Now, in interviews, two people who had close interactions with Mr. Sheehy during key moments in the story have come forward, raising new questions about whether the bullet wound had come during his military service.

A former SEAL colleague, Dave Madden, who had what he described as a close relationship with Mr. Sheehy before they deployed to Afghanistan, said that Mr. Sheehy never mentioned a gunshot wound to him, and almost certainly would have done so in a conversation they had during their deployment if he had indeed been wounded.

On the issue of the later injury in Montana, Kim Peach, a park ranger who spoke with Mr. Sheehy that day at the hospital, said Mr. Sheehy personally told him that he had accidentally shot himself in the arm, and handed over a revolver with a spent round.