Sports Illustrated (yes I know CNN affiliate) had a thorough article say like a year ago of that day’s account. For those out there wanting to assign blame on his death, there is plenty to go around, including Tillman himself from the way that article read. The way the article and drawings read, the area he was killed was an ideal area to launch an ambush from high on canyon walls on vehicles below, especially being that they were towing a broke HumVee. He and I believe an Afgani were killed when a vehicle in the valley had finally gotten ready to start firing at something and saw Tillman running high on a hill towards them and figured he was an ideal target. Besides the guys below doing the shooting, the military brass definitely gets to share blame for poor leadership decisions that day and it sounds like they kept on making poor decisions. It wasn’t just the valley they were in but the time of day, right before dusk. The swinging dicks in the field did exactly as ordered by the officer over the radio despite their requests not to. So some local probably took a shot or two at some vehicles starting the whole episode, and Tillman being the super aggressive man the story describes rushed right into a volatile situation. I think if the guy were less aggressive and had waited, assembled a larger group, and approached the other part of the valley with caution that he may not have been killed that day. OK even if we have our theories of what went wrong, he is still dead.
I read that same article. From what we know up till now, it would seem that Tillman’s death was a terrible accident. Too much would have to be contrived for this to be an intentional murder-including Tillman’s own actions.