Who killed Osama bin Laden?

A former member of the Navy SEALs has come forward claiming to have shot the Qaeda leader during the daring operation in Pakistan in 2011. Two years ago, another SEALs member said he was among those who shot Bin Laden. Meanwhile, multiple military officials and fellow SEALs have said that it was a third person, the point man on the darkened staircase that night, who fired the first shot that felled the terrorist leader.

Three and a half years after the mission in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the events in that walled compound remain the object of fascination but also controversy. It may never be possible to say exactly who fired the fatal shot or shots, with multiple armed men wearing night-vision goggles moving quickly through the Qaeda leader’s hide-out. No autopsy was performed and no video has emerged of the shooting. The military never released a photograph of Bin Laden after he was killed and said that his body had been buried at sea.

The public claims have antagonized senior officials, prompted a criminal investigation over disclosing classified information and alienated fellow SEALs, who object to individuals taking credit or cashing in on team efforts.

Robert O’Neill, 38, a former member of the elite SEAL Team 6, said that he was the assaulter whose two shots killed Bin Laden, according to an account in The Washington Post on Thursday. The website SOFREP, which focuses on special operations, revealed Mr. O’Neill’s name as the self-proclaimed shooter on Monday.