Army Ranger admits he may have fired weapon that killed ex-NFL player Pat Tillman

Nearly a decade after U.S. Army Ranger and former NFL player Pat Tillman was killed during a friendly fire incident while deployed in Afghanistan, two former soldiers have come forward to discuss the tragedy at detail. 

In an Outside the Lines feature, ESPN illustrates the events leading up to a U.S. military vehicle carrying former Army Ranger Steven Elliot who, along with his comrades, opened fire on Tillman and Bryan O'Neal, a soldier who survived the incident and provided grim detail of the former NFL linebacker's final moments. 

Both Elliot and O'Neal have suffered from depression and alcoholism in the decade since, with the former haunted by the thought that he may have been the man who killed Tillman.

"I made the decision to fire. It was my decision, my responsibility to pull the trigger. I made that choice."

Despite his regret, Elliot maintains that his group reacted per its protocol to what they deemed as an enemy threat. 

"What I knew at that moment was that there was somebody on that ridge line who was firing, and it appeared that they were firing at us. We believed it to be an enemy position. We had no idea that there was the possibility of friendlies on the ridge line. So I fired two to three bursts from my weapon that ultimately, what we discovered later, was Pat and Bryan's position."

O'Neal, who will not forgive, nor acknowledge the existence of the men responsible for Tillman's death, recounted the moment in which he was being attacked on the ridge line.

"I just remember seeing the rounds kicking at dirt, and I could just see the sand kicking up in a line. Coming right to me. Just thinking 'I am going to die right now.'"

Tillman left both the Arizona Cardinals and millions worth of NFL salary to serve his country after the Sept. 11 attacks, becoming a symbol of sacrifice after his death. 

ESPN's entire Outside the Line piece can be viewed here.