To Kill A Terrorist In Self Defense: The Matthew E. O'Neil Story
To Kill A Terrorist In Self Defense: The Matthew E. O'Neil Story
Podcast Description
Matthew E. O'Neil (born March 7, 1976 Newton, Massachusetts) is a former Senior Airman in the United States Air Force that incapacitated and killed a terrorist on April 8, 2000 at 2 PM MST and was cleared by Colorado Springs Police Department. The incident occurred at a Colorado Springs, Colorado business. O'Neil was raised in Boston, Medfield, and Plymouth, Massachusetts. He attended Plymouth Public Schools from 1981 to 1994, finally graduating from Plymouth North High School ranked 47/217 in his high school class. O'Neil played youth baseball, soccer, and basketball. He then received superior instructions from top-flight boxing trainers while integrating weightlifting, running, and stretching into his boxing training. O'Neil competed as an amateur boxer in the U.S. Air Force with his positive results used as a catalyst to produce Plymouth's first NCAA Division I baseball scholarships. O'Neil coordinated with Plymouth North baseball coach Dwayne Follette to get the scholarships. That information is in the Plymouth Public Library book Everipedia Boxing Archives. Boxing trainer Kerry Pharr mentioned O'Neil on his Facebook Live podcast In Your Corner on July 14, 2025 at the 51:34 mark. O'Neil is of Irish-English ancestry.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into themes of military experiences, personal resilience, and lessons learned, with episodes ranging from personal anecdotes from military personnel to analyses of significant military operations and events. Notable episodes include discussions on self-defense tactics, the mental health aspects of service members, and the impact of military experiences on civilian life.

Matthew E. O’Neil (born March 7, 1976 Newton, Massachusetts) is a former Senior Airman in the United States Air Force that incapacitated and killed a terrorist with a kung fu punch on April 8, 2000 at 2 PM MST and was cleared by Colorado Springs Police Department. The incident occurred at a Colorado Springs, Colorado business and was tied back to Operation Southern Watch. O’Neil was raised in Boston, Medfield, and Plymouth, Massachusetts. He attended Plymouth Public Schools from 1981 to 1994, finally graduating from Plymouth North High School ranked 47/217 in his high school class. O’Neil played youth baseball, soccer, and basketball. He then received superior instructions from top-flight boxing trainers while integrating weightlifting, running, and stretching into his boxing training. O’Neil competed as an amateur boxer in USA Boxing sanctioned matches while stationed on a U.S. Air Force military base in Colorado. The positive results of the matches were used as a catalyst to produce Plymouth’s first NCAA Division I baseball scholarships. O’Neil coordinated with Plymouth North High School baseball coach Dwayne Follette to get the scholarships. That information is in the Plymouth Public Library book Everipedia Boxing Archives. O’Neil’s incident with the terrorist is the records department of the Cape Cod Military Museum. The Fort Taber-Fort Rodman Military Museum has O’Neil’s picture and information on display in the museum. His final amateur boxing record is 2 wins and 0 losses (2 KO’s). He is of Irish-English ancestry.
In the final episode O’Neil thanked U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Defense and Colorado Springs Police Department. He also thanked former Lockheed Martin employee Steven Griffin, former USA Boxing official Dickie Wood, former football coach Carl Freyermuth, baseball coach Dwayne Follette, his parents and his brother. He re-emphasized that he killed in self defense and that the Iraq War was justified.
The results of O’Neil’s boxing matches were reported by journalist and writer John J. Raspanti in 2018. Raspanti wrote the article “You Only Live Once. Just Ask Matthew O’Neil” for the company Maxboxing. Raspanti co-authored the 2016 hardcover book Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy. The book Everipedia Boxing Archives has the results of O’Neil’s boxing matches. That book is in the library of The International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

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