50 Years Later

I remember the day that President Kennedy was assassinated.  They sent us all home from school early.  My teacher was crying.

Years later, I would go down and walk Dealy Plaza at night, pondering the weight of history.  Too many things didn't make sense back then, and they still don't today.  Especially if you stand on that particualar spot in the street, gazing up at the sixth-floor window of the book depository.

Over the years, I talked about it with many people.  One, in particular, I thought provided some very interesting insight.  He was a trained sniper, and not an American citizen.  He called the Warren Report a load of [expletive], pure and simple.

He said that even a trained sharpshooter would have great difficulty making three shots with Oswald's rifle, much less making three accurate shots, in the 6.1 seconds as recorded on the police radios.

It was a single-shot, bolt action rifle.  Oswald would have had to

- Pull the trigger.
- Open the bolt.
- Load the second bullet.
- Close the bolt.
- Cock the rifle.
- Aim the rifle.
- Pull the trigger.
- Open the bolt.
- Load the third bullet.
- Close the bolt.
- Cock the rifle.
- Aim the rifle.
- Pull the trigger.

All in just over six seconds.  This fellow pantomimed the actions as he spoke.  He was obviously right.  Either it was impossible, or Oswald was the bionic man.

But more importantly, he said that a trained shooter (sniper) would NEVER take the shot from that angle.  He said that a sniper always sets up the shot ahead of time and waits for the target to enter the "kill zone".  If possible, they want the target standing still, or travelling directly toward or from their position.  A shooter won't be tracking side-to-side if possible.

The motorcade would have been travelling at about fifteen to twenty miles per hour, and accellerating slowly at the time the shots were taken.  Oswald would have had to either track the movement, or set the shot ahead of the car and wait for it to enter his field of view.  Completely impossible in the allotted timeframe.

This person told me that he has always believed that there were two, or possibly three, trained snipers at Dealy Plaza, and that none would have been above the second floor level, based on the entry and exit wounds.

Truth or fiction?  We'll never know, unless someone invents a time machine.

But, something to think about, from the mouth of a trained shooter with no American axe to grind.