, Peach, a Democrat, said Friday that he “can’t let him do something so if the truth is not told.”
Peach said he interviewed Sheehy at the hospital where he was treated for the bullet wound.
“At the time, he was obviously very embarrassed about it. And you know, he admitted why I was there — the gun went off in the park,” Peach told the Associated Press. “He knows the truth and the truth is not complicated. That’s when you start lying, things get complicated.”
His decision to go public was previously reported by the Post.
Peach worked as a ranger for more than three decades and is now retired. He lives in a small town near Glacier. He posted a photo of himself on social media wearing a “Make America Wrong Again” hat and said he voted Democratic.
He denied any connection to the Test campaign or other Democratic organizations.
The Checker campaign has run ads in recent weeks criticizing Sheehy for lying about his gunshot wound. A campaign spokesperson was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
The Montana Democratic Party sees Peach’s latest comments as providing a “firsthand account” of what happened to Sheehy.
But Republican National Senatorial Committee communications director Mike Berg dismissed the latest reiteration of the allegation against Sheehy. He said it was a sign of Democrats’ desperation because they feared the Test would be lost.
“It was the last gasp of a career politician who saw his career coming to an end,” Berg said.
