CHAPTER III

The Shots From the Texas School

Book Depository

I N THIS chapter the Commission

forth its conclusions concerning
analyzes the evidence and sets
the source, effect, number and
timing of the shots that killed President Kennedy and wounded
Governor Connally.
ated (1) the testimony
In that connectzion the Commission
of eyewitnesses
has evalu-
present at the scene of the
assassination ; (2) the damage to the Presidential limousine; (3) the
examination by qualified experts of the rifle and cartridge cases found
on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and the bullet
fragments found in the Presidential limousine and at Parkland Hos-
pital ; (4) the wounds suffered by President Kennedy and Governor
Connally ; (5) wound ballistics tests; (6) the examination by qualified
experts of the clothing worn by President Kennedy and Governor
Connally ; and (7) motion-picture films and still photographs taken
at the time of the assassination.

THE WITNESSES
As reflected in the previous chapter, passengers in the first few cars
of the motorcade had the impression that the shots came fromthe rear
and from the right, the general direction of the Texas School Book
Depository Building, although none of these passengers saw anyone
fire the shots. Some spectators at Houston and Elm Streets, how-
ever, did see a rifle being fired in the direction of the Presidents car
from the easternmost window of the sixth floor on the south side of the
building. Other witnesses saw a rifle in this window immediately
after the assassination. Three employees of the Depository, observing
the parade from the fifth floor, heard the shots fired from the floor
immediately above them. No credible evidence suggests that the
shots were fired from the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass,
t,he nearby railroad yards or any place other than the Texas School
Book Depository Building.
61
 Near the Depository
Eyewitnesses testified that they saw a man fire a weapon from the
sixth-floor window. Howard L. Brennan, a 45-year-old steamfltter,
watched the motorcade from a concrete retaining wall at t,he southwest
corner of Elm and Houston, where he had a clear view of the south
side of the Depository Building.* (See Commission Exhibit No. 477,
p. 62.) He was approximately 107 feet from the Depository entrance
and 120 feet from the southeast corner window of the sixth floor.2
Brennans presence and vantage point are corroborated by a motion
picture of the motorcade taken by amateur photographer Abraham
Zapruder, which shows Brennan, wearing gray khaki work clothes and
a gray work helmet, seated on the retaining wall.3 Brennan later
identified himself in the Zapruder movie.4 While waiting about 7
minutes for the President to arrive, he observed the crowd on the
street and the people at the windows of the Depository Building.6
He noticed a man at the southeast corner window of the sixth floor,
and observed him leave the window a couple of times. B
Brennan watched the Presidents car as it turned the corner at
Houston and Elm and moved down the incline toward the Triple
Underpass. Soon after the Presidents car passed, he heard an
explosion like the backfire of a motorcycle. Brennan recalled:

Well, then something, just right after this explosion, made me

think that it was a firecracker being thrown from the Texas Book
Store. And I glanced up. And this man that I saw previous
was aiming for his last shot.
* * * * * * *
Well, as it appeared to me he was statiding up and resting
against the left window sill, with gun shouldered to his right
shoulder, holding the gun with his left hand and taking positive
aim and fired his last shot. As I calculate a couple of seconds.
He drew the gun back from the window as though he was drawing
it back to his side and maybe paused for another second as though
to assure hisself that he hit his mark, and then he disappeared.8

Brennan stated that he saw 70 to 85 percent of the gun when it was

fired and the body of the man from the waist UP.~ The rifle was aimed
southwesterly down Elm Street toward the underpass.lO Brennan
saw the man fire one shot and he remembered hearing a total of only
two shots. When questioned about the number of shots, Brennan
testified :

I dont know what made me think that there was firecrackers

throwed out of the Book Store unless I did hear the second shot,
Ibecause I positively thought the first shot was a backfire, and
subconsciously I must have heard a second shot, but I do not
recall it. I could not swear to it.*
63
Brennan quickly reported his observations to police officers.12 Bren-
nans description of the man he saw is discussed in the next chapter.
Amos Lee Euins, a 15-year-old ninth grade student, stated that he
was facing the Depository as the motorcade turned the corner at Elm
and Houston. He recalled :

Then I was standing here, and as the motorcade turned the

corner, I was facing, looking dead at the building. And so I
seen this pipe thing sticking out, the window. I wasnt paying
too much attention to it. Then when the first shot was fired, I
started looking around, thinking it was a backfire. Everybody
else started looking around. Then I looked up at the window,
and he shot again.13

After witnessing the first shots, Euins hid behind a fountain

bench and saw the man shoot again from the window in the southeast
corner of the Depositorys sixth floor.14 According to Euins, the man
had one hand on the barrel and the other on the trigger. Euins be-
lieved that there were four shots.15 Immediately after the assassina-
tion, he reported his observations to Sgt. D. V. Harkness of the
Dallas Police Department and also to James Underwood of St&ion
KRLD-TV of Dallas.1B Sergeant Harkness testified that Euins told
him that the shots came from the last window of the floor under the
ledge on the side of the building they were facing.ll Based on Euins
statements, Harkness radioed to headquarters at 12:36 p.m. that
I have a witness that says that it came from the fifth floor of the
Texas Book Depository Store. I8 Euins accurately described the
sixth floor as the floor under the ledge. Harkness testified that the
error in the radio message v~as due to his own hasty count of the
floors. le
Other witnesses saw a rifle in the window after the shots were fired.
Robert H. Jackson, staff photographer, Dallas Times Herald, was
in a press car in the Presidential motorcade, eight or nine cars from
the front. On Houston Street about halfway between Main and Elm,
Jackson heard the first shot.2o As someone in the car commented that
it sounded like a firecracker, Jackson heard two more shots.21 He
testified :

Then we realized or we thought that it was gunfire, and then

we could not at that point see the Presidents car. We were
still moving slowly, and after the third shot the second two shots
seemed much closer together than the first shot, than they were
to the first shot. Then after the last shot, I guess all of us were
just looking all around and I just looked straight up ahead of
me which would have been looking at the School Book Depository
and I noticed two Negro men in a window straining to see directly
above them, and my eyes followed right on up to the window
above them and I saw the rifle or what looked like a rifle approxi-
mately half of the weapon, I guess 1 saw, and just as I looked
64
 at it, it was drawn fairly slowly back into the building, and I
saw no one in the window with it.
I didnt even see a form in the window.=

In the car with Jackson were James Underwood, television station

KRLD-TV; Thomas Dillard, chief photographer, Dallas Morning
News; Malcolm 0. Couch and James Darnell, television newsreel
cameramen. Dillard, Underwood, and the driver were in the front
seat, Couch and Darnell were sitting on top of the back seat of the
convertible with Jackson. Dillard, Couch, and Underwood con-
firmed that Jackson spontaneously exclaimed that he saw a rifle in
the window.2s According to Dillard, at the time the shots were fired
he and his fellow passengers had an absolutely perfect view of the
School Depository from our position in the open car. 24 Dillard
immediately took two pictures of the building: one of the east two-
thirds of the south side and the other of the southeast corner, particu-
larly the fifth- and sixth-floor windows.% These pictures show three
Negro men in windows on the fifth floor and the partially open
window on the sixth floor directly above them. (See Dillard Ex-
hibits C and D, pp. 66-67.) Couch also saw the rifle in the window,
and testified :

And after the lthird shot, Bob Jackson, who was, as I recall, on
my right, yelled something like, Look up in the window!
Theres the rifle!
And I remember glancing up to a window on the far right,
which at the time impressed me as the sixth or seventh floor,
and seeing about a foot of a rifle being-the barrel brought into
the window.26

Couch testified he saw people standing in other windows on the third

or fourth floor in the middle of the south side, one of them being a
Negro in a white T-shi& leaning out to look up at the windows above
him.2
Mayor and Mrs. Earle Cabell rode in the motorcade immediately
behind the Vice-Presidential followup car.28 Mrs. Cabell was seated
in the back seat behind the driver and was facing U.S. Representative
Ray Roberts on her right as the car made the turn at Elm and Houston.
In this position Mrs. Cabell was actually facing the seven-story
Depository when the first shot rang out.le She jerked her head up
immediately and saw a projection in the first group of windows on
a floor which she described both as the sixth floor and the top floor.*O
According to Mrs. Cabell, the object was rather long looking, but she
was unable to determine whether it was a mechanical object or a
persons arms1 She turned away from the window to tell her hus-
band that the noise was a shot, and just as I got the words out * * *
the second two shots rang out. s2 Mrs Cabell did not look at the
sixth-floor window when the second and third shots were fired.=
66
 James N. Crawford and Mary Ann Mitchell, two deputy district
clerks for Dallas County, watched the motorcade at the southeast
corner of Elm and Houston. After the Presidents car turned the
corner, Crawford heard a loud report which he thought was backfire
coming from the direction of the Triple Underpassa He heard a
second shot seconds later, followed quickly by a third. At t,he third
shot, he looked up and saw a movement in the far east corner
of the sixth floor of the Depository, the only open window on that
floor.35 He told Miss Mitchell that if those were shots they came
from that window. When asked to describe the movement more
exactly, he said,

* * * I would say that it was a profile, somewhat from the

waist up, but it was a very quick movement and rather indistinct
and it was very light colored. * * *
* * * * * * *
When I saw it, I aut.omatically in my mind came to the conclusion
that it was a person having moved out of the window. * * * 3E

He could not state whether the person was a man or a woman.37 Miss
Mitchell confirmed that after the third shot Crawford told her? Those
shots came from that building. 38 She saw Crawford pointing at a
window but was not sure at which window he was pointing.3e

On the Fifth Floor

Three Depository employees shown in the picture taken by Dillard
were on the fifth floor of the building when the shots were fired:
James Jarman, Jr., age 34, a wrapper in the shipping department;
Bonnie Ray Williams, age 20, a warehouseman temporarily assigned
to laying a plywood floor on the sixth floor; and Harold Norman, age
26, an order filler. Norman and Jarman decided to watch the
parade during the lunch hour from the fifth-floor windows.40 From
the ground floor they took the west elevator, which operates with push-
button controls, to the fifth floor .41 Meanwhile, Williams had gone up
to the sixth floor where he had been working and ate his lunch on the
south side of that floor. Since he saw no one around when he finished
his lunch, he started down on the east elevator, looking for company.
He left behind his paper lunch sack, chicken bones and an empty
pop bottle.42 Williams went down to the fifth floor, where he joined
Norman and Jarman at approximately 12 :20 pm.43
Harold Norman was in the fifth-floor window in the southeast
corner, directly under the window where witnesses saw the rifle.
(See Commission Exhibit No. 485, p. 69.) He could see light
through the ceiling cracks between the fifth and sixth floor~.~ As
the motorcade went by, Norman thought that the President was
saluting with his right arm,
68
 * * * and I cant remember what the exact time was but I know
I heard a shot, and then after I heard the shot, well, it seems
as though the President, you know, slumped or something, and
then another shot and I believe Jarman or someone told me, he
said, I believe someone is shooting at the President, and I
think I made a statement It is someone shooting at the President,
and I believe it came from up above us.
Well, I couldnt see at all during the time but i know I heard
a third shot fired, and I could also hear something sounded like
the shell hulls hitting the floor and the ejecting of the rifle * * *.I

Williams said that he really did not pay any attention to the first
shot

* * * because I did not know what was happening. The second

shot, it sounded like it was right in the building, the second and
third shot. And it sounded-it even shook the building, the side
we were on. Cement fell on my head.
Q. You say cement fell on your head?
A. Cement, gravel, dirt, or something, from the old building,
because it shook the windows and everything. Harold was sitting
next to me, and he said it came right from over our head.*

Williams testified Norman said I can even hear the shell being ejected
from the gun hitting the floor. I7
When Jarman heard the first sound, he thought that it was either
a back&a-

* * * or an officer giving a salute to the President. And then

at that time I didnt, you know, think too much about it. * * *
* * * * * * *
Well, after the third shot was fired, I think I got up and I run
over to Harold Norman and Bonnie Ray Williams, and told them,
I said, I told them that it wasnt a backfire or anything, that
somebody was shooting at the President.

Jarman testified that Norman said that he thought the shots had come
from above us, and I noticed that Bonnie Ray had a few debris in his
head. dt was sort of white stuff, o? something. 4e Jarman stated
that Norman said that he was sure that the shot came from inside
the building because he had been used to gurs and all that, and he
said it didnt sound like it was too fa-r off anyway. 5o The three men
ran to the west side of the building, where they could look toward the
Triple Underpass Ito see what had happened to the motorcade.s1
After the men had gone to the window on the west side of the build-
ing, Jarman got to thinking about all the debris on Bonnie Rays
head and said, That shot probably did come from upstairs, up over
us . 52 He testified that Norman said, I know it did, because I could
70
hear the action of t,he bolt, and I could hear the cartridges drop on
the floor. 53 After pausing for a few minutes, the three men ran
downstairs. Norman and Jarman ran out of the front entrance of the
buil,ding, where they saw Brennan, the construction worker who had
seen the man in the window firing the gun, talking to a police officer,
and they then reported their own experiences4
On March 20, 1964, preceding their appearance before the Com-
mission, these witnesses were interviewed in Dallas. At that time
members of the Commissions legal staff conducted an experiment.
Norman, Williams, and Jarman placed themselves at the windows of
the fifth floor as they had been on Nove.mber 22. A Secret Service
agent operated the bolt of a rifle directly above them at the southeast
corner window of the sixth floor. At the same time, three cartridge
shells were dropped to the floor at intervals of about 3 seconds. Ac-
cording t,o Norman, the noise outside was less on the day of the assassi-
nation than on the day of the test.56 He testified, Well, I heard the
same sound, the sound similar. .I heard three something that he
dropped on the floor and then I could hear the rifle or whatever he
had up there. 66 The experiment with the shells and rifle was re-
peated for members of the Commission on May 9,1964, on June 7,1964,
and again on September 6, 1964. All seven of the Commissioners
clearly heard the shells drop to the floor.

At the Triple Underpass

In contrast to the testimony of the witnesses who heard and observed
shots fired from the Depository, the Commissions investigation has
disclosed no credible evidence that any shots were fired from anywhere
else. When the shots were fired, many people near the Depository
believed that the shots came from the railroad bridge over the Triple
Underpass or from the area to the west of the Depository.5T In the
hectic moments after the assassination, many spectators ran in the
general ,direction of the Triple Underpass or the railroad yards north-
west of the building. Some were running toward the place from
which the sound of the rifle fire appeared to come, others were fleeing
the scene of the shooting.5* None of these people saw anyone with a
rifle, and the Commissions inquiry has yielded no evidence that shots
were fired from the bridge over the Triple Underpass or from the
railroad yards.
On the day of the motorcade, Patrolman J. W. Foster stood on the
east side of the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass and
Patrolman J. C. White stood on the west sideP* Patrolman Joe E.
Murphy was standing over Elm Street on the Stemmons Freeway
overpass, west of the railroad bridge farther away from the Deposi-
tory.6o Two other officers were stationed on Stemmons Freeway
to control traflic as the motorcade entered the Freeway.61 Under the
advance preparations worked out between the Secret Service and the
Dallas Police Department, the policemen were under instructions to
keep unauthorized people away from these locationsB2 When the
71
motorcade reached the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets, there
were no spectators on Stemmons Freeway where Patrolman Murphy
was stationed.63 Patrolman Foster estimated that there were 10 or
11 people on the railroad bridge where he was assigned ; 64 another
witness testified that there were between 14 and 18 people there as
the motorcade came into view.65 Investigation has disclosed 15 per-
sons who were on the railroad bridge at this time, including 2 police-
men, 2 employees of the Texas-Louisiana Freight Bureau and 11
employee8 of the Union Terminal ,CO.~~ In the absence of any explicit
definition of unauthorized persons, the policemen permitted these
employees to remain on the railroad bridge to watch the motorcade.
(Se8 chapter VIII, pp. 446447.) At the request of the policemen,
S. M. Holland, signal supervisor for Union Terminal Co., came to the
railroad bridge at about 11:45 a.m. and remained to identify those
persons who were railroad employeesB7 In addition, Patrolman
Foster checked credentials to determine if persons seeking access to
the bridge were railroad employees.68 Persons who were not railroad
employees were ordered away, including one news photographer who
wished only to take a picture of the motorcad8.sD
Another employee of the Union Terminal Co., Lee E. Bowers, Jr.,
was at work in a railroad tower about 14 feet above the track8 to the
north of the railroad bridge and northwest of the corner of Elm and
Houston, approximately 50 yards from the back of the Depository.O
(Se8 Commission Exhibit No. 2218, p. 73.) From the tower he could
view people moving in the railroad yards and at the rear of the
Depository. According to Bowers, Since approximately 10 oclock
in the morning traffic had been cut off into the area so that anyone
moving around could a&rally be observed. l During the 20 minute8
prior to the arrival of the motorcade, Bowers noticed three auto-
mobile8 which entered his immediate area; two left without discharg-
ing any passengers and the third was apparently on itsway out when
last observed by Bowers.72 Bowers observed only three or four people
in the general area, as well as a few bystanders on the railroad bridge
over the Triple Underpass.73
As the motorcade proceeded toward the Triple Underpass, the spec-
tators were clustered together along the east concrete wall of the
railroad bridge facing the oncoming procession.74 (Se8 Commission
Exhibit No. 2215, p. 75.) Patrolman Foster stood immediately be-
hind them and could observe all of them.75 Secret Service agents in
the lead car of the motorcade observed the bystanders and the police
officer on the bridge.76 Special Agent Winston G. Lawson motioned
through the windshield in an unsuccessful attempt to instruct Patrol-
man Foster to move the people away from their position directly over
the path of the motorcade.i7 Some distance away, on the Stemmons
Freeway overpass above Elm Street, Patrolman Murphy also had the
group on the railroad bridge within view.78 When he heard the shots,
Foster rushed to the wall of the railroad bridge over the Triple
Underpass and looked toward the street.O After the third shot,
Foster ran toward the Depository and shortly thereafter informed
72
Coarar~ss~on EXHIBIT No. 2215
Inspector Herbert J. Sawyer of the Dallas Police Department that
he thought the shots came from the vicinity of Elm and Houston.8o
Other witnesses on the railroad bridge had varying views concern-
ing the source and number of the shots. Austin L. Miller, employed
by the Texas-Louisiana Freight Bureau, heard three shots and thought
that they came from the area of the Presidential limousine itself.*
One of his coworkers, Boyce G. Skelton, thought he heard four shots,
but could not tell their exact so~rce.~~ Frank E. Reilly, an electri-
cian at Union Terminal, heard three shots which seemed to come from
the trees On the north side of Elm Street at the corner up there. 8s
According to S. M. Holland, there were four shots which sounded as
though they came from the trees on the north side of Elm Street where
he saw a puff of smoke8* Thomas J. Murphy, a mail foreman at
Union Terminal Co., heard two shots and said that they came from
a spot just west of the Depository.85 In the railroad tower, Bowers
heard three shots, which sounded as though they came either from
the Depository Building or near the mouth of the Triple Underpass.
Prior to November 22, 1963, Bowers had noted the similarity of the
sounds coming from the vicinity of the Depository and those from
the Triple Underpass, which he attributed to a reverberation which
takes place from either location. 86
Immediately after the shots were fired, neither the policemen nor
the spectators on the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass saw
anything suspicious on the bridge in their vicinity. (See Com-
mission Exhibit No. 2214, p. 74.) No one saw anyone with a rifle.
As he ran around through the railroad yards to the Depository,
Patrolman Foster saw no suspicious activity.* The same was true
of the other bystanders, many of whom made an effort after the
shooting to observe any unusual activity. Holland, for example,
immediately after the shots, ran off the overpass to see if there
was anyone behind the picket fence on the north side of Elm Street,
but he did not see anyone among the parked cars8* Miller did not see
anyone running across the railroad tracks or on the plaza west of the
Depository.8Q Bowers and others saw a motorcycle officer dismount
hurriedly and come running up the incline on the north side of Elm
Street.Qo The motorcycle officer, Clyde A. Haygood, saw no one
running from the railroad yardso

THE PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE

After the Presidential car was returned to Washington on Novem-
ber 22, 1963, Secret Service agents found two bullet fragments in the
front seat,. One fragment, found on the seat beside the driver, weighed
44.6 grains and consisted of the nose portion of a bullet.Q2 The other
fragment, found along the right side of the front seat, weighed 21.0
grains and consisted of the base portion of a bullet.89 During the
course of an examination on November 23, agents of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation found three small lead particles, weighing
76
between seven-tenths and nine-tenths of a grain each, on the rug
underneath the left jump seat which had been occupied by Mrs.
Connally.e4 During this examination, the Bureau agents noted a
small residue of lead on the inside surface of the laminated windshield
and a very small pattern of cracks on the outer layer of the wind-
shield immediately behind the lead residue.Q5 There was a minute
particle of glass missing from the outside surface, but no penetration.
The inside layer of glass was not broken.BB The agents also observed a
dent in the strip of chrome across the top of the windshield, located
to the left of the rear view mirror supp~rt.~~
The lead residue on the inside of the windshield was compared
under spectrographic analysis by FBI experts with the bullet frag-
ments found on and alongside the front seat and with the fragments
under the left, jump seat. It was also compared with bullet fragments
found at Parkland Hospital. All these bullet fragments were found
to be similar in metallic compo$tion, but it was not possible to
determine whether two or more of the fragments came from the same
bullet.88 It is possible for the fragments from the front seat to have
been a part of the same bullet as the three fragments found near the
left jump-seat,w since a whole <bullet of this type weighs 160-161
grains.OO (See app. X, pp. 555458.)
The physical characteristics of the windshield after the assassina-
tion demonstrate that the windshield was struck on the inside surface.
The windshield is composed of two layers of glass with a very thin
layer of plastic in the middle which bonds them together in the form of
safety glass. lo1 The windshield was extracted from the automobile
and was examined during a Commission hearing.lo2 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 350, p. 78.) According to Robert A. Frazier, FBI
firearms expert, the fact that cracks were present on the outer layer of
glass showed that the glass had been struck from the inside. He
testified that the windshield

could not have been struck on the outside surface because of

the manner in which the glass broke and further because of the
lead residue on the inside surface. The cracks appear in the
outer layer of the glass because the glass is bent outward at the
time of impact which stretches the outer layer of the glass to
the point where these small radial or wagon spoke, wagon wheel
spoke-type cracks appear on the outer surface.03

Although there is some uncertainty whether the dent in the chrome on

the windshield was present. prior to the assassination,104 Frazier
testified that the dent had been caused by some projectile which struck
the chrome on the inside surface. lo5 If it was caused by a shot during
t.he assassination, Frazier stated that it would not have been caused
by a bullet traveling at full velocity, but rather by a fragment traveling
at fairly high velocity. lo6 It could have been caused by either
fragment found in the front seat of the limousine.1o7

77
EXPERT EXAMINATION OF RIFLE, CARTRIDGE CASES,
AND BULLET FRAGMENTS
On the sixth floor of the Depository Building, the Dallas police
found three spent cartridges and a rifle. A nearly whole bullet was
discovered on the stretcher used to carry Governor Connally at Park-
land Hospital. As described in the preceding section, five bullet
fragments were found in the Presidents limousine. The cartridge
cases, the nearly whole bullet and the bullet fragments were all sub-
jected to firearms identification analysis by qualified experts. It was
the unanimous opinion of the experts that the nearly whole bullet, the
two largest bullet fragments and the three cartridge cases were defi-
nitely fired in the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository
Building to the exclusion of all other weapons.

Discovery of Cartridge Cases and Rifle

Shortly after the assassination, police officers arrived at the Deposi-
tory Building and began a search for the assassin and evidence.O
Around 1 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Luke Mo,oney noticed a pile of cartons
in front of the window in the southeast corner of the sixth floor.1o8
(See Commission Exhibit No. 723, p. 80.) Searching that area he
found at approximately 1:12 p.m. three empty cartridge cases on
the floor near the window.l1 When he was notified of Mooneys
discovery, Capt. J. W. Fritz, chief of the homicide bureau of the
Dallas Police Department, issued instructions that nothing be moved or
touched until technicians from the police crime laboratory could take
photographs and check for fingerprints. Mooney stood guard
to see that nothing was disturbed. A few minutes later, Lt. J. C.
Day of the Dallas Police Department arrived and took photographs
of the cartridge cases before anything had been moved.l13
At 1:22 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone and Deputy Constable
Seymour Weitzman found a bolt.-act,ion rifle with a telescopic sight
between two rows of boxes in the northwest corner ne&r the staircase
on the sixth floor.lX4 No one touched the weapon or btherwise dis-
turbed the scene until Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Day arrived and
the weapon was photographed as it lay on the floor.l15 After Lieu-
tenant Day determined that there were no fingerprints on the knob
of the bolt and that, the wooden stock was too rough to take finger-
prints, he picked the rifle up by the stock and held it that way while
Captain Fritz opened the bolt and ejected a live round.115 Lieutenant
Day retained possession of the weapon and took it back to the police
department for examination. llr Neither Boone nor Weitzman handled
the rifle.18
Discovery of Bullet at Parkland Hospital
A nearly whole bullet was found on Governor Connallys stretcher
at Parkland Hospital after the assassination. After his arrival at the
hospital the Governor was brought into trauma room No. 2 on a
79
stretcher, removed from the room on that stretcher a short time later,
and taken on an elevator to the second-floor operating room.llg On the
second floor he was transferred from the stretcher to an operating
table which was then moved int,o the operating room, and a hospital
attendant wheeled the empty stretcher into an elevator.120 Shortly
aftefward, Darrell C. Tomlinson, the hospitals senior engineer, re-
moved this stretcher from the elevator and placed it in the corridor
on the ground floor, alongside another stretcher wholly unconnected
with the care of Governor Connally.z1 A few minutes later, he
bumped one of the stretchers against the wall and a bullet rolled
Out.=
Although Tomlinson was not certain whether the bullet came from
the Connally stretcher or the adjacent one, the Commission has con-
cluded that the bullet came from the Governors stretcher. That con-
clusion is buttressed by evidence which eliminated President Ken-
nedys stretcher as a source of the bullet. President Kennedy re-
mained on the stretcher on Khich he was carried into the hospital
while the doctors tried to save his life.lZ3 He was never removed from
the stretcher from the time he was taken into the emergency room
until his body was placed in a casket in that same room.124 After the
Presidents body was removed from that stretcher, the linen was taken
off and placed in a hamper and the stretcher was pushed into trauma
room No. 2, a completely different location from the site where the
nearly whole bullet was found.lz5

Description of Rifle
The bolt-action, clip-fed rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depos-
itory, described more fully in appendix X, is inscribed with various
markings, including MADE ITALY, CAL. 6.5, 1940 and the
number C2766.1zci (See Commission Exhibit Nos. 1303, 541(2) and
54113)) pp. 82-83.) These markings have been explained as follows :
MADE ITALY refers to its origin; CAL. 6.5 refers to the rifles
caliber ; 1940 refers to the year of manufacture; and the number
C2766 is the serial number. This rifle is the only one of its type bear-
ing that serial number.lz7 After review of standard reference works
and the markings on the rifle, it was identified by the FBI as a 6.5-
millimeter model 91/38 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.lZ8 Experts from
the FBI made an independent, determination of the caliber by insert-
ing a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter cartridge into the weapon
for fit, and by making a sulfur cast of the inside of the weapons
barrel and measuring the cast with a micrometer.129 From ,outward
appearance, the weapon would appear to be a 7.35-millimeter rifle, but
its mechanism had been rebarreled with a 6.5-millimeter barre1.130
Constable Deputy Sheriff Weitzman, who only saw the rifle at a glance
and did not handle it, thought the weapon looked like a 7.65 Mauser
bolt-action rifle.131 (See chapter V, p. 235.)
The rifle is 40.2 inches long and weighs 8 pounds.32 The minimum
length broken down is 34.8 inches, the length of the wooden stock.13%
81
 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1304, p. 132.) Attached to the weapon
is an inexpensive four-power telescopic sight, stamped Optics Ord-
nance Inc./Hollywood California, and Made in Japan.13* The
weapon al.so bears a sling consisting of two leather straps. The sling
is not a standard rifle sling but appears to be a musical instrument
strap or a sling from a carrying case or camera bag.135

Expert Testimony
Four experts in the field of firearms identification analyzed the
nearly whole bullet, the two largest fragments and the three cartridge
cases to determine whether they had been fired from the C2766 Mann-
lither-Carcano rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository. Two of
these experts testified before the Commission. One was Robert A.
Frazier, a special agent of the FBI assigned to the FBI Laboratory
in Washington, D.C. Frazier has worked generally in the field of
firearms identification for 23 years, examining firearms of various
types for the purpose of ident.ifying the caliber and other character-
istics of the weapons and making comparisons of bullets and cartridge
cases for the purpose of determining whether or not they were fired
in a particular weapon.13s He estimated that he has made in the
neighborhood of 50,000 to 60,000 firearms comparisons and has testi-
fied in court on about 400 occasions. x37 The second witness who testified
on this subject was Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the bureau of
criminal identification and investigation for the State of Illinois.
Nicol also has had long and substantial experience since 1941 in fire-
arms identification, and estimated that he has made thousands of
bullet and cartridge case examinations.198
In examining the bullet fragments and csrtridge cases, these ex-
perts applied the general principles accepted in the field of firearms
identification, which are discussed in more detail in appendix X at
pages 547-553. In brief, a. determination that 8 particular bullet or
cartridge case has been fired in a particular weapon is based upon
a comparison of the bullet or case under examination with one or
more bullets or cases known to have been fired in that weapon.
When a bullet. is fired in any given weapon, it is engraved with the
characteristics of the weapon. In addition to the rifling character-
istics of the barrel which are common to all weapons of a given make
and model, every weapon bears distinctive microscopic markings on
its barrel, firing pin and bolt. face.13e These markings arise initially
during manufacture, since the action of the manufacturing tools
differs microscopically from weapon to weapon and since, in addi-
tion, the tools change microscopically while being used. As a weapon
is used further distinctive markings are introduced. Under micro-
scopic examination a qualified expert may be able to determine
whether the markings on a bullet known to have been fired in a
particular weapon and the markings on a suspect bullet are the same
and, therefore, whether both bullets were fired in the same weapon
84
to the exclusion of all other weapons. Similarly, firearms identifica-
tion experts are able to compare the markings left upon the base of
cartridge cases and thereby determine whether both cartridges were
fired by the same weapon to the exclusion of all other weapons.
According to Frazier, such an identificat.ion is made on the presence
of sufficient individual microscopic characteristics so that a very defi-
nite pattern is formed and visualized on the two surfaces.140 Under
some circumstances, as where the bullet or cartridge case is seriously
mutilated, there are not sufficient individual characteristics to enable
the expert to make a firm identification.l*l
After making independent examinations, both Frazier and .Nicol
positively identified the nearly whole bullet from the stretcher and
the two larger bullet fragments found in the Presidential limousine
as having been fired in the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found
in the Depository to the exclusion of all other weapons.142 Each of
the two bullet fragments had sufficient unmutilated area to provide
the basis for an identification.143 However, it was not possible to
determine whether the two bullet fragmepts were from the same bullet
or from two different bullets?** With regard to the other bullet frag-
ments discovered in the limousine and in the course of treating Presi-
dent Kennedy and Governor Connally, however, expert examination
could demonstrate only that the fragments were similar in. metallic
composition to each other, to the two larger fragments and to the
nearly whole bullet. 145 After examination of the three cartridge cases
found on the sixth floor of the Depository, Frazier and Nicol concluded
that they had been fired in the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle to
the exclusion of all other weapons.146 Two other experts from the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, who made independent examinations
of the nearly whole bullet, bullet fragments and cartridge cases,
reached the identical conclusions.*

THE BULLET WOUNDS

In considering the question of the sourca of the shots fired at Presi-
dent Kennedy and Governor Connally, the Commission has also eval-
uated the expert medical testimony of the doctors who observed the
wounds during the emergency treatment at Parkland Hospital and
during the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital. It paid particular
attention to any wound characteristics which would be of assistance
in identifying a wound as the entrance or exit point of a missile.
Additional information regarding the source and nature of the in-
juries was obtained by expert examination of the clothes worn by the
two men, particularly those worn by President Kennedy, and from
the results of special wound ballistics tests conducted at t.he Commis-
sions request, using the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle with am-
munition of the same type as that used and found on November 22,
1963.
85
 The Presidents Head Wounds
The detailed autopsy of President Ke.nnedy performed on the night
of November 22 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital led the three examin-
ing pathologists to conclude that the smaller hole in the rear of the
Presidents skull was the point of entry and that the large opening
on the right side of his head was the wound of exit.*ls The smaller
hole on the back of the Presidents head measured one-fourth of an
inch by five-eighths of an inch (6 by 15 millimeters) .*4Q The dimen-
sions of that wound were consistent with having been caused by a
6.5-millimeter bullet fied from behind and above which struck at a
tangent or an angle causing a 15-millimeter cut. The cut reflected a
larger dimension of entry than the bullets diameter of 6.5 millimeters,
since the missile, in effect, sliced along the skull for a fractional dis-
tance until it entered.JO The dimension of 6 millimeters,somewhat
smaller than the diameter of a 6.5-millimeter bullet, was caused by
the elastic recoil of the skull which shrinks the size of an opening after
a missile passes through it.151
Lt. Cal. Pierre A. Finck, Chief of the Wound Ballistics Pathology
Branch of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, who has had
extensive experience with bullet wounds, illustrated the characteris-
tics which led to his conclusions about the head wound by a chart
prepared by him. This chart, based on Colonel Fincks studies of
more than 400 cases, depicted the effect of a perforating missile wound
on the human sku11.15* When a bullet enters the skull (cranial vault)
at one point and exits at another, it causes a beveling or cratering
effect where the diameter of the hole is smaller on the impact side than
on the exit side. Based on his observations of that, beveling effect
on the Presidents skull, Colonel Finck testified : President Kennedy
was, in my opinion, shot from the rear. The bullet, entered in the
back of the head and went out on the right side-of his skull * III * he
was shot from above and behind. 153
Comdr. James J. Humes, senior pathologist and director of
laboratories at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, who acted as chief
autopsy surgeon, concurred in Colonel Fincks analysis. He corn-
pared the beveling or coning effect to that caused by a BB shot
which strikes a pane of glass, causing a round or oval defect on the
side of the glass where the missile strikes and a belled-out or coned-out
surface on the opposite side of the glass.1s4 Referring to the bullet
hole on the back of President Kennedys head, Commander Humes
testified: The wound on the inner table, however, was larger and
had what in the field of wound ballistics is described as a shelving qr
coning effect. IS5 After studying the other hole in the Presidents
skull, Commander Humes stated: * * * we concluded that the large
defect to the upper right side of the skull, in fact, would represent
a wound of exit. 156 Those characteristics led Commander Humes
and Comdr. J. Thornton Boswell, chief of pathology at Bethesda
Naval Hospital, who assisted in the autopsy, to conclude that the bullet
86
penetrated the rear of the Presidents head and exited through a
large wound on the right side of his head.lsT
Ballistics experiments (discussed more fully in app. X, pp. 585-586)
showed that the rifle and bullets identified above were capable of
producing the Presidents head wound. The Wound Ballistics Branch
of the U.S. Army laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, Md., conducted
an extensive series of experiments to test the effect of Western Car-
tridge Co. 6.5-millimeter bullets, the type found on Governor Con-
nallys stretcher and in the Presidential limousine, fired from the
C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the Depository. The Edge-
wood Arsenal tests were performed under the immediate supervision
of Alfred G. Olivier, a doctor who had spent 7 years in wounds bal-
listics research for the U.S. Arm~.~
One series of tests, performed on reconstructed inert human skulls,
demonstrated that the Presidents head wound could have been caused
by the rifle and bullets fired by the assassin from the sixth-floor
window. The results of this series were illustrated by the findings on
one skull which was struck at a point closely approximating the
wound of entry on President Kennedys head. That bullet blew out
the right side of the reconstructed skull in a manner very similar to
t.he head wound of the President.lsg As a result of these tests, Dr.
Olivier concluded that a Western Cartridge Co. 6.5 bullet fired from
the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle at a distance of 90 yards would
make the same type of wound as t,hat, found on the Presidents head.
Referring to the series of tests, Dr. Olivier testified :

It disclosed that the type of head wounds that the President

received could be done by this type of bullet. This surprised
me very much, because t,his type of stable bullet I didnt think
would oause a massive head wound, I thought it would go
through making a small entrance and exit, but the bones of the
skull are enough to deform the end of this bullet causing it to
expend a lot of energy and blowing out the side of the
skulf or blowing out fragments of the skull.w

After examining the fragments of the bullet which struck the recon-
structed skull, Dr. Olivier stated that-

the recovered fragments were very similar to the ones recovered

on the front seat and on the floor of the car.
This, to me, indicates that those fragments did come from the
bullet that wounded the President in the he.ad.lel

The Presidents Neck Wounds

During the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital another bullet
wound was observed near the base of the back of President Kennedys
neck slightly to the right of his spine which provides further enlight-
enment as to the source of the shots. The hole was located approxi-

87
mately 54s inches (14 centimeters) from the tip of the right shoulder
joint and approximately the same distance below the tip of the right
mastoid process, the bony point immediately behind the ear.@ The
wound was approximately one-fourth by one-seventh of an inch (7 by
4 millimeters), had clean edges, was sharply delineated, and had
margins similar in all respects to those of the entry wound in the
skull.= Commanders Humes and Boswell agreed with Colonel
Fincks testimony that this hole-

* * * is a wound of entrance. * * * The basis for that con-

clusion is that this wound was relatively small with clean edges.
It was not a jagged wound, and that is what we see in wound of
entrance at a long range.=

The autopsy examination further disclosed that, after entering the

President, the bullet passed between two large muscles, produced a
contusion on the upper part of the pleural cavity (without penetrating
that cavity), bruised the top portion of the right lung and ripped the
windpipe (trachea) in its path through the Presidents neck.lss The
examining surgeons concluded that the wounds were caused by the
bullet rather than the tracheotomy performed at Parkland Hospital.
The nature of the bruises indicated that the Presidents heart and
lungs were functioning when the bruises were caused, whereas there
was very little circulation in the Presidents body when incisions on
the Presidents chest were made to insert tubes during the tracheot-
omy.168 No bone was struck by the bullet which passed through the
Presidents body.67 By projecting from a point of entry on the rear
of the neck and proceeding at a slight downward angle through the
bruised interior portions, the doctors concluded that the bullet exited
from the front portion of the Presidents neck that had been cut away
by the tracheotomy.ss
Concluding that a bullet passed through the Presidents neck, the
doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital rejected a theory that the bullet
lodged in the large muscles in the back of his neck and fell out through
the point of entry when external heart massage was applied at Park-
land Hospital. In the earlier stages of the autopsy, the surgeons were
unable to find a path into any large muscle in the back of the neck.
At that time they did not know that there had been a bullet hole in the
front of the Presidents neck when he arrived at Parkland Hospital
because the tracheotomy incision had completely eliminated that evi-
dence.lss While the autopsy was being performed, surgeons learned
that a whole bullet had been found at Parkland Hospital on a stretcher
which, at that time, was thought to be the stretcher occupied by the
President. This led to speculation that the bullet might have pene-
trated a short distance into the back of the neck and t,hen dropped out
onto the stretcher as a result of the external heart massage.O
Further exploration during the autopsy disproved that theory. The
surgeons determined that the bullet had passed between two large strap
muscles and bruised them without leaving any channel, since the bullet
88
merely passed between them.l Commander Humes, who believed
that a tracheotomy had been performed from his observations at the
autopsy, talked by telephone with Dr. Perry early on the morning of
November 23, and learned that his assumption was correct and that
Dr. Perry had used the missile wound in the neck as the point to make
the incision.172 This confirmed the Bethesda surgeons conclusion
that the bullet had exited from the front part of the neck.
The findings of the doctors who conducted the autopsy were con-
sistent with the observations of the doctors who treated the President,
at Parkland Hospital. Dr. Charles S. Carrico, a resident surgeon at
Parkland, noted a small wound approximately one-fourth of an inch
in diameter (5 to 8 millimeters) in the lower third of the neck below the
Adams apple.173 Dr. Malcolm 0. Perry, who performed the trache-
otomy, described the wound as approximately one-fifth of an inch in
diameter (5 millimeters) and exuding blood which partially hid edges
that were neither cleancut, that is, punched out, nor were they very
ragged. 174 Dr. Carrico testified as follows:

Q. Based on your 6bservations on the neck wound alone did you

have a sufficient basis to form an opinion as to whether it was an
entrance or an exit wound?
A. No, sir; we did not. Not having completely evaluated all
the wounds, traced out t.he course of the bullets, this wound would
have been compatible with either entrance or exit wound depend-
ing upon the size, the velocity, the tissue structure and so forth.17

The same response was made by Dr. Perry to a similar query :

Q,. Based on the appearance of the neck wound alone, could it

have been either an entrance or an exit wound ?
A. It could have been eit.her.176

Then each doctor was asked to take into account the other known facts,
such as the autopsy findings, the approximate distance the bullet
traveled and tested muzzle velocityof the assassination weapon. With
these additional factors, the doctors commented on the wound on the
front of the Presidents neck as follows:

Dr. CARRICO. With those facts and the fact as I understand it

no other bullet was found this would be, this was, I believe, was an
exit wound.177
Dr. PERRY. A full jacketed bullet without deformation passing
through skin would leave a similar wound for an exit and entrance
wound and with the facts which you have made available and with
these assumptions, I believe that it was an exit wound.178

Other doctors at Parkland Hospital who observed the wound prior

to the tracheotomy agreed with t~he observations of Drs. Perry and
Carrico.17g The bullet wound in the neck could be seen for only a short
time, since Dr. Perry eliminated evidence of it when he performed
89
730-900 O-64-8
the tracheotomy. He selected that spot-since it was the point where
such an operation was customarily performed, and it was one of the
safest and easiest spots from which to reach the trachea. In addition,
there was possibly an underlying wound to the muscles in the neck, the
carotid artery or the jugular vein, and Dr. Perry concluded that the
incision, therefore, had to be low in order to maintain respiration.180
Considerable confusion has arisen because of comments attributed
to Dr. Perry concerning the nature of the neck wound. Immediately
after the assassination, many people reached erroneous conclusions
about the source of the shots because of Dr. Perrys observations to
the press. On the afternoon of November 22, a press conference
was organized at Parkland Hospital by members of the White House
press staff and a hospital administrator. Newsmen with microphones
and cameras were crowded into a room to hear statements by Drs.
Perry and William Kemp Clark, chief neurosurgeon at Parkland,
who had attended to President Kennedys head injury. Dr. Perry de-
scribed the situation as bedlam. l*l The confusion was compounded
by the fact that some questions were only partially answered before
other questions were asked.la2
At the news conference, Dr. Perry answered a series of hypothetical
questions and stated to the press that a variety of possibilities could
account for the Presidents wounds. He stated that a single bullet
could have caused the Presidents wounds by entering through the
throat, striking the spine, and being deflected upward with the point
of exit being through the head. ls3 This would have accounted for the
two wounds he observed, the hole in the front of the neck and the
large opening in the skull. At that time, Dr. Perry did not know
about either the wound on the back of the Presidents neck or the
small bullet-hole wound in the back of the head. As described in
chapter II, the President was lying on his back during his entire
time at Parkland. The small hole in the head was also hidden from
view by the large quantity of blood which covered the Presidents head.
Dr. Perry said his answers at the press conference were i&ended to
convey his theory about what could have happened, based on his lim-
ited knowledge at the time, rather than his professional opinion about
what did happen.ls4 Commenting on his answers at the press cmfer-
ence, Dr. Perry testified before the Commission :

I expressed it [his answers] as a matter of speculation that this

was conceivable. But, again, Dr. Clark [who also answered
questions at the conference] and I emphasized that we had no way
of knowing.186

Dr. Perrys recollection of his comments is corroborated by some of

the news stories after the press conference. The New York Herald
Tribune on November 23,1963, reported as follows :

Dr. Malcolm Perry, 34, attendant surgeon at Parkland Hos-

pital who attended the President, said he saw two wounds-
90
 one below the Adams apple, the other at the back of the head.
He said he did not know if two bullets were involved. It is
possible, he said, that the neck wound was the entrance and the
other the exit of the missile.1sB

According to this report, Dr. Perry stated merely that it was possible
that the neck wound was a wound of entrance. This conforms with
his testimony before the Commission, where he stated that by .them-
selves the characteristics of the neck wound were consistent with
being either a point of entry or exit.
Wound bdli;stics tests.-Experiments performed by the Army
Wound Ballistics experts at Edgewood Arsenal, Md. (discussed in
app. X, p. 582) showed that under simulated conditions entry and
exit wounds are very similar in appearance. After reviewing the path
of the bullet through the Presidents neck, as disclosed in the autopsy
report, the experts simulated the neck by using comparable material
with a thickness of approximately 51/s inches (131/2 to 141/s centi-
meters), which was the distance traversed by the bullet. Animal skin
was placed on each side, and Western Cartridge Co. 6.5 bullets were
fired from the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle from a distance of 180
feet. The animal skin on the entry side showed holes which were
regular and round. On the exit side two holes were only slightly elon-
gated, indicating that the bullet had become only a little unstable at
the point of exit.18 A third exit hole was round, although not quite
as regular as the entry holes.188 The exit holes, especially the one most
nearly round, appeared similar to the descriptions given by Drs. Perry
and Carrico of the hole in the front of the Presidents neck.lBe
The autopsy disclosed that the bullet which entered the back of
the Presidents neck hit no bony structure and proceeded in a slightly
downward angle. The markings on the Presidents clothing indicate
that the bullet moved in a slight right to left lateral direction as
it passed through the Presidents body.lw After the examining doc-
tors expressed the thought that a bullet would have lost very little
velocity in passing through the soft tissue of the neck, wound ballistics
experts conducted tests to measure the exit velocity of the bullet.=
The tests were the same as those used to create entry and exit holes,
supplemented by the use of break-type screens which measured the
velocity of bullets. The entrance velocity of the bullet fired from the
rifle averaged 1,904 feet per second after it traveled 180 feet. The
exit velocity averaged 1,772 to 1,798 feet per second, depending upon
the substance through which the bullet passed. A photograph of the
path of the bullet traveling through the simulated neck showed that it
proceeded in a straight line and was stable.=
ffxam&wtion of cZothing.-The clothing worn by President Kennedy
on November 22 had holes and tears which showed that a missile
entered the back of his clothing in the vicinity of his lower neck
and exited through the front of his shirt immediately behind his tie,
nicking the knot of his tie in its forward flight.lm Although the caliber
of the bullet could not lbe determined and some of the clothing items
91
precluded a positive determination that some tears were made by
a bullet, all the defects could have been caused by a 6.5millimeter
bullet entering the back of the Presidents lower neck and exiting in
the area of the knot of his tie.ls4
An examination of the suit jacket worn by the President by FBI
Agent Frazier revealed a roughly circular hole approximately one-
fourth of an inch in diameter on the rear of the coat, 53/S inches below
the top of the collar and ls/ inches to the right of the center back seam
of the coat.lsa The hole was visible on the upper rear of the coat slightly
to the right of center. Traces of copper were found in the margins
of the hole and the cloth fibers around the margins were pushed in-
ward.sa Those characteristics established that the hole was caused
by an entering bullet. Is7 Although the precise size of the bullet could
not be determined from the hole, it was consistent with having been
made by a 6.5millimeter bullet.le8
The shirt worn by the President contained a hole on the back side
5s/4 inches below the top of the collar and 11/8 inches to the right of
the middle of the back of the shirt.189 The hole on the rear of the
shirt was approximately circular in shape and about one-fourth of an
inch in diameter, with the fibers pressed inward.200 These factors
established it as a bullet entrance hole .201 The relative position of the
hole in the back of the suit jacket to the hole in the back of the shirt
indicated that both were caused by the same penetrating missile.*
On the front of the shirt, examination revealed a hole seven-eighths
of an inch below the collar button and a similar opening seven-eighths
of an inch below the buttonhole. These two holes fell into alinement
on overlapping positions when the shirt was buttoned.20s Each hole
was a vertical, ragged slit approximately one-half of an inch in height,
with the cloth fibers protruding outward. Although the characteristics
of the slit established that the missile had exited to the front, the
irregular nature of the slit precluded a positive determination that it
was a bullet hole.*O However, the hole could have been caused by a
round bullet although the characteristics were not sufficiently clear to
enable the examining expert to render a conclusive opinion.2o5
When the Presidents clothing was removed at Parkland Hospital,
his tie was cut off by severing the loop immediately to the wearers
left of the knot, leaving the knot in its original condition.20s The tie
had a nick on the left side of the knot.20T The nick was elongated
horizontally, indicating that the tear was made by some object mov-
ing horizontally, but the fibers were not affected in a manner which
would shed light on the direction or the nature of the missile.2o8

The Governors Wounds

While riding in the right jump seat of the Presidential limousine
on November 22, Governor Connally sustained wounds of the back,
chest, right wrist and left thigh. Because of the small size and clean-
cut edges of the wound on the Governors back, Dr. Robert Shaw con-
cluded tha.t it was an entry wound.2os The bullet traversed the Gov-
92
ernors chest in a downward angle, shattering his fifth rib, and exited
below the right nipple.z10 The ragged edges of the S-inch (5 cen-
timeters) opening on the front of the chest led Dr. Shaw to conclude
that it was the exit point of the bullet.211 When Governor Connally
testified before the Commission 5 months after the assassination, on
April 21,1964, the Commission observed the Governors chest wounds,
as well as the injuries to his wrist and thigh and watched Dr. Shaw
measure with a caliper an angle of declination of 25 from the
point of entry on t.he back to the point of exit on the front of the
Governors chest.*l*
At the time of the shooting, Governor Connally was unaware
that he had sustained any injuries other than his chest wounds.21S On
the back of his arm, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) above the wrist
joint on the thumb side, Dr. Charles F. Gregory observed a linear
perforating wound approximately one-fifth of an inch (one-half
cent,imeter) wide and 1 inch (21/s centimeters) long.*l During his
operation on t.his injury, the doctor concluded that this ragged wound
was the point of entry because thread and cloth had been carried into
the wound to the region of the bone. *I5 Dr. Gregorys conclusions were
also based upon the location in the Governors wrist, as revealed by
X-ray, of small fragments of metal shed by the missile upon striking
the firm surface of the bone.*16 Evidence of different amounts of air
in the tissues of the wrist gave further indication that the bullet passed
from the back to the front of the wrist.*17 An examination of the
palm surface of the wrist showed a wound approximately one-fifth
of an inch (one-half centimeter) long and approximately three-fourths
of an inch (2 centimeters) above the crease of the right wrist.*l* Dr.
Shaw had init.ially believed that the missile entered on the palm side of
the Governors wrist and exited on the back side.*lg After reviewing
the factors considered by Dr. Gregory, however, Dr. Shaw withdrew
his earlier opinion. He deferred to the jud,ment of Dr. Gregory, who
had more closely examined that wound during the wrist operation.220
In addition, Governor Connally suffered a puncture wound in the
left thigh that was approximately two-fifths of an inch (1 centimeter)
in diameter and located approximately 5 or 6 inches above the Gov-
ernors left knee.**l On the Governor% leg, very little soft-tissue
damage was noted, which indicated a tangential wound or the penetra-
tion of a larger missile entering at low velocity and stopping after
entering the skin.*** X-ray examination disclosed a tiny metallic
fragment embedded in t.he Governors leg.23 The surgeons who
attended the Governor concluded that the thigh wound was not caused
by the small fragment in the thigh but resulted from the impact of a
larger missile.***
Exarninution of clothing.-The clothing worn by Governor Connally
on November 22, 1963, contained holes which matched his wounds.
On the back of the Governors coat, a hole was found ll/s inches
from the seam where the right sleeve attached to the coat and 7%
inches to the right of the midline.225 This hole was elongated in a
horizontal direction approximately five-eighths of an inch in length

93
and one-fourth of an inch in height.ZZ6 The front side of the Gover-
nors coat contained a circular hole three-eighths of an inch in diameter,
located 5 inches to the right of the front, right. edge of the coat slightly
above the top but,ton .**? A rough hole approximately five-eighths of an
inch in length and three-eighths of an inch in width was found near the
end of the right sleeve.228 Each of these holes could have been caused
by a bullet, but a positive determination of this fact or the direction
of the missile was not possible because the garment had been cleaned
and pressed prior to any opportunity for a scientific examination.228
An examination of the Governors shirt disclosed a very ragged
tear five-eighths of an inch long horizontally and one-half of an inch
vertically on the back of the shirt near the right sleeve 2 inches from
the line where the sleeve attaches.230 Immediately to the right was
another small tear, approximately three-sixteenths of an inch long.23*
The two holes corresponded in position to the hole in the back of the
Governors coat.232 A very irregular tear in the form of an H was
observed on the front side of the Governors shirt, approximately l$$
inches high, with a crossbar tear approximately 1 inch wide, located 5
inches from the right side seam and 9 inches from the top of the right
sleeve.233 Because the shirt had been laundered, there were insufficient
characteristics for the expert examiner to form a conclusive opinion
on the direction or nature of the object causing the holesZ3 The rear
hole could have been caused by the entrance of a 6.5-millimeter bullet
and the front hole by the exit of such a bullet.23S
On the French cuff of the right sleeve of the Governors shirt was
a ragged, irregularly shaped hole located 11/z inches from the end of
the sleeve and 51/2 inches from the outside cuff-link hole.Z36 The char-
acteristics after laundering did not permit positive conclusions but
these holes could have been caused by a bullet passing through the
Governors right wrist from the back to the front sides.237 The Gov-
ernors trousers contained a hole approximately one-fourth of an inch
in diameter in the region of the left knee.258 The roughly circular
shape of the hole and the slight tearing away from the edges gave the
hole the general appearance of a bullet hole but it was not possible to
determine the direction of the missile which caused the hole.23e
Course of bullet.-Ballistics experiments and medical findings es-
tablished that the missile which passed through the Governors wrist
and penetrated his thigh had first traversed his chest. The Army
Wound Ballistics experts conducted tests which proved that the Gov-
ernors wrist wound was not caused by a pristine bullet.. (See app.
X, pp. 582-585.) A bullet is pristine immediately on exiting from a
rifle muzzle when it moves in a straight line with a spinning motion and
maintains its uniform trajectory with but a minimum of nose surface
striking the air through which it passes.Mo When the straight line of
flight of a bullet is deflected by striking some object, it starts to wobble
or become irregular in flight, a condition called yaw. A bullet with
yaw has a greater surface exposed to the striking material or air,
since the target or air is struck not only by the nose of the bullet, its
smallest striking surface, but also by the bullets sides.z42
94
 The ballistics experts learned the exact nature of the Governors
wrist wound by examining Parkland Hospital records and X-rays and
conferring with Dr. Gregory. The C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
found in the Depository was fired with bullets of the same type as
the bullet found on the Governors stretcher and the fragments found
in the Presidential limousine. Shots were fired from a distance of
70 yards at comparable flesh and bone protected by material similar
to the clothing worn by the Governor.H3 One of the test shots
wounded the comparable flesh and bone structure in virtually the same
place and from the same angle as the wound inflicted on Governor
Connallys wrist. An X-ray and photograph of the simulated wrist
confirmed the similarity.N4 The bullet which inflicted that injury
during the tests had a nose which was substantially flattened from
striking the material.6 The striking velocity at 70 yards of seven
shots fired during the tests averaged 1,858 feet per second ; the average
exit velocity of five shots was 1,776 feet per second.2
The conclusion that the Governors wrist was not struck by a pristine
bullet was based upon the following : (1) greater damage was inflicted
on the test material than on the Governors wrist ; 24T(2) the test ma-
terial had a smaller entry wound and a larger exit wound, characteristic
of a pristine bullet, while the Governors wrist had a larger entry
wound as compared with its exit wound, indicating a bullet which
was tumbling; N* (3) cloth was carried into the wrist wound, which
is characteristic of an irregular missile; Me (4) the partial cutting of
a radial nerve and tendon leading to the Governors thumb further
suggested that the bullet which struck him was not pristine, since
such a bullet would merely push aside a tendon and nerve rather than
catch and tear them ; 250 (5) the bullet found on the Governors
stretcher probably did not pass through the wrist as a pristine bullet
because its nose was not considerably flattened, as was the case with
the pristine bullet which struck the simulated wrist; 2L11and (6) the
bullet which caused the Governors thigh injury and then fell out of
the wound had a %ery low velocity, whereas the pristine bullets
fired during the tests possessed a very high exit velocity.m2
All. the evidence indicated that the bullet found on the Governors
stretcher could have caused all his wounds. The weight of the whole
bullet prior to firing was approximately 160-161 grains and that of
t,he.recovered bullet was 158.6 grains2 An X-ray of the Governors
wrist showed very minute metallic fragments, and two or three of
these fragments were removed from his .wrist.254 All these fragments
were sufficiently small and light so that the nearly whole bullet found
on the stretcher could have deposited those pieces of metal as it tum-
bled through his wrist.255 In their testimony, the three doctors who
attended Governor Connally at Parklland Hospital expressed inde
pendently their opinion that a single bullet had passed through his
chest ; tumbled through his wrist with very lit.tle exit velocity, leaving
small metallic fragments from the rear portion of the bullet; punctured
his left thigh after the bullet had lost virtually all of its velocity ; and
had fallen out of the thigh wound.266

95
 Governor Connally himself thought it likely that all his wounds
were caused by a single bullet. In his testimony before the Commis-
sion, he repositioned himself as he recalled his position on the jump
seat, with his right palm on his left thigh, and said:

I * * * wound up the next da.y realizing I was hit in three

places, and I was not. conscious of having been hit but by one
bullet, so I tried to reconstruct how I could have been hit in three
places by the same bullet., and I merely, I know it penetrated from
the back through the chest first.
I assumed that I had turned as I described a moment ago,
placing my right hand on my left leg, that it hit my wrist, went
out the center of the wrist, the underside, and then into my leg,
but it might not have happened that way at a11.25

The Governors posture explained how a single missile through his

body would cause all his wounds. His doctors at Parkland Hospital
had recreated his position, also, but they placed his right arm some-
what higher than his left thigh although in the same alinement.258
The wound ballistics experts concurred in the opinion that a single
bullet caused all the Governors wounds.258

THE TRAJECTORY
The cumulative evidence of eyewitnesses, firearms and ballistic ex-
perts and medical authorities demonstrated that the shots were fired
from above and behind President Kennedy and Governor Connally,
more particularly, from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book De-
pository Building. In order to determine t,he facts with as much
precision as possl%le and to insure that all data were consistent with
the shots having been fired from the sixth floor window, the Commis-
sion requested additidnal investigation, including the analysis of mo-
tion picture films of the assassination and onsite tests& The facts
developed through this investigation by the FBI and Secret Service
confirmed the conclusions reached by the Commission regarding the
source and trajectory of the shots which hit the President and the
Governor. Moreover, these facts enabled the Commission to make
certain approximations regarding the locations of the Presidential
limousine at the time of the shots and the relevant time intervals.

Films and Tests

When the shots rang out the Presidential limousine was moving
beyond the Texas School Book Depository Building in a southwesterly
direction on Elm Street between Houston Street and the Triple Under-
pass.26o The general location of the car was described and marked
on maps by eyewitnesses as precisely as their observations and recol-
lections permitted.261 More exact informat.ion was provided by motion

96
pictures taken by Abraham Zapruder, Orville 0. Nix and Mary
Muchmore, who were spectators at the scene.262 Substantial light has
been shed on the assassination sequence by viewing these motion pic-
tures, particularly the Zapruder film, which was the most complete
and from which individual 35millimeter slides were made of each
motion picture f rame.2
Examination of the Zapruder motion picture camera by the FBI
established that 18.3 pictures or frames were taken each second, and
therefore, the timing of certain events could be calculated by allowing
l/18.3 seconds for the action depicted from one frame to the next.zB4
The films and slides made from individual frames were viewed by Gov-
ernor and Mrs. Connally, the Governors doctors, the autopsy surgeons,
and the Army wound ballistics scientists in order to apply the knowl-
edge of each to determine the precise course of events.*- Tests of the
assassins rifle disclosed that at least 2.3 seconds were required between
shots.2sa In evaluating the films in the light of these timing guides,
it was kept in mind that a victim of a bullet wound may not react im-
mediately and, in some situations, according to experts, the victim may
not even know where he has been hit, or when.267
On May 24, 1964, agents of the FBI and Secret Service conducted
a series of tests to determine as precisely as possible what happened
on November 22, 1963. Since the Presidential limousine was being
remodeled and was therefore unavailable, it was simulated by using
the Secret Service followup car, which is similar in design.268 Any
differences were taken into account. Two Bureau agents with approxi-
mately the same physical characteristics sat in the car in the same
relative positions as President Kennedy and Governor Connally had
occupied. The back of the stand-in for the President was marked with
chalk at the point where the bullet entered. The Governors model
had on the same coat worn by Governor Connally when he was shot,
with the hole in the back circled in chalk.26g
To simulate the conditions which existed at the assassination scene
on November 22, the lower part of the sixth-floor window at the south-
east corner of the Depository Building was raised halfway, the card-
board boxes were repositioned, the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
found on the sixth floor of the Depository was used, and mounted on
that rifle was a camera which recorded the view as was seen by the
assassin.27o In addition, the Zapruder, Nix, and Muchmore cameras
were on hand so that photographs taken by these cameras from the
same locations where they were used on November 22, 1963, could be
compared with the films of that date.271 The agents ascertained that
the foliage of an oak tree that came between the gunman and his
target along the motorcade route on Elm Street was approximately
the same as on the day of the assassination.272

The First Bullet That Hit

The position of President Kennedys car when he was struck in the
neck was determined with substantial precision from the films and
97
onsite tests. The pictures or frames in the Zapruder film were marked
by the agents, with the number 1 given to the first frame where the
motorcycles leading the motorcade came into view on Houston Street.273
The numbers continue in sequence as Zapruder filmed the Presidential
limousine as it came around the corner and proceeded down Elm.
The President was in clear view of the assassin as he rode up Houston
Street and for 100 feet as he proceeded down Elm Street, until he
came to a point denoted as frame 166 on the Zapruder film.274 These
facts were determined in the test by placing the car and men on Elm
Street in the exact spot where they were when each frame of the
Zapruder film was photographed. To pinpoint their locations, a man
stood at Zapruders position and directed the automobile and both
models to the positions shown on each frame, after which a Bureau pho-
tographer crouched at the sixth-floor window and looked through a
camera whose lens recorded the view through the telescopic sight of
the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.275 (See Commission Exhibit No.
887, p. 99.) Each position was measured to determine how far Presi-
dent Kennedy had gone down Elm from a point, which was designated
as station C, on a line drawn along the west curbline of Houston
Street.2T*
Based on these calculations, the agents concluded that at frame 166
of t,he Zapruder film the President passed beneath the foliage of the
large oak tree and the point of impact on the Presidents back disap-
peared from the gunmans view as seen through the telescopic lens?
(See Commission Exhibit No. 889, p. 100.) For a fleeting instant,
the President came back into view in the telescopic lens at frame 186
as he appeared in an opening among the leaves.27* (See Commission
Exhibit No. 891, p. 101.) The test revealed that the next point at
which the rifleman had a clear view throu& the telescopic sight of
the point where the bullet entered the Presidents back was when
the car emerged from behind the tree at frame 21O.27s (See Commis-
sion Exhibit No. 893, p. 102.) According to-FBI Agent Lyndal L.
Shaneyfelt, There is no obstruction from the sixth floor window
from the time they leave the tree until they disappear down toward
the triple overpass. 280
As the President rode along Elm Street for a distance of about 140
feet, he was waving to the crowd. 281 Shaneyfelt testified that the
waving is seen on the Zapruder movie until around frame 205, when a
road sign blocked out most of the Presidents body from Zapruders
view through the lens of his camera. However, the assassin continued
to have a clear view of the President as he proceeded down Elm.Pa2
When President Kennedy again came fully into view in the Zapruder
film at frame 225, he seemed to be react,ing to his neck wound by
raising his hands to his throat.283 (See Commission Exhibit No. 895,
p. 103.) According to Shaneyfelt the reaction was clearly ap-
parent in 226 and barely apparent in 225. 284 It is probable that the
President was not shot. before frame 210, since it is unlikely that the
assassin would deliberately have shot at him with a view obstructed
by the oak tree when he was about to have a clear opportunity. It is
98
also doubtful that even the most proficient marksman would have hit
him through the oak tree. In addition, the Presidents reaction is
barely apparent in frame 225, which is 15 frames or approximately
eight-tenths second after frame 210, and a shot much before 210 would
assume a longer reaction time than was recalled by eyewitnesses at
the scene. Thus, the evidence indicated that the President was not
hit until at le,ast frame 210 and that he was probably hit by frame 225.
The possibility of variations in reaction time in addition to the obstruc-
tion of Zapruders view by the sign precluded a more specific deter-
mination than that the President was probably shot. through the neck
between frames 210 and 225, which marked his position between 138.9
and 153.8 feet west of station C.*85
According to Special Agent Robert A. Frazier, who occupied the
position of the assassin in the sixth-floor window during the reenact-
ment, it is likely that the bullet which passed through the Presidents
neck, as described previously, then struck the automobile or someone
else in the automobile.286 The minute examination by the FBI in-
spection team, conducted in Washington between 14 and 16 hours
after the assassination, revealed no damage indicating that a bullet
struck any part of the interior of the Presidential limousine, with the
exception of the cracking of the windshield and the dent on the wind-
shield chrome. Neither of these points of damage to the car could
have been caused by the bullet which exited from the Presidents neck
at a velocity of 1,772 to 1,779 feet per second.*** If the trajectory had
permitted the bullet to strike the windshield, the bullet would have
penetrated it and traveled a substantial distance down the road unless
it struck some other object en route.288 Had that bullet struck the
metal framing, which was dented, it would have torn a hole in the
chrome and penetrated the framing, both inside and outside the car.2go
At that exit velocity, the bullet would have penetrated any other metal
or upholstery surface of the interior of the automobile.2g1
The bullet that hit President Kennedy in the back and exited through
his throat most likely could not have missed both the automobile and
its occupants. Since it did not hit the automobile, Frazier testified
that it probably struck Governor Connally.2gZ The relative positions
of President Kennedy and Governor Connally at t.he time when the
President was struck in the neck confirm that the same bullet probably
passed through both men. Pictures taken of the Presidents limousine
on November 22, 1963, showed that the Governor sat immediately in
front of the President.2g3 Even though the precise distance cannot be
ascertained, it is apparent that President Kennedy was somewhat to the
Governors right. The President sat on the extreme right, as noted in
the films and by eyewitnesses, while the right edge of the jump seat in
which the Governor sat is 6 inches from the right door.2g4 (See Com-
mission Exhibit No. 697, p. 104.) The President wore a back brace
which tended to make him sit up straight, and the Governor also sat
erect since the jump seat gave him little leg room.2g5
Based on his observations during the reenactment and the position
of Governor Connally shown in the Zapruder film after the car
105
7302300 o-64-9
emerged from behind the sign, Frazier testified that Governor Con-
nally was in a position during the span from frame 207 to frame 225
to receive a bullet which would have caused the wounds he actually
suff ered.2g6 Governor Connally viewed the film and testified that he
was hit between frames 231 and 234. 2g7 According to Frazier, between
frames 235 and 240 the Governor turned sharply to his right, so that
by frame 240 he was too far to the right to have received his injuries
at that time?% At some point between frames 235 and 240, therefore,
is the last occasion when Governor Connally could have received his
injuries, since in the frames following 240 he remained turned too far
to his right.2gg If Governor Connally was hit by a separate shot be-
tween frames 235 and 240 which followed the shot which hit the Presi-
dents neck, it would follow that : (1) the assassins first, shot, assuming
a minimum firing time of 2.3 seconds (or 42 frames), was fired between
frames 193 and 198 when his view was obscured by the oak tree; (2)
President Kennedy continued waving to the crowd after he was hit
and did not begin to react for about 11/2 seconds ; and (3) the first shot,
although hitting no bones in the Presidents body, was deflected after
its exit from the Presidents neck in such a way that it failed to hit
either the automobile or any of the other occupants.
Viewed through the telescopic sight of the C2766 Mannlicher-
Carcano rifle from the sixth-floor window during the test, the marks
that simulated the entry wounds on the stand-ins for the President and
the Governor were generally in a straight line. That alinement became
obvious to the viewer through the scope as the Governors model
turned slightly to his right and assumed the position which Governor
Connally had described as his position when he was struck. Viewing
the stand-ins for the President and the Governor in the sight of the
C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle at the location depicted in frames 207
and 210, Frazier testified : They both are in direct alinement with the
telescopic sight at the window. The Governor is immediately behind
the President in the field of view. 3oo (See Commission Exhibit No.
893, p. 102.) A surveyor then placed his sighting equipment at the
precise point of entry on the back of the Presidents neck, assuming
that the President was struck at frame 210, and measured the angle to
the end of the muzzle of the rifle positioned where it was believed to
have been held by the assassin.3o1 That angle measured 2134.302
From the same points of reference, the angle at frame 225 was meas-
ured at 20011, giving an average angle of 2OO5230 from frame 210
to frame 225.303 Allowing for a downward street grade of 39, the
probable angle through the Presidents body was calculated at
174330, assuming that he was sitting in a vertical position.3
That angle was consistent with the trajectory of a bullet passing
through the Presidents neck and then striking Governor Connallys
back, causing the wounds which were discussed above. Shortly after
that angle was ascertained, the open car and the stand-ins were taken
by the agents to a nearby garage where a photograph was taken to
determine through closer study whether the angle of that shot could
have accounted for the wounds in the Presidents neck and the Gov-
106
ernors back.305 A rod was placed at an angle of 1704330 next to
the stand-ins for the President and the Governor, who were seated in
the same relative positions.30B The wounds of entry and exit on the
President were approximated based on information gained from the
autopsy reports and photographs .307 The hole in the back of the jacket
worn by the Governor and the medical description of the wound on his
back marked that entry point. 308 That line of fire from the sixth floor
of the Depository would have caused the bullet to exit under the Gov-
ernors right nipple just as the bullet did. Governor Connallys
doctors measured an angle of declination on his body from the entry
wound on his back to the exit on the front of his chest at about 25
when he sat erect?Og That difference was explained by either a slight
deflection of the bullet caused by striking the fifth rib or the Governors
leaning slightly backward at the time he was struck. In addition,
the angle could not be fixed with absolute precision, since the large
wound on the front of his chest precluded an exact determination of
the point of exit?1
The alinement of the points of entry was only indicative and not
conclusive that one bullet hit both men. The exact positions of the
men could not be re-created ; thus, the angle could only be approxi-
mated.311 Had President Kennedy been leaning forward or backward,
the angle of declination of the shot to a perpendicular target would
have varied. The angle of 174330 was approximately the angle
of declination reproduced in an artists drawing.312 That drawing,
made from data provided by the autopsy surgeons, could not reproduce
the exact line of the bullet, since the exit wound was obliterated by the
tracheotomy. Similarly, if the President or the Governor had been
sitting in a different lateral position, the conclusion might have
varied. Or if the Governor had not turned in exactly the way ca.l-
culated, the alinement would have been destroyed.
Additional experiments by the Army Wound Ballistics Branch
further suggested that the same bullet probably passed through both
President Kennedy and Governor Connally. (See app. X, pp.
582-585.) Correlation of a test simulating the Governors chest wound
with the neck and wrist experiments indicated that course. After
reviewing the Parkland Hospital medical records and X-rays of
the Governor and discussing his chest injury with the attending
surgeon, the Army ballistics experts virtually duplicated the wound
using the assassination weapon and animal flesh covered by cloth.318
The bullet that struck the animal flesh displayed characteristics similar
to the bullet found on Governor Connallys stretcher.314 Moreover,
the imprint on the velocity screen immediately behind the animal
flesh showed that the bullet was tumbling after exiting from the flesh,
having lost a total average of 265 feet per second.315 Taking into
consideration the Governors size, the reduction in velocity of a
bullet passing through his body would be approximately 400 feet per
second.31B
Based upon the medical evidence on the wounds of the Governor
and the President and the wound ballistics tests performed at Edge-
107
wood Arsenal, Drs. Olivier and Arthur J. Dziemian, chief of the
Army Wound Ballistics Branch, who had spent 17 years in that area of
specialization, concluded that it was probable that the same bullet
passed through the Presidents neck and then inflicted all t.he wounds
on the Governor.317 Referring to the Presidents neck wound and
all the Governors wounds, Dr. Dziemian testified : I think the prob-
ability is very good that it is, that all the wounds were caused by one
bullet. 318 Both Drs. Dziemian and Olivier believed that the wound
on the Governors wrist would have been more extensive had the
bullet which inflicted that injury merely passed through the Gov-
ernors chest, exiting at a velocity of approximately 1,500 feet per
second.31D Thus, the Governors wrist wound suggested that the bullet
passed through the Presidents neck, began to yaw in the air between
the President and the Governor, and then lost more velocity than 400
feet per second in passing through the Governors chest. A bullet
which was yawing on entering into the Governors back would lose
substantially more velocity in passing through his body than a pristine
bullet.320 In addition, the bullet that struck the animal flesh was
flattened to a greater extent than the bullet which presumably struck
the Governors ribP*l which suggests that the bullet which entered the
Governors chest had already lost velocity by passing through the
Presidents neck. Moreover, the large wound on the Governors back
would be explained by a bullet which was yawing, although that type
of wound might also be accounted for by a tangential striking.322
Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr., the third of the wound ballistics ex-
perts, who has been engaged in that specialty at Edgewood Arsenal
since 1951, testified that the anatomical findings were insufficient for
him to formulate a firm opinion as to whether the same bullet did or
did not pass through the Presidents neck first before inflicting all
the wounds on Governor Connally.323 Based on the other circum-
stances, such as the relative positions of the President and the Gov-
ernor in the automobile, Dr. Light concluded that it was probable that
the same bullet traversed the Presidents neck and inflicted all the
wounds on Governor Conna11y.32*

The Subsequent Bullet That Hit

After a bullet penetrated President Kennedys neck, a subsequent
shot entered the back of his head and exited through the upper right
portion of his skull. The Zapruder, Nix and Muchmore films show
the instant in the sequence when that bullet struck. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 902, p. 108.) That impact was evident from the ex-
plosion of the Presidents brain tissues from t.he right side of his head.
The immedi,ately preceding frame from the Zspruder film shows the
President slumped to his left, clutching at his throat., wit.h his chin
close to his chest and his head tilted forward at an ang1e.325 Based
upon information provided by the doctors who conducted the autopsy,
an artists drawing depicted the path of the bullet through the Presi-
dents head, with his head being in the same approximate position.32s

109
 By using the Zapruder, Nix and Muchmore motion pictures, the
Presidents location at the time the bullet penetrated his head was fixed
with reasonable precision. A careful analysis of the Nix and Much-
more films led to fixing the exact location of these cameramen. The
point of impact of the bullet on the Presidents head was apparent in
all of the movies. At that point in the Nix film a straight line was
plotted from the camera position to a fixed point in the background and
the Presidents location along this line was marked on a plat map.s27
A similar process was followed with the Muchmore film. The Presi-
dents location on the plat map was identical to that determined from
the Nix film.328 The Presidents location, established through the Nix
and Muchmore films, was confirmed by comparing his position on the
Zapruder film. This location had hitherto only been approximated,
since there were no landmarks in the background of the Zapruder frame
for alinement purposes other than a portion of a painted line on the
curb.329 Through these procedures, it was determined that President
Kennedy was shot in the head when he was 230.8 feet from a point on
the west curbline on Houston Street where it intersected with Elm
Street.s30 The President was 265.3 feet from the rifle in the sixth-floor
window and at that position the approximate angle of declination was
1521.s3

NUMBER OF SHOTS
The consensus among the witnesses at the scene was that three shots
were fired.332 However, some heard only two shots,333 while others
testified that they heard four and perhaps as many as five or six
shots.334 The difficulty of accurate perception of the sound of gunshots
required careful scrutiny of all of this testimony regarding the number
of shots. The firing of a bullet causes a number of noises: the muzzle
blast, caused by the smashing of the hot gases which propel the bullet
into the relatively stable air at the guns muzzle; the noise of the bullet,
caused by the shock wave built up ahead of the bullets nose as it
t,ravels through the air; and the noise caused by the impact of the
bullet on its target.335 Each noise can be quite sharp and may be
perceived as a separate shot. The tall buildings in the area might
have further distorted the sound.
The physical and other-evidence examined by the Commission com-
pels the conclusion that at least two shots were fired. As discussed
previously, the nearly whole bullet discovered at Parkland Hospital
and the two larger fragments found in the Presidential automobile,
which were identified as coming from the assassination rifle, came
from at least two separate bullets and possibly from three.ss8 The
most convincing evidence relating to the number of shots was provided
by the presence on the sixth floor of three spent cartridges which were
demonstrated to have been fired by the same rifle that fired the bullets
which caused the wounds. It is possible that the assassin carried an
empty shell in the rifle and fired only two shots, with the witnesses
hearing multiple noises made by the same shot. Soon after the three
110
empty cartridges were found, officials at the scene decided that three
shots were fired, and that conclusion was widely circulated by the
press. The eyewitness testimony may be subconsciously colored by
the extensive publicity given the conclusion that three shots were fired.
Nevertheless, the preponderance of the evidence, in particular the
three spent cartridges, led the Commission to conclude that there were
three shots fired.

THE SHOT THAT MISSED

From the initial findings that (a) one shot passed through the
Presidents neck and then most probably passed through the Governors
body, (b) a subsequent shot penetrated the Presidents head, (c) no
other shot struck any part of the automobile, and (d) three shots were
fired, it follows that one shot probably missed the car and its oc-
cupants. The evidence is inconclusive as to whether it was the first,
second, or third shot which missed.

The First Shot

If the first shot missed, the assassin perhaps missed in an effort to
fire a hurried shot before the President passed under the oak tree, or
possibly he fired as the President passed under the tree and the tree
obstructed his view. The bullet might have struck a portion of the
tree and been completely deflected. On the other hand, the greatest
cause for doubt that the first shot missed is the improbability that the
same marksman who twice hit a moving target would be so inaccurate
on the first and closest of his shots as to miss completely, not only the
target, but the large automobile.
Some support for the contention that the first shot missed is found
in the statement of Secret Service Agent Glen A. Bennett, stationed in
the right rear seat of the Presidents followup car, who heard a sound
like a firecracker as the motorcade proceeded down Elm Street. At
that moment, Agent Bennett stated:

* * * I looked at the back of the President. I heard another

firecracker noise and saw that shot hit the President about four
inches down from the right shoulder. A second shot followed
immediately and hit the right rear high of the Presidents head.537

Substantial weight may be given Bennetts observations. Although

his formal statement was dated November 23, 1963, his notes indicate
that he recorded what he saw and heard at 5 :30 p.m., November 22,
1963, on the airplane en route back to Washington, prior to the autopsy,
when it was not yet known that the President had been hit in the
back.338 It is possible, of course, t.hat Bennett did not observe t,he hole
in the Presidents back, which might have been there immediately
after the first noise.

111
 Governor Connallys testimony supports the view that the first
shot missed, because he stated that he heard a shot, turned slightly
to his right, and, as he started to turn back toward his left, was struck
by the second bullet.338 He never saw the President during the shoot-
ing sequence, and it is entirely possible that he heard the missed shot
and that both men were struck by the second bullet. Mrs. Connally
testified that after the first shot she turned and saw the Presidents
hands moving toward his throat, as seen in the films at frame 225.340
However, Mrs. Connally further stated that she thought her husband
was hit immediately thereafter by the second bullet.341 If the same
bullet struck both the President and the Governor, it is entirely possible
that she saw the Presidents movements at the same time as she heard
the second shot. Her testimony, therefore, does not preclude the pos-
sibility of the first shot having missed.
Other eyewitness testimony, however, supports the conclusion that
the first of the shots fired hit the President. As discussed in chapter
II, Special Agent Hills testimony indicates that the President was
hit by the first shot and that the head injury was caused by a second
shot which followed about 5 seconds later. James W. Altgens, a
photographer in Dallas for the Associated Press, had stationed himself
on Elm Street opposite the Depository to take pictures of the passing
motorcade. Altgens took a widely circulated photograph which
showed President Kennedy reacting to the first of the two shots which
hit him. (See Commission Exhibit No. 900, p. 113.) According to
Altgens, he snapped the picture almost simultaneously with a shot
which he is confident was the first one fired.3 Comparison of his
photograph with the Zapruder film, however, revealed that Altgens
took his picture at approximately the same moment as frame 255 of
the movie, 30 to 45 frames (approximately 2 seconds) later than the
point at which the President was shot in the neck.a43 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 901, p. 114.) Another photographer, Phillip L. Willis,
snapped a picture at a time which he also asserts was simultaneous
with the first shot. Analysis of his photograph revealed that it was
taken at approximately frame 210 of the Zapruder film, which was the
approximate time of the shot that probably hit the President and the
Governor. If Willis a.ccura.tely recalled that there were no previous
shots, this would be strong evidence that the first shot did not miss.%
If the first shot did not miss, there must be an explanation for Gov-
ernor Connallys recollection that he was not hit by it. There was,
conceivably, a delayed reaction between the time the bullet struck him
and the time he realized that he was hit, despite the fact that the bullet
struck a glancing blow to a rib and penetrated his wrist bone. The
Governor did not even know that he had been struck in the wrist or
in the thigh until he regained consciousness in the hospital the next
day. Moreover, he testified that he did not hear what he thought
was the second shot, although he did hear a subsequent shot which
coincided with the shattering of the Presidents head.345 One possi-
bility, therefore, would be a sequence in which the Governor heard
the first shot, did not, immediately feel the penetration of the bullet,
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 FRAME 255

114

---
then felt the delayed reaction of the impact on his back, later heard the
shot which shattered the Presidents head, and then lost consciousness
without hearing a third shot which might have occurred later.

The Second Shot

The possibility that the second shot missed is consistent with the
elapsed time between the two shots that hit their mark. From the
timing evidenced by the Zapruder films, there was an interval of from
4.8 to 5.6 seconds between the shot which struck President Kennedys
neck (between frames 210 to 225) and the shot which struck his head
at frame 313.340 Since a minimum of 2.3 seconds must elapse be-
tween shots, a bullet could have been fired from the rifle and missed
during this interva1.347 This possibility was buttressed by the testi-
mony of witnesses who claimed that the shots mere evenly spaced,
since a second shot occurring within an interval of approximately 5
seconds would have to be almost exactly midway in this period. If
Altgens recollection is correct that he snapped his picture at the same
moment as he heard a shot, then it is possible that he heard a second
shot which missed, since a shot tired 2.3 seconds before he took his
picture at frame 255 could have hit the President at about frame 213.
On the other hand, a substantial majority of the witnesses stated
that the shots were not evenly spaced. Most witnesses recalled that
the second and third shots were bunched together, although some
believed that it was the first and second which were bunched.348 To the
extent that reliance can be placed on recollection of witnesses as to the
spacing of t.he shots, the testimony that the shots were not evenly
spaced would militate against a second shot missing. Another factor
arguing against the second shot missing is that the gunman would have
been shooting at very near the minimum allowable time to have fired
the three shots within 4.8 to 5.6 seconds, although it was entirely pos-
sible for him to have done so. (See ch. IV, pp. 188-194.)

The Third Shot

The last possibility, of course, is that it was the third shot which
missed. This conclusion conforms most easily with the probability
that the assassin would most likely have missed the farthest shot,
particularly since there was an acceleration of the automobile after
the shot which struck the Presidents head. The limousine also
changed direction by following the curve to the right, whereas pre-
viously it had been proceeding in almost a straight line with a rifle
protruding from the sixth-floor window of the Depository Building.
One must consider, however, the testimony of the witnesses
who described the head shot as the concluding event in the as-
sassination sequence. Illustrative is the testimony of Associated
Press photographer Altgens, who had an excellent vantage point
near the Presidents car. He recalled that the shot which hit the Presi-
dents head was the last shot-that much I will say with a great degree

116
of certainty. 34D On the other hand, Emmett J. Hudson, the grounds-
keeper of Dealey Plaza, testified that from his position on Elm Street,
midway between Houston Street and the Triple Underpass, he heard
a third shot after the shot which hit the President in the head.350 In
addition, Mrs. Kennedys testimony indicated that neither the first
nor the second shot missed. Immediately after the first noise she
turned, because of the Governors yell, and saw her husband raise
his hand to his forehead. Then the second shot struck the Presidents
head.s51
Some evidence suggested that a third shot may have entirely missed
and hit the turf or street by the Triple Underpass. Royce G. Skelton,
who watched the motorcade from the railroad bridge, testified that
after two shots the car came on down close to the Triple Underpass
and an additional shot hit in the left front of the Presidents car on
the cement. 352 Skelton thought that there had been a total of four
shots, either the third or fourth of which hit in the vicinity of the un-
derpass.355 Dallas Patrolman J. W. Foster, who was also on the
Triple Underpass, testified that a shot hit the turf near a manhole
cover in the vicinity of the underpass.354 Examination of this area,
however, disclosed no indication that a bullet struck at the locations
indicated by Skelton or Foster.355
At a different location in Dealey Plaza, the evidence indicated that
a bullet fragment did hit the street. James T. Tague, who got out of
his car to watch the motorcade from a position between Commerce and
Main Streets near the Triple Underpass, was hit on the cheek by an
object during the shooting.356 Within a few minutes Tague reported
t,hls to Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers, who was examining the area
to see if any bullets had struck the turf.SJ7 Walthers immediately
started to search where Tague had been standing and located a place
on the south curb of Main Street where it appeared a bullet had hit the
cement.358 According to Tague, There was a mark quite obviously
that was a bullet, and it was very fresh. 35D In Tagues opinion, it was
the second shot which caused the mark, since he thinks he heard the
third shot after he was hit in the face.36o This incident appears to
have been recorded in the contemporaneous report of Dallas Patrol-
man L. L. Hill, who radioed in around 12:40 p.m.: I have one guy
that was possibly hit by a richochet from the bullet off the concrete. 361
Scientific examination of the mark on the south curb of Main Street by
FBI experts disclosed metal smears which, were spectrographically
determined to be essentially lead with a trace of antimony. 382 The
mark on the curb could have originated from the lead core of a bullet
but the absence of copper precluded the possibility that the mark on
the curbing section was made by an unmutilated military full
metal-jacketed bullet such as the bullet from Governor Connallys
stretcher. 389
It is true that the noise of a subsequent shot might have been drowned
out by the siren on the Secret Service followup car immediately after
the head shot, or the dramatic effect of the head shot might have caused
so much confusion that the memory of subsequent events was blurred.
116
Nevertheless, the preponderance of the eyewitness testimony that the
head shot was the final shot must be weighed in any determination as
to whether it was the third shot that missed. Even if it were caused
by a bullet fragment, the mark on the south curb of Main Street cannot
be identified conclusively with any of the three shots fired. Under the
circumstances it might have come from the bullet which hit the Presi-
dents head, or it might have been a product of the fragmentation of
the missed shot upon hitting some other object in the area.364 Since he
did not observe any of the shots striking the President, Tagues
testimony that the second shot, rather than the third, caused the
scratch on his cheek, does not assist in limiting the possibilities.
The wide range of possibilities and the existence of conflicting
testimony, when coupled with the impossibility of scientific verifica-
tion, precludes a conclusive finding by the Commission as to which
shot missed.

TIME SPAN OF SHOTS

Witnesses at the assassination scene said that the shots were fired
within a few seconds, with the general estimate being 5 to 6 seconds.3BS
That approximation was most probably based on the earlier publicized
reports that the first shot struck the President in the neck, the sec-
ond wounded the Governor and the t.hird shattered the Presidents
head, with the time span from the neck to the head shots on the Presi-
dent being approximately 5 seconds. As previously indicated, the
time span between the shot entering the back of the Presidents neck
and the bullet which shattered his skull vas 4.8 to 5.6 seconds. If the
second shot missed, then 4.8 to 5.6 seconds was the total time span of the
shots. If either the first or third shots missed, then a minimum of 2.3.
seconds (necessary to operate the rifle) must be added to the time span
of the shots which hit, giving a minimum time of 7.1 to 7.9 seconds for
the three shots. If more than 2.3 seconds elapsed between a shot that
missed and one that hit, then the time span would be correspondingly
increased.

CONCLUSION
Based on the evidence analyzed in this chapter, t,he Commission has
concluded that the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded
Governor Connally were fired from the sixth-floor window at the
southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository Building. Two
bullets probably caused all the wounds suffered by President Kennedy
and Governor Connally. Since the preponderance of the evidence
indicated that three shots were fired, the Commission concluded that
one shot probably missed the Presidential limousine and its occupants,
and that the three shots xere fired in a time period ranging from
approximately 4.8 to in excess of 7 seconds.

117