Chapter 8:  Final Pieces

 

For reasons beyond my grasp, the first image in each chapter sometimes fails to appear.  If there's nothing up above, don't despair; you can still see the image here

Willis Country

By now, it’s become quite clear that most people heard three shots, and that the last two were bunched closely together, we still need to complete our trek across the Plaza to get the full picture.  As those on the Southwest corner of Elm Street would have had the best perspective of anyone on the sounds of the shots, as they were facing the shots, with the grassy knoll on their left and the school book depository on their right, and were too close to the school book depository to be confused by echoes, the earwitness testimony of those on this corner are particularly vital.

Rosemary Willis is the little girl seen running in the Zapruder film, as discussed on the Finding the Right Time slide. (11-8-78 HSCA staff interview, summarized in HSCA Report, vol. 12, p.7) "Ms. Willis said she was aware of three shots being fired. She gave no information on the direction or location of the shots, but stated that her father became upset when the policeman in the area appeared to run away from where he thought the shots came from; that is, they were running away from the grassy knoll." (6-3-79 article by David Lui, as found in the Syracuse Herald Journal) (When asked why she stopped chasing the Presidential limousine) "I stopped when I heard the shot.” (Interview with Dallas Times-Herald reporter Marcia Smith-Durk, published 6-3-79) "In that first split second, I thought it was a firecracker. But maybe within one tenth of a second, I knew it was a gunshot...I think I probably turned to look toward the noise, toward the Book Depository." (6-5-79 UPI article) “I heard three shots and they all came from across the street from the direction of the book depository…The sounds I heard came from the book depository but they weren’t necessarily the shots that killed him.  Someone with a gun with a silencer could have been in the gutter where they later found shells or on the railroad trestle or behind the wall.” (Interview with Texas Monthly, published November, 1998) “As they made the turn from Houston to Elm Street, they’d just gone a few feet when the first shot rang out, and upon hearing the sound, my normal body reaction was to look up and follow the sound that I heard…And the pigeons immediately ascended off that roof of the school book depository building and that’s what caught my eye…Next thing I know, right after that, there’s another shot.  And after that, there’s another shot and another shot…My ears heard four shots…I really think that there were six, but I heard four and I’ll tell you why…the first shot rang out.  It was to the front of me, and to the right of me, up high.  The second shot that I heard came across my right shoulder.  By that time, the limousine had already moved further down.  And that shot came across my shoulder.  And the next one, right after that, still came from the right but not from as far back, it was up some.  Still behind me, but not as far back as the other one.  And the next one that came was from the grassy knoll and I saw the smoke coming through the trees, into the air…Fragments of his head ascended into the air, and from my vision, focal point, the smoke and fragments, you know, everything met.” Analysis: it’s a shame Miss Willis was never interviewed when her memories were fresh.  In 1979, she said she heard three shots from the right, and in 1998 she said she heard three shots from the right, and then one from in front of the limousine. Did she come to believe she’d heard a shot that before she’d only theorized? If so, then it would seem she’d heard the first two shots grouped together.  On the other hand, by 1998 she’d also convinced herself these shots sounded differently, and implied that the second shot came from a lower floor of the Dal-Tex Building.  From this it seems likely that Ms. Willis’ memories had been compromised by her exposure to too many conspiracy theories.  Even so, her behavior in the Zapruder film and her confirmation that she was responding to shots is invaluable in establishing the moment of the first shot.  Heard four shots?  Heard two early shots?  First shot 190.  

Robert Croft is to Rosemary Willis’ right in frame 193 of the Zapruder film. In the film, he can be seen snapping a picture at frame 161. This photograph is frame 18 on his roll of 22 frames. (12-3-63 FBI Airtel, FBI file # 62-109060-1388) "frame number 18 appears to show the Presidential car on Elm Street south of Houston Street just moments before the President was shot... Croft believed the last picture taken by him was taken simultaneously with the shot which killed the President. This no doubt refers to frame number 19 which is a complete blank which probably was occasioned by some malfunction of Mr. Croft's camera or some other fault." (Pictures of the Pain p.224-226, Trask interview with Croft, 4-20-88) “in this third Croft photograph, Mrs.Kennedy appears to be looking right at Croft…Quickly winding his camera, Croft takes another picture of the vehicle as it passes by his position.  As he makes this fourth photo, he hears a shot, and believes that this picture was 'taken simultaneously with the shot which killed the President…' Following the shots, pandemonium broke out all around the Plaza… "I can’t tell you at this point anything about the shots, numbers, or where they were.  I was on my way back, as I remember, before the car ever got—it was kind of going down a hill under a railroad track.  And I noticed what time it was and took off, because I was going to be late for the train..." Analysis:  while Croft says he can’t remember anything about the shots, he had a clear memory of taking his fourth photo “simultaneously with the shot which killed the President.” As he has not yet raised his camera back to his eye by frame 215 of the Zapruder film, this is probably a reference to the head shot. And yet this is the one photo which failed to come out after Croft gave his film to the FBI!  In light of the FBI’s refusal to look at the autopsy evidence, one can’t help but wonder if this photo wasn’t made to disappear. Still, since the existence of the Moorman photo and the Zapruder film were well known almost immediately after the shots, it’s questionable the FBI would risk scandal over what could only have been an inferior image of the President’s death.  When one reflects on Croft’s belief that this fourth photo was taken simultaneously with the head shot, and realizes his third photo was taken at frame 161, and that Croft makes no mention of taking this photo simultaneously with the first shot, then one should really question if there was a shot at this time.  First shot 190-224. 

Phil Willis was Rosemary Willis’ father and he can be seen to Robert Croft’s right, snapping his famous picture at frame 202 of the Zapruder film. (6-22-64 FBI report, CD1245 p. 46-48)  “Willis advised that just about the same time that the limousine carrying President Kennedy was opposite the Stemmons Freeway road sign he heard a loud report and knew immediately it was a rifle shot and knew also the shot “had hit”…About two seconds later he heard another rifle shot which also hit, as did the third, which came approximately two seconds later.  Willis said he knew from his war experience the sound a rifle makes when it finds its mark and he said he is sure all three shots fired found their mark.” (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H492-497) “my next shot was taken at the very—in fact the shot caused me to squeeze the camera shutter, and I got a picture of the President as he was hit with the first shot.  So instantaneous, in fact, that the crowd hadn’t had time to react…I proceeded down the street and didn’t take any other pictures instantly, because the three shots were fired approximately two seconds apart, and I knew my little daughters were running alongside the Presidential car, and I was immediately concerned about them, and I was screaming for them to come back, and they didn’t hear me…When I took slide No. 4, the President was smiling and waving and looking straight ahead, and Mrs. Kennedy was likewise smiling and facing more to my side of the street. When the first shot was fired, her head seemed to just snap in that direction, and he more or less faced the other side of the street and slumped forward.” (When asked if he saw Kennedy hit by the final shot) “No sir, I did not.  I could not see that well, and I was more concerned about the shots coming from that building.  The minute the third shot was fired, I screamed, hoping a policeman would hear me, to ring that building because it had to come from there.” (2-14-69 testimony in the trial of Clay Shaw) “I cocked my camera for another picture and this loud shot went off and the first reaction was that could it be a crank or a firecracker but it was so loud and of such a sound it had to be rifle so I became alarmed. I was trying to take a picture at the moment and the reflex from the shot caused me to take one of these pictures…My two little daughters were running along down the hill paralleling the Presidential car there and I yelled to one of them, which is the first thing I did, and then I heard at least two more shots and then I started looking for them and looking down and hollering for them to come back to me and they came running back crying.” (11-22-85 Trask interview, p.171, Pictures of the Pain) “As I was about to squeeze my shutter, that is when the first shot rang out and my reflex just took that picture at that moment.  I might have waited another moment…when that shot rang out, I just flinched and I got it…I don’t care what any experts say.  They’re full of baloney.  I’ve shot too many deer…no one will ever convince us that the last shot did not come from the right front, from the knoll area.”  (Interview in The Men Who Killed Kennedy, in episode 5, first shown 1988) "At least one shot--including the one that took the President's skull off--had to come from the right front." (Same interview, but broadcast in a different episode) “No one will ever convince me—I know damn well the shot that blew his head off, came from the right front.” (Interview with Jim Marrs in Crossfire, published 1989) (About the possibility Kennedy leaned forward while behind the Stemmons Freeway sign in the Zapruder film) "That is not right. I got the nearest, best shot while JFK was behind the sign. He was upright and waving to the crowd. A split second later he was grabbing at his throat." (About the possibility a shot came from somewhere other than the sniper's nest.) "I always thought there had to be another shot from somewhere. I have always gone against the one-gunman theory. I always thought there had to have been some help. I saw blood going to the rear and left. That doesn't happen if that bullet came from the Depository."   Analysis:  Willis is sort of the anti-Woodward.  Unlike Ms. Woodward, who has tried to make her statements fit the official story, Willis has tried to make his statements fit the unofficial story, but the official story of the rest of his family.  His initial impression was that the shots came from the school book depository. Perhaps realizing that he was more focused on finding his daughters after the first shot than paying attention to the shots, he eventually began saying that the last shot came from the knoll.  Similarly, while he told the FBI the last two shots were two seconds apart, he told the Warren Commission that there was also a similar gap between the first two, which helped them believe that all the shots were fired by one man using a bolt rifle. As he was hurriedly looking for his daughters at this time, and yelling out, it’s doubtful he was paying much attention to the time span between the first two shots. In any event, his statement that there were two seconds between the last two shots, when the LPM  scenario holds there was a five second gap between these two, is an indication that the last two shots were bunched together.   First shot hit 190.  Last two shots bunched together.

Linda Willis was Rosemary Willis’ older sister.  She can be seen standing to the right and in back of her father in Zapruder frame 202.  (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H498-499) (When asked if she heard shots) “Yes; I heard one. Then there was a little bit of time, and then there were two real fast bullets together. When the first one hit, well, the President turned from waving to the people, and he grabbed his throat, and he kind of slumped forward, and then I couldn't tell where the second shot went… I was right across from the sign that points to where Stemmons Freeway is.  I was directly across when the first shot hit him…I wasn’t very far away from him.  (When asked if she was about 25 feet away from Kennedy when he was hit in the head)  “About that…I heard the first shot come and then he slumped forward, and then I couldn’t tell where the second shot went, and then the third one, and that was the last one that hit him in the head. No; when the first shot rang out, I thought, well, it's probably fireworks, because everybody is glad the President is in town. Then I realized it was too loud and too close to be fireworks, and then when I saw, when I realized that the President was falling over, I knew he had been hit.” (A 1978 Interview with Jim Marrs, published in Crossfire, 1989) "I very much agree that shots came from somewhere other than the Depository. And, where we were standing, we had a good view." (11-7-78 HSCA staff interview, summarized in HSCA Report, Vol. 12 p.8) "The only information she provided relevant to the shots was that she had a distinct impression that the head wound to President Kennedy was the result of a front-to-rear shot. She also heard three shots and saw the President's head "blow-up." (The Men Who Killed Kennedy, broadcast 1988) "The particular head shot must have come from another direction besides behind him because the back of his head blew off...The back of his head blew off." (1998 interview with Texas Monthly) “when the shots rang, my impression was firecrackers at first.  But the report was loud and came again and again…I saw the President’s hands come up to his throat and then I saw the head shot and I never took my eyes away from the president during those shots.”  Analysis: as an arrow from her location at Z-193 to the Stemmons sign crosses the President’s position at Z-190, she is identifying a first shot hit at Z-190, followed by two quick shots in rapid succession. While she believes the last shot was the head shot, the shots were fired in such rapid succession it may have been difficult for her to distinguish.  First shot hit 190.  Last two shots bunched together.

Marilyn Willis was the mother of the Willis girls and the wife of Phil Willis.  She watched the shooting from the wall running north to south on the east side of the grassy infield. (6-19-64 FBI report, CD1245 p. 44-45) “Mrs. Willis advised when the motorcade passed on Elm Street in front of where she was standing she heard a noise that sounded like a firecracker or a backfire.  A few seconds following this she stated she heard another report and saw the top of President Kennedy’s head “blow off and ringed by a red halo.” She stated she believes she heard another shot following this.” (2-14-69 testimony in the trial of Clay Shaw) (When asked how many shots) “I heard three.” (When asked about the first one) “I thought it was a firecracker. (When asked about the second shot) “I knew it was a gunshot then.”  (And what the effects were of the second) “The second noise drew my attention back to the motorcade.” (And what about the third?) “It was a loud gunshot…On the third shot his head exploded and went back and to the left.” (The Men Who Killed Kennedy, broadcast 1988)  “The head shot seemed to come from the right front.  It seemed to strike him here and all the brain matter went out the back of his head.  It was like a red halo, a red circle with bright matter in the middle of it.”(When asked her clearest memory) “The head shot--seeing his head blow up—I can see it just as plain—it’s red, it’s cone-shaped, going back.” (Interview with Robert Groden for his video, The Case for Conspiracy, 1993) "His head was back this way (she leans her head back) It looked like a red halo--just matter coming out of his head." (When asked from where she thought the shots derived) "Well, the results of what I saw, his head exploded, absolutely exploded. I would think that the shots came from behind the picket fence, which borders the top of the grassy knoll." (When asked where the wound was) "This side" (She grabs her head above her right ear, exactly where the large wound is on the Zapruder film) like this, and it goes to the back. (She leans her head back)  His head was like this, see." (1998 interview with Texas Monthly) “all of a sudden we heard the noise.  To a woman I said “Oh, they’re shooting firecrackers” Bang. Bangbang, you know it went.  Then I said “No, that’s gunshots.” Then I looked up and his head was blown up like that.  I heard three shots.”  Analysis:  Mrs. Willis initially believed there was a shot after the headshot but then “corrected” her memory, probably for the same reasons her husband corrected his memory about the origin of the last shot:  family unity.  Since she remembers the last shots as bangbang, moreover, she may have convinced herself she was simply wrong.  Still, her proximity to the school book depository was such that she may have heard the shot close enough to the moment of impact that she could have looked to Kennedy a split second after the impact, just in time to see the particles disperse into the air.  As from her angle it would have been very difficult to determine if the cloud of brain, blood, and bone went back or forwards, her statement that it went back was probably influenced by the family decision to believe the last shot was fired from the knoll.  First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together (with the last shot after the head shot).  

Mrs. Dolores Kounas stood back behind Phil Willis, near Linda Willis.  (11-23-63 FBI report, 22H846): “After the car had passed her point and was almost to the underpass she heard a noise like a firecracker. She stated that there were three of these noises which she now knows were shots equally spaced by a few seconds and that it sounded as though these shots were coming from the triple underpass.  She stated she looked in that direction but was unable to see the car in which President Kennedy was riding due to the mass of people in front of her.” ( 3-23-64 statement to the FBI, 22H659), “I recall that moments after the car bearing President John F. Kennedy passed my position, I heard a loud report which I first thought to be a firecracker.  Following the second shot, however, I then heard screaming and saw people running and I then believed the reports I had heard were gunfire…I had thought the shots came from a westerly direction in the vicinity of the viaduct.”  Analysis:  as she was standing approximately forty feet from where the limousine was at frame 160, near the corner of Elm and Houston, it’s doubtful she would describe this President’s location at frame 160 as halfway to the underpass. As she describes chaos breaking out after the second shot, moreover, this would appear to be the head shots, and yet she heard a shot after this. Even though she stated the shots were equally spaced, that she describes the last shot as coming a few seconds after the second shot, indicates she probably  heard the last two shots bunched  together. First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots probably bunched together (with the last shot after the head shot).

Roberta Parker (12-16-63 FBI report, CD205 p.504) “The car in which President Kennedy…(was)riding had passed Mrs. Parker only a short distance when she heard what she thought was a shot. The shot sounded to her as thought it had come from a cement memorial building to the north of the Texas School Book Depository on Elm Street.  She looked in that direction but saw nothing….During this time, she heard two additional shots.” (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H657) “On November 22, 1963, at the time the motorcade was passing the Texas School Book Depository Building and President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, I was standing across the street from the Texas School Book Depository Building entrance with Dolores Kounas and Lloyd R. Viles.”  Analysis:  last twos shots grouped together in the first FBI report. Probable first shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots probably bunched together.

Lloyd R. Viles (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H678) “On November 22, 1963, at the time President Kennedy was assassinated, I was standing across Elm Street from the main entrance of the Texas School Book Depository Building with Mrs. Dolores Kounas and Mrs. Roberta Parker.”  Analysis:  too vague.

Hugh Betzner was on Elm Street, 20 feet or so to the east of Phil Willis.  (11-22-63 statement to Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 19H467) “I then ran down to the corner of Elm and Houston Streets, this being the southwest corner.  I took another picture just as President Kennedy’s car rounded the corner…I ran on down Elm a little more and President Kennedy’s car was starting to go down the hill to the triple underpass.  I took another picture as the President’s car was going down the hill on Elm Street.  I started to wind my film again and I heard a loud noise.  I looked up and it seemed like there was another loud noise in the matter of a few seconds.  I looked down the street and I could see the President’s car and another one and they looked like the cars were stopped.  Then I saw a flash of pink like someone standing up and then sitting back down in the car…I cannot remember exactly where I was when I saw the following:  I heard at least two shots fired and I saw what looked like a firecracker going off in the president’s car. My assumption for this was because I saw fragments going up in the air. I also saw a man in either the President's car or the car behind his and someone down in one of those cars pull out what looked like a rifle. I also remember seeing what looked like a nickel revolver in someone's hand in the President's car or somewhere immediately around his car. Then the President's car sped on under the underpass. Police and a lot of spectators started running up the hill on the opposite side of the street from me to a fence of wood. I assumed that was where the shot was fired from at that time. I kept watching the crowd. Then I came around the monument over to Main Street. I walked down toward where the President's car had stopped.” (11-23-63 article by Betzner for UPI) “I was standing on the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets as the motorcade came along.  I began taking pictures—one on Houston Street and one as the President’s car rounded the corner.  I took another picture of the limousine as it drove off down the hill, and I had just lowered the camera and was rewinding the film when I heard the first shot.  I looked up.  There was another shot and I saw what looked like a puff of paper splattering apart outside the car.  I couldn’t see the President any more, but someone in the back of the limousine pulled out a big long gun.  It looked like a rifle…Suddenly the motorcade took off fast under the viaduct…I went around to the other side of the monument, and it looked like the police thought the shots came from a wooden fence on top of the hill.  So I went up there, because I figured that if he got shot from the fence, I might have a picture of the man who did the shooting.  My last picture was taken looking that way.”  Analysis:  as Betzner took his photo at frame 186, the shot he heard as he started to wind his film was not the shot at frame 160 in the LPM scenario, but at 190 or afterwards. As the fragments he saw go up in the air were almost certainly the blood, brain, and bone ejected by the head shot, the next shot he heard was the head shot, meaning the first shot he heard most logically caused the neck wound. While it’s possible he missed an early shot at frame 160, this seems unlikely, as he was directly across the street from the Texas School Book Depository at the time.  It seems more likely he missed one of the last two shots heard close together, and interpreted them as one shot.  Only heard two shots.  First shot hit 190-224.  

Hank Farmer is a little known-witness who apparently stood near the preceding witnesses. (11-22-63 FBI memo from Joe Pearce to J. Gordon Shanklin, as described in The Zapruder Film by David Wrone, 2003) "At 5:36 PM on November 22, he telephoned the Dallas FBI office to report he had seen President Kennedy hit in the face by a bullet from the front and Governor Connally hit in the back by a bullet fired from the 'opposite direction'." (12-14-63 FBI report, CD205 p.34) "He waited in the park at the corner of Houston and Elm Streets and watched the motorcade come west off Main Street on to Houston Street and then west on Elm. He stated he saw President Kennedy appear to fall over in the car and then he saw Governor Connally also appear to fall over. He did not hear any shots fired and did not know what happened. There was confusion with many people running in all directions, and then the President's car drove off at a high rate of speed." Analysis: while Farmer's interpretations of the direction from which the shots were fired is interesting, he, apparently did not hear the shots themselves. As a consequence, his words carry little weight. Even so, it is intriguing that the FBI report failed to report Farmer's impression the head shot came from in front of Kennedy. That people started running after Connally fell into the car but before the limo sped off is also intriguing, as it re-affirms our impression that the crowd panicked after the fatal head shot, and not before. Too vague.

Mark Bell filmed Kennedy’s turn onto Elm past the front steps of the school book depository from the west side of the fountain.  (Letter to Josiah Thompson, 2-26-67, as referenced in Six seconds in Dallas) “Mr, Bell heard two of the shots definitely bunched but could not honestly say which shots these were.”  (Pictures of the Pain p. 267, Trask interview, 3-13-89) “I don’t believe that any individual person can tell you exactly how many shots were fired, because of the echoes.” Analysis: since virtually no one heard the first two shots bunched together, the “bunching” remembered by Bell almost certainly indicates the last two shots were bunched together. Too vague.

 

Down on the Corner

First, we shall look at the witnesses on the south west corner.

Jim Towner was standing on the southwest corner of Elm and Houston, taking pictures. (Article in Life Magazine, 11-24-67) “Towner remembers noticing people in some of the Depository windows, one of whom he now believes was Oswald… At the sound of the shots, (his daughter Tina) shouted, “some dummy is lighting firecrackers!”  But her father, an experienced rifleman, knew better.  He sprinted down the motorcade route and took one final picture.” (Pictures of the Pain, p.217) (After taking a picture as the Presidential limousine turned the corner) “Jim Towner had rushed a number of yards further down Elm Street.  Somewhere along the way he became aware that the noise was caused by a high-powered rifle.  As the presidential, vice-presidential and follow-up vehicles had quickly departed, he now took a picture of activity further down Elm Street.” Analysis: The last Towner picture was taken from approximately 40 feet further down the street from where he had been standing, and was taken at least 20 seconds after the last shot had been fired. This can be taken as an indication that he didn’t respond to the gunshots until after the last one was fired, and that there was not a five second gap between the last shots.   Too vague.

Tina Towner was with her father on the corner, filming Kennedy’s turn onto Elm with a movie camera.  (Article in Life Magazine, 11-24-67) “was using a movie camera to film the procession…up to within moments of the first shot.  She stopped when all she could see was the rear of the President’s car.  At the sound of shots she shouted “Some dummy is lighting firecrackers.” (Article in Teen Magazine, 6-19-68, as quoted in Pictures of the Pain, p. 217) “Now I was beginning to leave when I heard the sky fall in—the loudest crack of a rifle I had ever heard!  At that time I had the least notion it was a gun. The truth of the matter was that I thought it was a firecracker.”  (After hearing another boom she) “looked around to see where they were coming from. Finally, the third and last boom and, with that one, I turned to look at the School Book Depository Building.”  Analysis: as Towner’s film concludes approximately 1 ½ seconds before Z-160 (Dale Myers' study of the films indicates it was more like 2.2 seconds), and as she said she was beginning to leave when she heard the first shot, it makes more sense for her to have heard this shot at Z-190 or afterward, than at Z-160. Additionally, if this first crack was as loud as she says it was, and at Z-160, it seems that more than one or two people would have looked around. It bears noting that Sixth Floor Museum Curator Gary Mack has used Towner as evidence the first shot was fired circa Z-160. To do this, however, he claims Towner has "always been specific" that the first shot came a second or two after she stopped filming--an assertion unsupported by her earliest statements. He also inches the timing of the shot she heard up a bit by claiming she stopped filming a second or two before Zapruder started filming at Z-133, when even Dale Myers, to whom Mack usually defers, acknowledges she stopped filming less than one second before Zapruder started filming. (Myers says it was .7 seconds). Probable first shot 190-224.

Pierce Allman (11-22-63 eyewitness report on WFAA, between 1:45 and 2:00 PM CST)  “Right after Mr. Kennedy passed in front of me I heard one big explosion and my immediate thought like most of the people standing around me was “this is firecrackers, but it’s in pretty poor taste”. I looked and saw the president, I thought, duck. Evidently, he was slumping at the time. The car immediately sped on.  No one seemed galvanized into immediate action. The shots didn't seem rapid at all. They were pretty well spaced, reverberating shots." (When asked how far he was from the President at the time of the shots) "The car was in the middle of the street. I was on the left hand side of the street. I'd say about two--ten feet." (When asked if the car stopped at that time) "No, the car kept going. The car did not stop. The policeman immediately came over and said “All right, hit the dirt” and everyone concerned scrambled right away including this young man what the--Bill Newman, whom I did talk to right after it had happened. I, like five or six rather foolish other people, immediately ran up the knoll over there by the viaduct and looked over the fence. We saw nobody except a lot of people running around. And then I headed into the Texas School Book Depository where they were beginning to search…" (When asked if he thought the shots came from a building.) "Yes, I think that this was the consensus at the time, although now I notice Mr. Newman says he felt the shots were fired from a knoll. I think the logical place to have fired them would have been from the building and when I left a few minutes ago, they were still searching…" (When asked how many shots he heard) "Three. I heard three well spaced shots." (When asked if any of the shots could have been shots fired in return) “This is possible, however, the three I heard. I heard a boom and then a space and then another boom and it was not until after the third distinct sound, this third boom, that police were able to draw their revolvers and start firing in return. And in the course of this--they, actually, they were reluctant to fire. I imagine there was a few shots exchanged. I don’t remember frankly but they were reluctant probably because of all the crowds around.” (2-3-64 Secret Service report, based on 1-29-64 interview, CD354 p4-6) "Mr. Allman stated that he was watching the parade from a position near the corner of Elm and Houston. Upon hearing the shots he ran across Elm Street to a couple who had fallen on the ground. He asked the man if he was all right; the man stated that he was.  Allman then ran up an incline toward Houston Street.  Upon reaching the top of the incline, he turned and ran down.  He stated that he is at a a loss to explain this action other than he was extremely excited and upset by the assassination. Mr. Allman then stated that he ran full speed into the Texas School Book Depository Building with intention of locating a phone and calling his television station WFAA." (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950, p52) "Subject stated that he and Terrence Ford were at Elm and Houston streets watching the parade at the time President Kennedy was shot.  Subject stated that immediately after the shooting he went into the Texas School Book Depository and called radio station WFAA." (12-14-91 AP article found in the Frederick Maryland News) "'Just as they turned (onto Elm) I heard the first explosion,' says Mr. Allman, who is now a public relations consultant. 'That is still the descriptive term. It was not a thin, brittle, sharp sound. It was a loud reverberating sound...While I was still wondering what was going on, a second and then a third.'"  (November 1998 interview in Texas Monthly) “So, we walked over, ended up standing on the corner, directly opposite the School Book Depository Building, and I’m standing right next to Mr. Brennan…who ended up giving a lot of testimony to the Warren Commission…the first shot, that loud explosion—it wasn’t a sharp, flat crack sound at all, the first shot.  It didn’t enter my mind at all that it was a shot.  I thought, “now that was poor taste, this is firecrackers…”Then bam!, the second one.  And you realized indeed that it was shooting, then the third shot…on the second shot, I glanced up, my gaze stopped one floor below on the depository building.  I saw the three guys looking out the window, looking up.  And I went back to the scene on the street and it was pretty obvious Kennedy had been hit…On about the second shot, we all got down and of course popped back up as the car sped off.” (11-24-2003 article in U.S. News and World Report) “There were three shots. They were very distinct. Later on, in asking to re-create the time sequence, my timing on it was six and a half seconds. It was a very, very vivid memory.  Mr. Kennedy didn’t really slump.  He sort of jerked up, and his arms went up and his hands went up towards his chin.  As the shots continued, Jackie screamed something and tried to get up...the Secret Service man sprinted in from the trailing car and vaulted over the left rear fender and put himself on top of both of them and shoved them down. That’s when they were both in the back seat and Kennedy’s foot was dangling over the side.” (History Channel program "Our Generation", broadcast 2007) (The shots) "And I glanced over here at the Depository Building, and then boom the second shot...(After the shots) A cop he got off his motorcycle and he said "everybody get down" and I bounced right back up and ran across the street and picked up Bill and Gayle Newman--I didn't know their names of the couple at the time--they had two little kids--and I said "Are you okay?"  And he said "Yeah, but they got the President. They blew the side of his head in." Analysis: as Allman raced across the street to the knoll after the shots, and as he didn't logically deduce the shots came from the building until afterward, it seems clear he did not initially believe he heard three loud shots come from the building. Although he said the limo was near him at the time of the shots, and that the shots were well-spaced, which support the LPM scenario, he also said he couldn’t remember if the cops returned fire, indicating he really didn’t remember how many shots he’d heard and whether or not they came from the same location. He also said he saw Kennedy slump in response to the first shot, which is in absolute disagreement with the LPM scenario. So he's pretty much on the fence. His latter-day statements seem a hodge-podge of his actual memories and memories implanted from reading about the case. He most certainly never saw Kennedy’s foot dangle over the side of the limousine. If one is to give his latter-day statements any credence, in fact, one should note that his saying “we all got down” after the second shot, after his mentioning that Howard Brennan was next to him, suggests that there was a shot fired after the last shot fired from the sniper’s nest. Brennan, as we shall see, could recall only two shots, and said he jumped off the wall only after witnessing the final shot fired from the sniper’s nest. Possible LPM scenario.  Possible first shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots possibly bunched together (with the last shot after the head shot.)

Terrance Ford was with Allman. (2-3-64 Secret Service Report, based on 1-31-64 interview with Ford, CD354 p4-6)) "Mr. Ford stated that he accompanied Mr. Allman to the corner of Houston and Elm streets to watch the procession; then, upon hearing shots, he retreated to a concrete building near the side of the small park bordering Elm Street, then running back towards the Texas School Book Depository." (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950, p50) "Subject stated that on November 22, 1963, he and Pierce M. Allman, also with WFAA, were standing near the corner of Elm and Houston watching President John F. Kennedy's motorcade.  Suddenly, three shots rang out and he and Allman started running.  A few moments later they ran into the Texas School Book Depository Building where Allman used a telephone to call his radio station."  Analysis: it's clear from the early statements of Allman and Ford that they had no inkling the shots came from the sniper's nest, across the street and above them.  As they told the Secret Service and DPD that an unidentified white male pointed out a phone to them when they entered the building, and as it was later determined this man was Oswald. it seems clear neither of them were very observant that day.  Too vague.

L.R. Terry and his statements appear in Jim Marrs' 1989 book Crossfire, and nowhere else. He claimed to have been standing across the street from the school book depository. His credibility is open to question. Still, there are many unidentified witnesses in this location, and he may very well have been one of them. (Interview with Jim Marrs, published in Crossfire, 1989) "I was right across from that book store when Kennedy was shot. I saw a gun come out of there just after I saw Kennedy and Connally go by. I could only see a hand, but I couldn't tell if (the man) was right-handed or left-handed. He did not have on a white shirt. The parade stopped right in front of the building. There was a man with him. They (investigators) could find out that the man who killed Kennedy had somebody with him. But I don't know who it is...I just saw the gun barrel and the hand." Analysis: it's hard to see how he could see just the hand of the shooter, and yet be so sure there was another man with him. Too vague.

Howard Brennan was sitting on the Houston side of a cement wall encircling the fountain at Houston and Elm. He can be seen in Zapruder film wearing a hard hat. (11-22-63 statement to the Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 19H470) “I saw a man in this window…He was a white man in his early 30’s, slender, nice looking, and would weigh about 165 to 170 pounds.  He had on light colored clothing but definitely not a suit.  I proceeded to watch the President’s car as it turned left at the corner where I was and about 50 yards from the intersection of Elm and Houston and to a point where I would say the President’s back was in line with the last window I have previously described  I heard what I thought was a back fire.  It ran in my mind that it might be someone throwing firecrackers out the window of the building and I looked up at the building.  I then saw this man I have described in the window and he was taking aim with a high powered rifle. I could see all of the barrel of the gun. I do not know if it had a scope on it or not.  I was looking at this man in the window at the time of the last explosion.” (11-23-63 UPI article found in the  Fresno Bee) "'I looked up and saw him,' H. L. Brennan said. 'The gun was sticking out of the window. I saw him fire a second time. He was a slender guy, a nice looking guy. He didn't seem to be in no hurry.'" (11-23-63 FBI report, CD5 p12-14) “He said the automobile had passed down Elm Street (going in a westerly direction) 30 yards from where he (Brennan) was seated, when he heard a loud report which he first thought to be the 'backfire' of an automobile.  He said he does not distinctly remember a second shot but he remembers “more than one noise” as if someone was shooting fire crackers, and consequently he believes there must have been a second shot before he looked in the direction of the Texas School Book Depository Building.” (12-18-63 FBI report, CD205 p14) "He advised that about 7 p.m., November 22, 1963, when he observed a line-up of individuals in the Dallas Police Department he selected Lee Harvey Oswald as the individual most closely resembling the person whom he had seen with a rifle in the window of the TSBD building...He stated that he now can say that he is sure that Lee Harvey Oswald was the person he saw in the window at the time of the President's assassination...Brennan stated that he was able to observe Oswald's head and shoulders in the window and possibly down as far as Oswald's belt."   (1-10-64 FBI report, CD329, p7-8) "Approximately ten minutes after sitting down on this retaining wall, the Presidential motorcade turned onto Houston Street, and he was able to see President Kennedy and his wife pass approximately 30 yards west on Elm Street from where he was seated. The car passed out of sight and shortly thereafter, he heard one shot, which he first believed to have been a firecracker, and he immediately looked toward the TSBD Building and saw a man in the same window, near the southeast corner of the building, and noticed that this man took deliberate aim and shot the rifle again.  When he saw the man shoot the rifle this time, he realized it was the same man that he had seen standing in the window a few minutes before.  After the last shot, he immediately fell off the retaining wall and ran for an officer...Mr. Brennan estimated  that it was approximately ninety yards from the window where the shots were fired to the area where the President's car had passed out of sight."  (3-24-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 3H140-161)  “after the President had passed my position, I really couldn’t say how many feet or how far, a short distance I would say, I heard this crack that I positively would say was a backfire…Well, then something, just right after this explosion, made me think it was a firecracker being thrown from the Texas book store. And I glanced up.  And this man I saw previous was aiming for his last shot…it appeared to me he was standing up or leaning 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.  And at the same moment, I was diving off of approximately that firewall and to the right for bullet protection of this stone wall that is a little higher on the Houston side…I don’t know what made me think that there was firecrackers throwed out of the book store unless I did hear the second shot, because 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.” 

(Interview with CBS, aired 9-27-64) “I looked directly across and up, possibly at a 45 degree angle.  And this man, same man I had saw prior to the President’s arrival, was in the window and taking aim for his last shot.  After he fired the last or the third shot he didn’t seem to be in a great rush, hurry.  He seemed to pause for a moment to see if for sure he'd accomplished his purpose.  And he brought the gun back to rest in an upright position as though he was satisfied. (About the impact of this shot on Kennedy) “His head just exploded.” (His statement to CBS as quoted in his book, Eyewitness to History, published 1987) “There were three shots fired and all of them came from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.”  (Eyewitness to History, published 1987) “When the presidential car moved just a few feet past where I was sitting, President Kennedy looked back to our side of the street.  Just at that moment the whole joy and good will of the day was shattered by the sound of a shot.  It took an instant to realize that something had happened.  My first instinct was to disbelieve my own ears….My first thought was that it must have been a backfire…I looked up at the Texas School Book Depository.  What I saw made my “blood run cold!”  Poised in the corner window of the sixth floor was the same young man I had noticed several times before the motorcade arrived.  There was one difference—this time he had a rifle in his hands, pointing toward the presidential car.  He steadied the rifle against the cornice and while he moved quickly, he didn’t seem to be in any kind of a panic.  All of this happened in the matter of a second or two.  Then came the sickening sound of a second shot and I looked quickly back in the presidential car which had moved only a few feet, still not apparently aware that it was the assassin’s target.  I saw Governor John Connally reacting to being wounded and the instinctive response of his wife to try and help him.  I remember thinking, “Oh my God!  He’s going to kill them, he’s going to kill them all!”…Just then a woman close to me screamed in full realization of what was happening.  She uttered something like “Oh my God!” But even as she did my eyes darted back to that solitary figure who was changing history.  He was aiming again and I wanted to pray, to beg God to somehow make him miss his target…Then another shot rang out.  All of this took only a few seconds…Simultaneous with the third shot, I swung my eyes back to the Presidential car which had moved on down my left on Elm, and I saw a sight that made my whole being sink in despair.  A spray of red came from around the President’s head.  I knew the bullet had struck its intended target...By the time the third shot had been fired, there was sheer pandemonium.”     

Analysis:   Brennan, of course, is most famous for seeing someone who could have been Oswald, and who he later claimed was Oswald, firing the last shot from the sniper’s nest. Some, like the Warren Commission and writer Gerald Posner, consider him the most important witness.  But one mustn’t overlook the problems with Brennan’s statements. His recollection of telling CBS that there were three shots fired from the sniper’s nest, when he testified to hearing only two shots, one of which he thought was a backfire, and his seeing only one fired from the nest, is indicative of a desire to please. This should make one wonder about Brennan’s refusing to identify Oswald while he was alive, but then fingering the man once he was dead. His oft-repeated claim that he did so out of fear for his life is belied by his talking to a UPI reporter, and describing the shooter, within 24 hours of the assassination, when Oswald was still alive. Brennan’s ability to rewrite his memories to fit his desired scenario is demonstrated best in his memoirs.  Here he remembers the President and Connally being just a few feet away from him at the time of the shots, not 150, and his hearing three shots, not two, and his seeing two shots fired, not one, and his seeing them hit Connally and Kennedy. Not only did he never mention this last assertion previously but it contradicts his assertion to the FBI that he watched Kennedy disappear from view before the first shot.  It’s extremely doubtful, furthermore, that he could even have seen the Connallys react to the shots as described, as the Connallys were on the far side of the motorcycle escorts and the Kennedys from him, on a downward slope. Based purely on his early statements, then, Brennan says he heard a shot, turned to the window after something caught his attention, and then saw the sniper take aim for a final shot. Overlooked by all too many is that he looked up because he thought that someone had thrown  firecrackers from a window, which means he didn't hear a sound come from the window itself, but below it.  He also said firecrackers--plural--indicating he'd heard more than one sound at this point.  Most every other witness said the second shot was quite loud, even louder than the first one. This raises the possibility that Brennan heard an early shot, most likely the shot at around Z-190 heard by most everyone at the corner but dismissed it as a firecracker, and that shortly thereafter he heard the bullet of a silenced weapon whiz past, thus  “more than one noise”. This second burst could be the bullet or bullets striking Kennedy and Connally at frame 224, the second shot “heard” by Nellie Connally. Brennan then looked up and saw the sniper take aim and fire the last shot from the school book depository. As he was “diving off approximately that firewall” at this same time he could have failed to appreciate another shot or noise coming from somewhere else.  It’s worth noting that the Newmans, who also dived to the ground after the head shot, failed to hear the shot after the head shot heard by Brehm, Hilll, Moorman, Hudson and so many others nearby.  Only heard two clear shots.  Possible LPM scenario. Possible first shot hit 190.   

Amos Euins sat on the fountain wall to the right of Brennan. (11-22-63 report to KRLD and CBS by Jim Underwood, about 30 minutes after the assassination) "As I told you earlier, a youngster said that he saw a colored man fire three times from the window of that building...one of the officers found a small colored boy who said he that he saw a man fire from about the fourth floor window of the school book depository building." (11-22-63 statement to Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 16H963, 19H474) “I saw the President turn the corner in front of me and I waived at him and he waived back. I watched the car on down the street and about the time the car got near the black and white sign I heard a shot.  I started looking around and then I looked up in the red brick building.  I saw a man in the window with a gun and I saw him shoot twice…I could tell the gun was a rifle and it sounded like an automatic rifle the way he was shooting. This was a white man, he did not have on a hat. I just saw this man for a few seconds.” (12-14-63 FBI report, CD205 p12) "He said after the President's car started down the hill, he heard what he thought was a car backfire and he looked around and also glanced at the TSBD building, and on the fifth floor where he he had seen what he thought to be a metal rod, he noticed a rifle in the window and saw the second and third shots fired. He stated he saw a man's hand on what appeared to be the trigger housing and he could also see a bald spot on the man's head. He stated he did not see the face of this individual and could not identify him. He said he was sure this man was white, because his hand extended outside the window on the rifle. He stated he also heard what he beieves was a fourth shot, and that the inidvidual in the window, after firing the fourth shot, began looking around and he (EUINS) at this time hid behind a concrete partition. He said he saw this individual withdraw his rifle and step back in the window...Euins advised he could not distinguish the features of the man standing at the window, and as he had previously stated, he only saw his hand and a bald spot on his head." (12-23-63 FBI report, CD205 p.i) “Amos Lee Euins, age 14, states saw white man…in window…with rifle after first shot and observed this man fire second and third shots and what he believes may have been a fourth shot.” (3-10-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 2H201-210) ‘then when the first shot was fired, I started looking around, thinking it was backfire.  Everybody else started looking round. Then I looked up at the window, and he shot again...I got behind this little fountain, and then he shot again. (When asked how many shots he heard)  “I believe there was four to be exact…After he shot the first two times, I was just standing back here.  And then after he shot again, he pulled the gun back in the window.  And then all the police ran back over here in the track vicinity….The first shot I was standing here…And as I looked up there, you know, he fired another shot, you know, as I was looking.  So I got behind this fountain thing right in there, at this point B…I got behind there.  And then I watched, he did fire again.  Then he started looking down towards my way, and then he fired again.” (11-21-64 AP article found in the Brandon Manitoba Sun) "Amos Lee Euins, 16, schoolboy who went with friends to the end of the motorcade route because he thought they could get a better view than in the crowds downtown. He saw the president fine. And also saw a rifle being withdrawn from the sixth floor of the Depository. Ever since the phone has been ringing at the Euins home. Often it is a man with a heavy voice saying "Amos better be careful with what he says. I have a complete copy of what he told police." "I got a phone call just last week," said Amos' mother, Eva, 40. "Twenty minutes later he called back. It sounded like the same heavy voice. I don't think it's a prank "cuz no grown man is going to play that much. It. makes me uneasy, it really does." The Euins' told police but didn't ask for protection and none was offered. There have been a lot of crank calls to figures in the assassination. Meanwhile at the Euins home a light burns on the front and back porches all night. Amos doesn't usually take the bus to school. Members of the family take him by car. He isn't allowed to roam too far alone. Amos does not appear concerned over the calls." (1-19-92 interview with Gerald Posner, reported in Case Closed, 1993) "I saw what I thought was a pipe. I saw it ahead of time. It looked like a dark metal pipe hanging from the window, and I figured 'Hey, it's got a pipe hanging off of it.' I never realized it was a gun until the shooting started."  Analysis:  Euins’ statements fit quite nicely with the second interpretation of Brennan’s statements. He hears a shot, the same first shot as Brennan, then looks up at the window, and sees a man in the window with a rifle as the silenced shot which caught Brennan’s attention whizzes past.  Euins, of course, interprets this as having been fired by the man he sees with a rifle. He then watches this man fire the head shot. The man looks down, and Brennan jumps off the wall . But Euins, who’d already jumped off the wall, hears another shot at this point. Since Euins failed to see the man operate the bolt between these last two shots, and they were very close together, moreover. he goes away thinking the man had fired an automatic rifle. The one problem with this is that Euins’ original statement was that he’d heard but three shots.  Where did the fourth shot come from?  Well, look again--in Euins’ original statement he doesn’t say he heard three shots, he says “I saw him shoot twice” and that it “sounded like an automatic rifle.”  In other words, he heard more than one shot one or more of the times he saw the man shoot. As the black and white sign appears to be a reference to the Thornton Freeway sign, moreover, Euins’ statements are inconsistent with a first shot miss circa frame 160.  Heard four shots. First shot 190. Last two shots bunched together. Last shot after the head shot and not even fired from the sniper’s nest.

Ronald Fischer (11-22-63 statement to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, 19H475, 19H650) “by that time the motorcade rounded the corner.  And then I heard what I thought was three shots, and the motorcade was about where the Stemmons Freeway sign is there.” (12-2-63 FBI report, CD205 p.19-20) “Shortly after the President’s car had passed his position, he heard several shots, evenly spaced, with what he thought three or four seconds between each shot.  He thought first shot was firecracker.”  (4-1-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H191-200) “Well the motorcade—the limousine made the wide turn and –they went out of our view just as they began to straighten up onto Elm Street…as I looked around to watch these other cars, I heard a shot. At first I thought it was a firecracker. And—uh— everybody got quiet.  There was no yelling or shouting or anything.  Everything seemed to get real still. And-uh—the second shot rang out, and then everybody, from where I was standing, everybody started to scatter.  And—uh—then the third shot. At first I thought there were four, but as I think about it more, there must have been just three…The—uh--first shot fooled me, I think, because of the sound bouncing off the buildings. But the second shot was too much like the first and it was too loud—both shots were too loud to be a firecracker…They appeared to be coming from just west of the School Book Depository…. there were some railroad cars back in there.” (7-9-98 video-taped interview posted on Youtube) "I originally said in my deposition in the Sheriff's office that there were four shots.  And there were a number of people who had claimed that they heard four shots. However, I began to question that because I just simply could not remember exactly how many shots there were. It's like trying to remember if it was eight or nine--y'know it's a little easier with three or four--but becomes more difficult with eight or nine and still more difficult with nineteen or twenty. I don't know if there were three or four shots.  I thought there was four and I had explained that to the investigator, Mr. Belin.  I still think that there were probably four shots but I couldn't swear to it."  Analysis: Fischer’s statement that he heard the shots evenly spaced feeds into the LPM scenario, but his placement of the motorcade by the Stemmons Freeway sign suggests a different scenario. His testimony that at first he thought he’d heard four shots, when taken with his latter statements, indicates that he most probably did hear what he took to be four shots. Probable first shot 190-224.  Probably heard four shots.

Robert Edwards (11-22-63 statement to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, 19H 473, 19H647) “The motorcade rounded the corner at this time, and then I thought I heard four shots, but it never occurred to us what it was. The shots seemed to come from that building there.” (12-2-63 FBI report, CD205 p.21-22) “Shortly after President Kennedy’s car passed his position, he heard shots, which he thought were three or four in very rapid sequence.” (4-1-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H200-205) (when asked how many shots he heard) “I heard one more than was fired, I believe…I still right now don’t know how many was fired.  If I said four, then I thought I heard four. (when asked if he knew where the shots came from)  “I have no idea” (when asked if he’d said the shots came from the building) “No, I didn’t say that.” Analysis:  Edwards, to his credit, stuck to his impression that he’d heard four shots that seemed to come from the school book depository. Heard four shots.  

John Martin (4-2-64 FBI report, CD897 p.51-53) “Martin said he ran north on Houston Street and stopped at the north end of the reflection pool which lies west of and is adjacent to Houston Street…Martin said he took some movie shots of the President as he passed by on Elm Street. A few seconds after the President had passed and was departing from his view, he heard a loud report and at first thought that it was a firecracker and a few seconds later heard two more reports and then knew it was rifle fire…the shots sounded to him like they came from the Texas School Book Depository.”  (2-27-79 interview by Dave Hawkins, as quoted in Pictures of the Pain, p.571) “the shot came over my head, and I looked around to see who was throwing a firecracker.  Then a few seconds later there were two more shots…One shot then a space of time, then two more rapidly.”  Analysis: by separating the first shot off by itself, Martin is indicating the first shot must have hit.  First shot hit 190 -224.  Last two shots bunched together.

The next set of witnesses were on the south east corner of Houston and Elm.

James Crawford (1-10-64 FBI report, CD329 p.22) “Mr. Crawford estimated that approximately four or five vehicles, including the Presidential vehicle, had turned down Elm when Mr. Crawford heard sounds which at first were believed by Crawford to be the backfiring of an automobile.  Mr. Crawford believed these sounds came from one of the cars in the front of the Presidential motorcade which was approaching the Triple Underpass… Mr. Crawford stated that to his best recollection there was a definite pause of as much as 15 to 20 seconds between the first and second sounds, and the second and third sounds came very close together.” (4-1-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H171-174) “I believe there was a car leading the President’s car, followed by the President’s car, and followed, I suppose, by the Vice President’s car, and in turn by the Secret Service in a yellow closed sedan.  The doors of the sedan were open.  It was after the Secret Service sedan had gone around the corner that I heard the first report and at that time I thought it was a backfire of a car…The second shot followed some seconds, a little time elapsed after the first one, and followed very quickly by a third one.” Analysis: as the Vice-Presidential back-up car was completing its turn at Z-190, Crawford is not talking Z-160. First shot hit 190. Last two shots bunched together.

Mary Mitchell  (1-18-64 FBI report, CD329 p.24) “as the Presidential car passed the curb in front of the Texas School Book Depository,  (TSBD), she and her companion heard a loud report or explosion, then, after four or five seconds, there were two more rapid explosions.  She said that she and her companion could not see the Presidential car at that time but the crowd became highly excited.” (4-1-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H175-177) “I was on the corner of Elm and record—I’m sorry, Elm and Houston… diagonally across the intersection from the Texas school Book Depository…Well, the President’s car passed and, of course, I watched it as long as I could see it…after the car turned the corner and started down the hill, I couldn’t see over the heads of the standing men for very long, so then I turned back to watch the other people in the caravan, whatever you call it, and probably about the time the car in which Senator Yarborough was riding had just passed, I heard some reports.  The first one—there were three—the second and third being closer together than the first and second.”  Analysis:  while Mitchell cites the car with Yarborough as the last one through the intersection, she would not have known anyone in the back-up car to whom she could make reference.  Even if she honestly believed the car with Yarborough was the last car through the intersection before the shots began, however, her description of the last shots being bunched and of the Presidential limo being out of sight at the time of the first shot should make one doubt there was a first shot miss at frame 160.  First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together.

TE Moore (1-10-64 FBI report, 24H534) “He was standing at the southeast corner of Elm and Houston and observed the motorcade going by, turning west from Houston onto Elm Street.  By the time President Kennedy had reached the Thornton Freeway sign, a shot was fired and Mr. Moore observed the President slump forward in the Presidential car.  Mr. Moore heard two more shots fired; however, the President was out of Mr. Moore’s sight when the last two shots were fired.” (No More Silence, p.90-93, published 1998) “There was a highway marker sign in front of the Book Depository, and as the President got around to that, the first shot was fired.  As he got down a little further, the second shot was fired, and then I believe as it got further down, a third shot was fired…You couldn’t tell exactly where the shots were coming from, though.”  Analysis:  Mr. Moore moved the first shot up from the Thornton Freeway sign to the highway marker in front of the TSBD. Or maybe his choice of words was just unfortunate. Maybe, to him, the Thornton Freeway sign was a highway marker in front of the TSBD.  Probable first shot 190.

Mrs. Carolyn Walther (12-5-63 FBI report, 24H522) (She was standing) “on the east side of Houston Street, about fifty or sixty feet south of the south curb of Elm Street…As soon as the President’s car passed where she was standing, she and Mrs. Springer turned away and started walking north toward Elm Street. At about the time they reached the curb at Elm Street, she heard a loud report and thought it was fireworks. There was a pause after this first report, then a second and third report almost at the same time, and then a pause followed by one and possibly more reports.” (Late 1966 interview with Lawrence Schiller recounted in The Scavengers and Critics of the Warren Report, published 1967) "I heard one shot, and I thought at the time the first shot was a firecracker, and after the last car passed me I started walking back to work, and I had reached the curb, and two more shots, and then a second--two seconds later, one more. It wasn't as loud as the others. But the second and third shots were right together, and then I thought 'Oh, it's gunshots'.....I definitely feel that I heard four shots." (Interview with CBS broadcast 6-25-67) “The President passed us, and he was smiling, and everybody was waving. Then the last of the cars went by, and I heard the shot. I thought it was a firecracker. Then I started back to work, and it was along the curb, and then two shots right together, and then another one. I'm sure there were four shots.”  (2-14-69 testimony in the trial of Clay Shaw) (When asked how many shots she heard) “All together I heard four” (When asked what the first one sounded like) “It was a loud popping sound and I thought it was just a firecracker…the last car was passing in front of me when I heard the first shot…The second one I was just stepping off the curb. “ (And the third?)  “Almost to the center of the street.” (And fourth?) “In the center of the street.”  (And how did they sound? The second? ) “It sounded just like the first one.” (The third?) “The same” (And fourth?) “A little lower…I stopped and said "That is gunshots." Analysis: while most hearing two shots together were referring to the second and third shots of a three shot scenario, Mrs. Walther heard numbers two and three together in a four shot scenario.  It’s possible she heard a first shot around frame 190, automatic weapon fire around frame 224, and then a final shot around the time of the head shot.  Another possibility is she simply mistook an echo after the head shot for a separate shot. Heard four shots.

Mrs. Pearl Springer (12-5-63 FBI report, 24H523) (She and Mrs. Carolyn Walther) “walked south on Houston Street on the east side of Houston Street, stopping just south of a sign post. (This sign post is seventeen steps south of the Elm Street curb.)…After the presidential party passed her  and turned the corner going west on Elm Street, she heard what she thought was a shot…She recalled that after the first shot, there was a pause, then two more shots were fired close together.”   Analysis: as Springer’s recollections confirm the recollections of so many others, her contention that it was shots number two and three of a three shot scenario that were bunched together casts doubt on the accuracy of the statements of her companion, Mrs. Walther. First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together.

There were also three traffic policeman in the intersection…

Edgar Smith (7-17-64 statement to the Dallas Police Department, CD1259, p16) “I heard the three shots but was unable to determine the location they came from.” (7-24-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H565-569) “I heard three shots.  I guess they were shots. I thought that the first two were just firecrackers and kept my position and  after the third one, I ran down the street there.” (When asked if he thought the shots came from a concrete structure on the knoll) “Yes, sir.” (No More Silence, p.197-203, published 1998) “It seemed like a short time, maybe ten or fifteen seconds after they had made the turn, that the first shot rang out…I thought it was probably firecrackers…Then the next two occurred.  It seemed like a lot of time elapsed between the three shots.  I couldn’t really tell where the shots came from, but they sounded like they all came from the same direction.  Certainly it didn’t seem to me that they came from the sixth floor…At the time of the shooting, I was looking more toward the grassy knoll…I looked down there and was able to see the Presidential car lurch off…I reacted by running across the street from the south side of Elm toward the underpass.”  Analysis: by saying that the shots could have rang out as much as fifteen seconds after the car made the turn onto Elm, Smith implies there was no shot at frame 160.  Similarly, by saying “the next two occurred” Smith is implying the last two shots were bunched together.  Probable first shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots probably bunched together.

Joe Marshall Smith (12-9-63 FBI report, as summarized in CD205 p39) "was working on November 22, 1963, on traffic at Elm and Houston streets. He stated he was near the parking lot when the shots were fired which killed President Kennedy. The shots echoed so loudly he had no idea at the time where they had been fired from. He stated he did smell what he thought was gunpowder but stated this smell was in the parking lot by the TSBD Building and not by the underpass. He advised he never at any time went to the underpass and could not advise if there was the smell of gunpowder in the underpass. He stated he did not see the President when he was shot and stated he saw nothing which would assist in this matter." (7-16-64 Statement to the Dallas Police Department, 22H600) ”I was standing in the middle of Elm Street from the southeast curb of Elm and Houston Streets at the time of the shooting.  I heard the shots and thought they were coming from bushes of the overpass.” (7-23-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H531-539) “Then I heard the shots…I started up toward the Book Depository after I heard the shots, and I didn’t know where the shots came from.  I had no idea, because it was such a ricochet…and this woman came up to me and she was just in hysterics. She told me, “They are shooting the President from the bushes.”  So I immediately proceeded up here…I was checking all the bushes and I checked all the cars in the parking lot...maybe it was a power of suggestion.  But it sounded to me like they may have come from this vicinity here.”  Analysis:  by the time his statements were taken, Smith knew that officially all the shots had come from the sniper’s nest.  He therefore had to explain why he rushed down towards the knoll immediately after the shots. That the other Officer Smith did the same thing is indicative that the shots did sound like they came from west of the sniper’s nest. Too vague.

Welcome Eugene Barnett (11-25-63 interview with William Turner, recounted in Turner's book Rearview Mirror, published 2001) "As the President's motorcade swung past him, he heard a sharp report, like a firecracker. After about three seconds there was another shot. Dealey Plaza reverberated with the sounds. He looked over his shoulder to the roof of the depository but saw nothing. The Secret Service men in a car behind the President's limousine were looking around, unable to fix where the shots were coming from. In what seemed like another three seconds after the second shot, a third sounded. (7-16-64 statement to the Dallas Police Department, 22H598) “When the shots were fired, I looked up and could not see anyone or anything extending out of the windows. I thought the shots were coming from top of the building.” (7-23-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H539-544) “I didn’t hear any echo. The whole sound echoed. The sound lingered, but as far as just two definite distinct sounds, when each shot was fired that one sound would linger in the air, but there would be nothing else until the next shot…I was looking at the President when the first shot was fired, and I thought I saw him slump down, but I am not sure, and I didn’t look any more then. I thought he was ducking down….I thought it was a firecracker.  But none of the people moved or took any action…And when the second shot was fired it sounded high…I looked up at the building and I saw nothing in the windows…because I was standing too close…And I looked back again at the crowd, and the third shot was fired.”  Analysis: as Kennedy does not duck down between Z-160 and Z-190, the movement Barnett saw after the first shot could only be a reaction after Z-190.  Probable first shot hit 190-224. 

On the northeast corner of Houston and Elm there were many witnesses, but only a few have been interviewed.

Mrs. Ruby Henderson (12-6-63 FBI report, 24H524) “She was standing on the east side of Elm Street just north of Houston Street (they must mean the east side of Houston just north of Elm)…at the time the motorcade passed where she was standing, she heard what she initially thought was a firecracker, and saw what she thought was paper fly out of the Presidential car.  She said she now realized it was a shot she heard and what she thought was paper was probably flesh.  She said after the first shot, she believes she heard two more in rapid succession, and then a fourth shot.” Analysis:  as Henderson says paper flew out of the car, and not that confetti or fragments exploded in the car, the probability is she did indeed see paper and not flesh.  Perhaps she saw the streamer flying along the ground reported by SS agent Warren Taylor.  For Henderson to think there were three shots fired after the head shot, when she was standing just across from the sniper’s nest, would make little sense indeed.  Still, that Henderson recalls the two bunched shots in the middle, as Walther, who was only a short distance away, should make one suspect that maybe there was something to make them think this way.  Were there two quick shots fired at frame 224 but unheard by most everyone else?  Or was there a shot fired after the bangbang of the head shot, even as the limousine was speeding away? Heard four shots.

Mike Brownlow is a long-time assassination researcher claiming to also have been a witness. In November 2004, and again in 2005, I asked him where he was when the shots rang out.  Both times he told me he was standing in front of the Dal-Tex Building on the northeast corner of Houston and Elm with his grandmother. Both times he said he heard four shots, but could not tell where they came from.  As a number of other witnesses near this intersection also heard four shots, I find Brownlow’s story to be credible. If someone knows of a reason to doubt Brownlow, please let me know. Heard four shots.

 

Down in Front

Here we finally take a look at the statements of those standing directly in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building, many of them Oswald’s co-workers. While reading these statements, one should keep in mind the words of Harvard Psychophysics Professor David Green, after studying the way shots were heard in Dealey Plaza for the HSCA.  He said ““there are certain locations that are best for observing certain shots and in the general region of the book depository, right on the street beneath it, in our opinion it was extremely easy to tell it came from the book.  There was a massive sound to the right and rear that sort of crawled down the building, presumably due to scatter on the regular surface of the building and it was quite evident.” 

Danny Arce (11-22-63 FBI report, CD205 p7) “The President’s automobile had passed and was a short way down Elm Street towards the underpass when I heard something like a gunshot and then a second and third shot close together.”(3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H634) “when president John F. Kennedy was shot, I was standing on the grassy area directly in front of the Depository Building approximately thirty feet from the President’s car.  However I could not see the car when the shots rang out. To the best of my knowledge there were three shots and they came from the direction of the railroad tracks.” (4-7-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H365-367) “I seen him when he turned the corner and when he went down that underpass thing and I heard them shots and I couldn’t see anything…I was directly in front, but then I walked a few steps down to the west side…there’s a little sidewalk right across the street and there’s some grass and things up there and that’s where I was at…I guess you could say I was in front of the building but not directly in front of it.” Analysis:  Arce’s words indicate that Kennedy had just passed his position,  and that the last two shots were close together. First shot hit 190-224. Last two shots bunched together.

Joyce Stansbury (3-24-64 statement to the FBI, 22H674) “I left the Depository building …and took a position on the curbside on the north side of Elm Street leading into the triple viaduct about thirty feet west of the corner…I don’t recall having ever observed Lee Harvey Oswald in the Texas School Book Depository.”  Analysis: another statement in which the witness said as little as possible.  Too vague.

Mrs. Donald Baker (Virgie Rackley)(11-25-63 FBI report, CD5 p.66-67) “She was standing across the street immediately in front of the building…She observed President Kennedy’s car pass…and almost immediately thereafter heard three explosions spaced at intervals which she at first thought were firecrackers. It sounded as though these sounds were coming from the direction of the Triple Underpass and looking in that direction after the first shot she saw something bounce from the roadway in front of the Presidential automobile and now presumes it was a bullet bouncing off the pavement.” (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H635) “I recall that moments after the Presidential car passed I heard three loud reports, which I first thought to be a prankster throwing firecrackers.”  (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H507-515) “well, after he passed us, then we heard a noise and I thought it was firecrackers, because I saw a shot or something hit the pavement…I thought there were some boys standing down there where he was—where the President’s car was…close to the underpass.”  (When asked if she could see the Stemmons Freeway Sign)  “No, I couldn’t see the sign because it was angled—we were stepping out into the street then and it was approximately along in here, I presume, the first sign.” (When asked if it was near the first sign) “As I can remember, it was…I thought it was a firecracker.  It looked just like you could see the sparks from it and I just thought it was a firecracker and I was thinking that somebody was fixing to get in a lot of trouble and we thought the kids or whoever threw it were down below or standing near the underpass or back up here by the sign” (When asked if it would have been near the underpass or the sign) “It was near the signs” (When asked how close to the opposite curb it was) “It was approximately in the middle of the lane” (When asked where it hit compared to the car) “I thought it was—well—behind it.”  (When asked how many shots she heard)  “three”  (When asked where she believed they came from) “it sounded like it was coming from—there was a railroad track…so I guess it would be by the underpass.” Analysis:  Mrs. Baker is another one of those witnesses that LPM theorists and conspiracy theorists alike love to use to demonstrate that there was a first shot miss. A close look at her statements should lead one to question this, however.  In the FBI report she merely mentioned seeing something hit the street in front of the limousine.  When re-questioned in March, and given a statement to sign, she doesn’t mention a bullet striking the street, only hearing firecrackers.  It isn’t until July—eight months after the shooting, that she begins to state she saw sparks or something hit the street.  She remembered thinking there were firecrackers, perhaps seeing paper, and then over time she remembered sparks in association with the firecrackers.  Still, even if she saw a first shot miss, her statements do not support the LPM scenario.  She placed the limo down near the first sign—the Thornton Freeway sign--when the first shot rang out. This is past Kennedy's location at frame 160.  She also said the bullet or whatever struck the middle of the lane beside the car, behind the car, and that she thought the shots were coming from the underpass. This would indicate that the sparks or whatever she saw exploded along the asphalt in the opposite direction of a shot coming from the sniper’s nest, right in front of Officers Martin and Hargis.  Well, why didn’t they or anyone else nearby see this? Clint Hill was looking in this direction. Not coincidentally, Mrs. Baker was asked during her testimony to put a mark on a photo of Dealey Plaza to indicate where she saw these "sparks" hit the street. This is exhibit 354. Not surprisingly, her mark is a good 70 feet or so further down the road than Kennedy at frame 160. First shot hit 190-224.

Carolyn Arnold (11-26-63 FBI report, CD5 p41) "As she was standing in front of the building, she stated she thought she caught a fleeting glimpse of Lee Harvey Oswald standing in the hall way between the front door and the double doors leading to the warehouse, located on the first floor. She could not be sure that this was Oswald, but felt it was and believed the time to be a few minutes before 12:15 P.M. She stated thereafter she viewed the presidential motorcade and heard the shots that were fired at the President; however, she could furnish no information of value as to the individual firing the shots or any other information concerning Oswald, whom she stated she did not know and had merely seen him working in the building." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H635) “at the time President Kennedy was shot, I was standing in front of the Texas School Book Depository...I left the Texas School Book Depository at about 12:25 P.M. November 22, 1963, and never returned to this building on that date.” (3-31-64 radiogram from FBI HQ to Dallas FBI,  FBIHQ file 62-109060, sec 55 p42) "Re Bureau airtel, March sixteen, last and your airtels March twenty-five and twenty-eight, last relating for commission's request for signed statements from individuals known to have been in Texas School Book Depository on November twenty-two, nineteen sixty-three. Before statements can be disseminated to the commission, following corrections necessary: statement of Mrs R.E. "Carolyn" Arnold, paragraph six, line two, time indicated as 12:25 A.M. should be "P.M." If this is typo bureau will handle." (November, 1978 interview with Anthony Summers published in Conspiracy, 1980--part of this quote may have come from an 11-26-78 article published in the Dallas Morning News) "About a quarter of an hour before the assassination...about 12:15, it may have been later... I went into the lunchroom on the second floor for a moment...Oswald was sitting in one of the booth seats on the right-hand side of the room as you go in. He was alone as usual and appeared to be having lunch. I did not speak to him but I recognized him clearly." Analysis: As Mrs. Arnold claimed to have seen Oswald on the lower floors of the depository building at a time when he was supposedly upstairs, her words are quite controversial. So why wasn't she called to testify before the Warren Commission? Just as important...since the 1978 interview in which she claimed the FBI misrepresented her 1963 statements was published during the HSCA's lifetime (The 3-31 FBI radiogram confirms that her 3-18 statement was changed by the FBI before it was forwarded to the commission), why didn't they talk to her? Too vague.

Betty Dragoo (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H645) “I walked just across the street in front of the building entrance.  I was standing at this point when President John F. Kennedy was shot.” (She names Richey, Arnold, Baker, and Johnson as standing nearby.) Analysis: too vague.

Judy Johnson (3-23-64 statement to the FBI, 22H656) “I was with Miss Jeannie Holt…and Miss Stella Jacob... We walked to the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets…I was standing at this point on the sidewalk near the edge of Elm Street at the time President John F Kennedy was shot.  I heard three explosions which sounded to me like firecrackers…I do not know Oswald and do not recall ever having seen him.” Analysis: another employee working in the school book depository who didn’t know Oswald from Adam.  Too vague. 

Bonnie Richey (3-18-64 statement to the FBI) “At the time President Kennedy was shot I was standing in the roadway directly south of the Texas School Book Depository.” Analysis:  too vague.

Patricia Lawrence (11-24-63 FBI Report, 22H841): “When the motorcade passed she stated she was looking at Mrs. Kennedy who was looking to the other side of the car.  The President was looking in her direction and she had waved.  She heard the shot fired as the president was waving.  Thereafter she heard two additional shots; shots which seemed to have come from right over her head.” (2-17-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950 p.48) "Subject also stated that she was standing on the front row of persons on Elm Street at the time of the assassination." (2-17-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950 p.57) "Subject heard the three shots that were fired but could not tell where they came from." (3-20-64 statement to FBI, 22H660) “I recall that when the car in which the president was riding passed my position I was looking at Mrs. Kennedy who was looking to the other side of the car.  President Kennedy was looking in my direction and I waved.  A few seconds following this I heard a shot and following this shot two more shots.”  Analysis:  as Lawrence reports that Kennedy was waving at the time of the first shot, she is probably talking about a shot circa Z-190, after Kennedy had resumed waving, as opposed to a shot at frame 160, before he'd resumed waving. Her grouping the last two shots together is at the same time indicative of what is now clearly the dominant scenario.  First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots probably bunched together.

Lucy Whitaker (3-19-64  statement to the FBI, 22H681) (was with Patricia Lawrence) “At the time President Kennedy was shot, I was standing on Elm Street directly south of the main entrance of the Texas School Book Depository.”  Analysis:  too vague.

Ochus Campbell (11-24-63 FBI report, 22H845) “he and several other associates were together stationed about 30 feet in front of this building facing away from the building observing the passing motorcade containing President Kennedy. At this time, he heard a loud report, which at first he considered to be a firecracker or some such object set off by a crank and believed the noise came away from his building…After hearing two more such reports, he realized that they must have been rifle shots and since President Kennedy’s car had advanced just out of his vision, he went forward a few feet to observe this automobile, inasmuch as he feared that the rifle shots were in connection with an attempt upon President Kennedy’s life.  He then observed the car bearing President Kennedy to slow down, a near stop, and a motorcycle policeman rushed up.  Immediately, following this, he observed the car rush away from the scene.” (11-26-63 FBI report, CD5 p336) "Mr. Campbell advised he had viewed the Presidential Motorcade and subsequently heard the shots being fired from a point which he thought was near the railroad tracks located over the viaduct on Elm Street." (2-17-64 statement to the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19 file 4 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "We then walked across Elm Street and stood on the curb near the parade as it turned from Houston Street down under the underpass. I heard the shots, it sounded like they came from the knoll near the railroad tracks. I thought it was fire crackers."  (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H638) “Mr. Truly and I decided to view the motorcade and took up a position next to the curb on Elm Street adjacent to the street signal light...I recall that shortly after the car in which the President was riding passed the Texas School Book Depository I heard shots being fired from a point which I thought was near the railroad tracks located over the viaduct on Elm Street…I have had occasion to view photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald and to the best of my recollection never saw him while he was employed at the Texas School Book Depository.”  Analysis:  as Campbell was the VP of the TSBD, his statement that he’d never seen Oswald, despite Oswald’s having worked there for six weeks, is revealing.  There were just too many companies in the building, with too many employees, for people to notice whether or not the people in the building actually belonged there.  His statement that the car had already passed the Depository when the shots rang out is an argument against a shot at frame 160, where the limousine was directly in front of the building.  His initial grouping of the last two shots together is also informative.  First shot 190.    

Roy Truly (11-23-63 statement to the Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 24H227) “After the President passed, we heard what sounded like an explosion.  I heard three such explosions.  Then I realized they must have been shots.” (11-23-63 FBI report, CD5 p322) “Shortly after 12:30 PM, as the President’s procession did pass in front of the building, he heard what he believes to be three shots.  He was unable to place exactly the source of these shots but believed they came from the area of the railroad yards adjoining the depository building.  (11-23-63 FBI report, CD5 p324)"He saw the President go by and at about that time heard three explosions." (12-4-63 sworn statement to the U.S. Secret Service, CD87 p793)  "I heard three shots fired and moments later a man who I believed to be a motor cycle policeman came running up to the entrance of the building, and I accompanied him inside." (12-7-63 Secret Service report based on interviews conducted between 12-2 and 12-5, CD87 p778)  "Mr. Roy S. Truly...has been interviewed on several occasion between November 26 and December 4, 1963...the President's automobile passed passed his location at about 12:30 P.M., and a moment later three shots rang out." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H677) “At the time President John F. Kennedy was shot I was standing with Mr. Campbell in the street just in front of the building entrance.  I heard three shots fired.” (3-24-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 3H212-241)  “the driver of the presidential car swung out too far to the right…he slowed down perceptibly and pulled back to the left to get over into the middle lane of the parkway…he picked up speed along here, and then seemed to have fallen back into line…I heard an explosion, which I thought was a toy cannon or a loud firecracker from west of the building.  Nothing happened after the first explosion.  Everything was frozen.  And immediately after two more explosions, which I realized that I thought was a gun, a rifle of some kind.  The President’s—I saw the President’s car swerve to the left and stop somewheres down in this area…And that is the last I saw of the car, because this crowd, when the third shot rang out…they began screaming and falling to the ground.” (11-09-83 AP article found in the Indiana Gazette) "Twenty years later, he refuses to talk about what he saw on Nov. 22,1963. "That's something that was in the past and you don't talk about," Truly said politely. "Everybody who was there has lived through it and that's all I want to say."  Analysis:  as Truly groups the last two shots as two more explosions, he probably heard them bunched together.  While he said that people fell to the ground after the third shot, there was almost certainly a slight delay before the panic reached his location.  Probable first shot 190.  Last two shots probably bunched together. 

James Worrell (11-23-63 affidavit to Dallas County, 16H959) “I was standing on the sidewalk against a building on the corner of Elm and Houston Streets watching the motorcade of the President.  I heard a loud noise like a fire cracker or gun shots.  I looked around to see where the noise came from.  I looked up and saw the barrel of a rifle sticking out of a window…While I was looking at the gun it was fired again.  I looked back at Mr. Kennedy and he was slumping over.  I got scared and ran from that location. While I was running I heard the gun fire two more times. I ran from Elm Street to Pacific Street on Houston.  When I was about 100 yards from the building I stopped to get my breath and looked back at the building.  I saw a w/m, 5’8” to 5’10”, dark hair, average weight for height, dark shirt or jacket open down front, no hat, didn’t have anything in his hands, come out of the building and run in the opposite direction.” (3-6-64 article on Worrell in the Dallas Times-Herald) "He said he was standing directly below the sixth floor of the depository when he heard a shot. 'I looked up real quick and saw the barrel fire again. I looked to see where it hit and saw President Kennedy hit in the back of the head. Then I looked up again and saw it fire a third time. I was 'moving out' by then and didn't see where it hit,' he said. The youth, currently unemployed and no longer enrolled at Thomas Jefferson High School, also claims he heard a fourth shot as he ran around the corner. 'I heard four shots, I don't care what they say,' he said." (3-10-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 2H190-201) “as they went by me, they got, oh at least another 50, 75 feet on past me, and then I heard the shots…I looked up and saw the rifle…I looked to see where he was aiming and after the second shot and I have seen the President slumping down in the seat…I looked up again and turned around and started running and saw it fire a third time…I did it all in one motion, I looked up, turned around, and ran, pivoted…everybody was screaming and saying “duck”…Just as I got to the corner I heard the fourth shot…they were right in succession…I turned the corner, went right down beside the building on the sidewalk and when I got to the corner…Of this building (The Texas School Book Depository) (I) ”Cut directly across, kind of at an angle…I rested there… approximately three minutes before I saw this man come out the back door.” (When asked to estimate the time span of the shots) “best estimate 5, 6 seconds” (When asked how he knew the rifle fired the second shot) “I saw what you might call a little flame and smoke.”  (When asked about the third shot)  “Same thing, a little flash of fire, and then smoke.” Analysis:  while the Warren Commission used Worrell to establish that the shots were fired from the sniper’s nest, they ignored that he said there were four shots.  His statement that the last two shots occurred while he was running a short distance is indicative they were fired close together in time.  His statement that the shots were fired in succession is perhaps indicative of the extreme stress he was under as he ran from the building—people routinely over-estimate the duration of stressful activity by 50% or more.  If this was a factor, then the last two shots might have seemed in cadence with the first two. Or perhaps Worrell simply encountered a previously un-noticed echo as he ran out into the street. Still, as he heard screaming after the third shot, and there was little, if any, screaming reported prior to the head shot, his recollection of another shot after the screaming began is consistent with the words of many of the closest witnesses. The extra shot heard by Worrell would then be an extra shot heard in the beginning or the middle of the shooting scenario.  As he says Kennedy slumped after the second shot, and Kennedy slumped forward after frame 224 of the Zapruder film, this part of his story is consistent with both the LPM scenario and a scenario whereby Kennedy was hit at Z-190 and again at Z- 224.  While he says he saw the second shot fired, perhaps he, as Euins, saw the rifle and heard the sound and incorrectly connected the two. Perhaps, by the time he testified, had come to remember seeing the smoke he saw with the third shot, with the second shot as well. Or perhaps he really did see smoke both times. Heard four shots. Two early shots.  Last two shots probably bunched together (with the last shot after the head shot).

Clotile Williams (7-24 64 FBI report, CD1395, p.6) “she took up a position on the northwest corner of Houston and Elm Streets…shortly after President Kennedy’s car passed this position she heard some shots.  She said she does not recall the number of shots fired…she did not see anything that aroused her suspicion and did not know where the shots came from.”  Analysis:  too vague.

Mrs. H.G. Whitaker worked on the third floor of the depository building. (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19 file 19 of the Dallas JFK Archive) (She) "got back to the steps of the building on the Elm Street side. This was the Texas School Book Depository Building. This was about 12:30 PM. She saw the motorcade pass and then heard two shots...She did not recall ever having seen Oswald...She stated the shots sounded like they came from the west of the building but they did sound as if they came from above." Analysis: only heard two shots.

Carl Jones (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H657) “When President John F. Kennedy was shot I was sitting on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository…I heard three shots just after President Kennedy passed by in his car and I saw him slump in his seat.” Analysis:  too vague.

Madie Reese (11-24-63 FBI report, CD5 p.59) “Mrs. Reese…heard three shots or what seemed…to be shots.  At first she thought the shots came from the alcove near the benches.” (2-17-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950 p.47) "The subject stated that on the day of the assassination she was on the steps in front of the Texas School Book Depository Building, waving at the motorcade as it passed the building.  She stated that she heard three reports, distinct and separate and knew that they were reports of gunfire." (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H669) “I…took up a position on the second step from the bottom (in front) of the main entrance of the Depository Building…Mrs. Dean was standing directly to my left at the time of the assassination…and we both heard the three shots…I do not recall having ever consciously seen Lee Harvey Oswald in the Texas School Book Depository Building.” Analysis: once again, someone who’d worked in the same building with Oswald for six weeks but who’d never noticed him.  Too vague.

Mrs. Joseph Eddie Dean aka Ruth Dean (11-25-63 FBI report 22H839) “President Kennedy had just looked in their direction and waved when she heard a rifle shot.  Shortly thereafter she heard another rifle shot and then a third.  During these moments, she observed President Kennedy slump down into the car.  After the first or second shot, she observed President Kennedy reach to the back of his neck just before he slumped down.” (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950 p.53) "Subject stated she was standing on the front steps of the building when President J. F. Kennedy was assassinated." (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950 p.55) "Subject further stated that she heard the three shots fired by the assassin.  Subject stated that she thought the first shot was a firecracker exploding. After the second shot, subject stated that she knew it was gun shots.  Subject further stated that after the third shot, she knew they came from above, but she did not see anyone." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H643)  “I was standing on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository…As the motorcade passed by I heard three shots and observed the President slump over in the automobile in which he was riding.” (No More Silence, p.70-72, published 1998) “The view where we were was very good.  But the motorcade went a little bit beyond us before the shooting started.  I heard three shots with two being close together and one a little further apart…I remember seeing Jacqueline Kennedy climb over the back and on to the turtle back of the car, and the Secret service man jumped up and made her get back in the car.” Analysis: her statement that two shots were closer together is a little vague.  Which two?  Similarly, as Kennedy looks in her direction and waves in the middle of the Towner film, 5 seconds or so before frame 160 or 190, her statements that he had just looked in their direction can’t be taken literally. Too vague.

Mrs. Avery Davis (12-10-63 FBI report, CD7 p.23) “she was standing on the front steps of the building when the president passed and she then heard three explosions.  She did not realize they were shots.” (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 3, folder 19, file 6 of Dallas JFK Archive) "She saw the motorcade pass her location. From her location she heard the three shots but thought they came from the railroad to the west." (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H642) “A moment after the car in which President John F. Kennedy was riding passed, I heard three explosions.  At first I did not realize these explosions were gun shots…I did not know…but thought they were from the direction of the viaduct which crosses Elm Street.”  Analysis:  too vague.

Judy McCully (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19 file 13 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "She saw the President's car go by, and as the car proceeded down toward the triple underpass, she heard three shots. The shots sounded like they came from the right side of the building in the arcade." (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H663) “I was standing on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository  Building… As the motorcade passed, I heard some shots fired, but did not know the direction from which they came.  Analysis: too vague.

Roy Lewis (12-9-63 FBI report, CD205, p23) “viewed the Presidential motorcade and heard the shots…but could offer no information as to where the shots had come from.” (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950, p.54) "Subject stated that he was in the entrance of the building when the president was assassinated." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H661) “I stood by myself on the inside of the entrance to the Texas School Book Depository to watch President John F. Kennedy come by the building in a motorcade. I heard three shots fired from somewhere above me, but was unable to see the person who fired them “ (No More Silence, p.84-89, published 1998) “I was standing with some ladies from up in the offices right in the middle of the steps in front of the building that led to the sidewalk beyond the glass door. As the motorcade came by, I remember seeing Kennedy brushing back his hair.  That’s when all hell broke loose!  I heard BOOM!...BOOM!...BOOM! with the second and third shots being closer together.  The people down in front of me hit the ground then everybody started running toward the grassy knoll…I didn’t see any smoke or smell any gunpowder, nor could I tell the direction of the shots because it was like an echo there.  But no way did I suspect anything coming from the Texas School Book Depository.”  Analysis: Lewis’ recent recollection differs quite a bit from what he told the FBI. Perhaps he was trying to keep the names of the women on the front steps out of his statement.  As Kennedy brushed back his hair around Z-140, it’s possible Lewis is describing the LPM scenario.  Still, since he says the last two shots were grouped together, it seems likely a few seconds passed before the first shot. Probable first shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots probably bunched together.  

Mrs. Robert A. Reid (11-22-63 Affidavit to Dallas County, 24H223) “I was standing on the front steps of the building, as the parade drew near I walked closer to the street…Just after the President passed by I heard three shots.  The first thing I thought of was someone was shooting at the President.”  (11-26-63 FBI report, CD5 p.27) “She had observed the Presidential motorcade proceed down Elm Street from a position in front of the Texas School Book Depository, and had heard three shots which she later determined came from the above building…The only thing she noted was that the three shots had come from above somewhere.” (12-4-63 sworn statement to the U.S. Secret Service, CD87 p798) "As the motorcade drove by I heard what sounded like three shots.  I thought at the time that the shots had come from the School Book Depository Building." (12-7-63 Secret Service Report based on interviews conducted between 12-2 and 12-5, CD87 p785) "Mrs. Reid was standing on the street in front of the building and she heard three shots fired.  She thought the shots had come from within the building."  Analysis:  Mrs. Reid’s statements are consistent with the LPM scenario as well as many others. Still, if one is to interpret “just after” as implying within a second or two, her statements are more consistent with a shot at frame 160 than at 190.  As she walked back into the school book depository building just after the shots and went back to work, and told Lee Harvey Oswald that "someone has shot the president," it seems highly unlikely she'd thought the shots had come from the building all along, as purported in her statement to the Secret Service.  Possible LPM scenario.

Joe Molina (11-23-63 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19 file 15 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "He states that he heard three shots; he did not know where they came from." (3-25-64 statement to the FBI, 22H664) “the car in which President Kennedy was riding passed the building…Just after his car disappeared from my view I heard three shots.” (4-7-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H368-373) I heard the shots…Sort of like it reverberated…kind of came from the west side…Of course, the first shot was fired then there was an interval between the first and second longer than the second and third.” Analysis:  the familiar scenario. First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together.

Otis Williams (11-24-63 FBI report, CD5 p.64) “at the time the Presidential procession passed the Texas School Book Depository Building, Williams was on the front steps of the building. The Presidential car had just passed the building a few seconds and was out of sight over the embankment when Williams heard three loud blasts. He thought these blasts came from the location of the court house.” (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box folder 19 file 20 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "He heard three shots that sounded like they were coming from the west side of the Texas School Book Depository. The president's car had gotten out of Mr. Williams' view when he heard the shots." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H683) “Just after the presidential car passed the building and went out of sight over the Elm Street embankment I heard three loud blasts. I thought these blasts or shots came from the direction of the viaduct which crosses Elm Street.” (No More Silence p.116-120, published 1998) “when the motorcade came around the corner and then made that bend to get to the underpass, I had a clear view as it passed by of the President and all in the car, and then it went behind a little wall going toward the underpass. Probably five or ten seconds later is when I first thought I heard the shots. The first one I assumed someone threw a firecracker…It was about five or ten seconds before he was hit when he went out of my sight.  I definitely heard three shots.  Fact is, as soon as the third shot happened, and everybody commenced milling around, I thought it came from the underpass.”  Analysis:  even though Williams’ location for the shots appears to have changed (or maybe the FBI simply screwed up in their 11-24 report) he was consistent all along that the limousine had been out of his view for a number of seconds before the first shot was fired. This indicates the first shot rang out after frame 160.  First shot 190-224.

Buell Wesley Frazier (11-22-63 affidavit for Dallas County, 24H209) “I was standing on the front steps of the building when the parade came by, and I watched the parade go by.  After President Kennedy had got out of my sight, I heard three shots. I stood there, then people started running by, and I turned, and went back in the building.” (12-5-63 sworn statement to the U.S. Secret Service, CD87 p796) "I was standing on the front steps when the parade passed in front of the building.  When the shooting occurred, I did not realize the shots were really shots until the second one.  At first I thought it was backfire.  I did not realize the shots had come from this building but thought they had come from somewhere around the triple underpass or railroad tracks." (3-11-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 2H210-245)  “just right after he went by he hadn’t hardly got by, I heard a sound and if you have ever been around motorcycles you know how they backfire, and so I thought one of them motorcycles backfired…but it wasn’t just a few seconds that, you know, I heard two more of the same type of,  you know, sounds, and by that time people was running everywhere, and falling down and screaming, and naturally then I knew something was wrong…to be frank with you I thought it come from down there, where that underpass is.”  (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H647) “At the time President Kennedy was shot I was standing on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository.  I was with William H. Shelley…and Billy Lovelady.”  (2-13-69 testimony in the trial of Clay Shaw) “Just right after they made the turn there was several motorcycle policeman leading the motorcade and right after they turned, after the car made the turn, it sounded like the motorcycles were backfiring…Shortly after there were two more in rapid succession.” (7-23-86 testimony in televised mock trial, On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald) (when asked how many shots he heard) "Three" (when asked if he thought the shots came from the railroad) "Yes, sir, from the knoll there." (6-21-2002 oral history with the Sixth Floor Museum) "I was standing at the top of the steps, the entrance, to the Texas School Book Depository. I was standing in the shadows...When they turned from Houston Street onto Elm there, and started down to the underpasses there, I remember I remarked to myself, I said, 'well, they look just like they do in the pictures'... (When asked how long it was after the limo had completed its turn onto Elm Street and started heading away that he heard the first shot) "It wasn't very long before there was a shot. And, as I said earlier, from listening to the motorcycles that was leading the President's car that had been backfiring, at first I thought it was a backfire from a motorcycle..." (When asked if the shot sounded like backfires) "Yes. But then shortly after, there was two more. By that time there was really chaos. There was people running and everything and you knew something wasn't right...I couldn't actually see what was going on in the President's car...After they had passed and dropped out of sight, I couldn't see what was going on." (When asked when he first realized Kennedy had been shot) "By the time the second and third shot was fired, I realized it wasn't a motorcycle backfire, because it had a different sound to it.  And I realized someone was firing, and people was, as I said in that whole area there was running and falling down..." (When asked from where he thought the shots were fired) "The sound to me at that time sounded like it was coming from up above...the only thing I can say is that I realized it was gunfire, but to be specific as to what building it was coming from other than saying it was coming from up above where we were standing, I can't be more specific than that..." (When asked how many shots) "I heard three shots. There was one, and then there was, the other two was much closer in succession." (When asked the length of the shooting) "I don't know exact, but probably, I would probably say all, and this is probably, I don't know for a fact, I would probably say all three shots was taken within 15 seconds...There was the first one, and then the second and third one was just almost just back to back. It was very fast." (When asked the time between the last two shots) "I would probably say, maybe five seconds, if it was that long." (When asked if there could have been more or fewer than three shots) "Not fewer than three...I heard three." (When asked where the car was when the first shot was fired) "It wasn't very far after it dropped out of my sight...I couldn't see the car...The car was out of my view when the first shot was fired...(When attempting to clarify his approximation of 15 seconds for the shooting) "If you take and fire a shot say like for instance on the first second, and then the second shot might not have been somewhere until like the 8th to 10th seconds, and then the third one I would say somewhere between the 10th and 15th." Analysis: while Frazier, Oswald’s car-pool buddy, placed the limousine close enough to the corner to suggest the LPM scenario in his testimony at the Shaw trial, he originally specified that the car was much further down the street and out of his sight. His grouping of the last two shots together supports this earlier statement.  First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together.

Sarah Stanton (11-23-63 FBI report, CD7 p.20) “She was standing on the front steps as the President passed and shortly thereafter she heard three explosions; however, she did not know where they came from.” (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H675) “when President John F. Kennedy was shot, I was standing on the front steps of the Texas School Book Depository with Mr. William Shelley…Mr. Otis Williams…Mrs. T.B. Saunders…and Billy Lovelady.  I heard three shots after the President’s car passed the front of the building but I could not see the President’s car at that time.”  Analysis:  Stanton’s statement is helpful in that she confirms that it is Billy Lovelady on the front steps in the Altgens photo and not Oswald, as was once believed by the more susceptible conspiracy theorists.  Too vague.

William Shelley (11-22-63 statement to the Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 24H226) “The President’s car was about halfway from Houston Street to the Triple Underpass when I heard what sounded like three shots. I couldn’t tell where they came from.  I ran across the street to the corner of the park and ran into a girl crying and she said the President had been shot. The girl’s name is Gloria Calvery… I went back to the building and went inside and called my wife and told her what had happened.  I was on the first floor then and I stayed at the elevator and was told not to let anyone out of the elevator. (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H673) “as the Presidential motorcade passed I was standing just outside the glass doors of the entrance.  At the time President Kennedy was shot, I was standing at this same place.” (4-7-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H327-334) “I heard something sounded like it was a firecracker and a slight pause and then two more a little bit closer together…Sounded like a miniature cannon or baby giant firecracker, wasn’t real loud…Sounded like it came from the west….officers started running down to the lumber yards and Billy and I walked down that way.  We walked on down to the first railroad track there on the dead-end street and stood there and watched them searching cars down there in the parking lots for a little while and then we came in through our parking lot at the west end…in the side door into the shipping room…I saw Eddie Piper…He was coming back from where he was watching the motorcade in the southwest corner of the shipping room.” Analysis:  Shelley places the limousine too far down Elm at the time of the first shots to be a reference to frame 160, and heard the second two shots closer together.  First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together.

William Lovelady (11-22-63 statement to Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, 24H214) “When the President came by, Bill Shelley and I was standing on the steps in front of the building where I work.  After he had passed and was about 50 yards past us I heard three shots.  There was a slight pause after the first shot then the next two was right close together.  I could not tell where the shots came from but sounded like they were across the street from us. However, that could have been caused by the echo.” (11-22-63 FBI report, CD5 p332-333) "On November 22, 1963, Lovelady and his foreman, Bill Shelley, were standing on the front doorstep at 411 Elm Street at about 12:30 P.M. watching the Presidential motorcade pass.  At about this time he heard three shots.  At first he thought it was a firecracker or the backfire of a motorcycle." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H662)  “I recall that following the passing of the Presidential motorcade, as the car in which the President was riding traveled down the Elm Street extension, I heard several loud reports which I first thought to be firecrackers, and which appeared to me to be in the direction of the Elm Street viaduct just ahead of the motorcade.  I did not at any time believe the shots had come from the Texas School Book Depository Building.” (4-7-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H336-341) “I thought it was firecrackers or somebody celebrating the arrival of the President. It didn’t occur to me at first what had happened until this Gloria came running up to us and told us the President had been shot…She had been right close to it to see and she had saw the blood and knew he had been hit…We went as far as the first tracks and everybody was hollering and crying…and we said we better get back into the building, so we went back into the west entrance on the back dock had that low ramp and went into the back dock back inside the building.” (5-24-64 article in the New York Herald- Tribune) "He said that while watching the motorcade from the doorway of the Book Depository he distinctly heard three shots--'there was one, then a pause, then two fast ones.'" Analysis: Lovelady’s and Shelley’s testimony that they returned to the building through a western entrance, an entrance unknown to Warren Commission counsel Joseph Ball, is one of the more surprising moments of the testimony.  As there was no mention of this entrance being sealed off by the Dallas Police Department, it’s possible someone could have escaped through this door for some time after the shooting.  Otherwise, Lovelady’s description of the shots, and of  where the limousine was at the time of the shots, spells out the predominant scenario described by the witnesses.  First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together. 

Pauline Saunders (11-24-63 FBI report, 22H844) “she stood in the last line of spectators nearest the door to the School Book Depository building…she could not recall the exact time but immediately after the Presidential parade passed she heard three loud blasts and she immediately realized that the shots or whatever it was came from the building above her…Mr. Campbell, Office Manager, arrived shortly after the police officer entered the building and she told him the blasts came from the upper part of the building however he insisted the shots came from the embankment.” (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H672) “after the motorcade car carrying President John F. Kennedy passed, I remained a moment on the steps, then walked out to the concrete island…to see what had happened.” Analysis: too vague. 

 

In the Building

If the LPM scenario is to be accepted then certainly the majority of those closest to the shooting, some only a few feet from the sniper’s nest, would have heard the shots as laid out by Lattimer, Posner, and Myers, with a five second gap between the second and third shots…

Troy West (12-7-63 Secret Service Report based on interviews conducted between 12-2 and 12-5, CD87 p785) "at the time of the president's assassination, he was just starting to eat his lunch on the first floor of the building near where he normally works.  He heard the shots fired and stated that before he could leave the building, many people came in, including many police officers." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H679) "When President John F. Kennedy was shot I was on the first floor making coffee for the employees.  I was alone at the time and did not know at the time that President Kennedy had been shot.  I was walking toward the front of the building when people rushed in the building and told me that someone had shot President Kennedy." (4-8-64 testimony before the Warren Commission 6H356) " I had started to eat my lunch . But before I got through, well all of this was, I mean the police and things was coming in, and I was just spellbound.  I just didn't know what was the matter...(When asked if he heard the shots)  "I didn't hear a one.  Didn't hear a one."   Analysis:  first he hears 'em then he don't. What's that about? Too vague. 

Eddie Piper (11-23-63 statement to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, 19H499) “I went to a front window on the first floor …I saw the President pass and heard some shots…The shots seemed to me like they came from up inside the building.” (12-20-63 FBI report, CD206 p13) "While looking out the window, he heard what he believed to be three shots and saw people running, and later determined the President had been shot. He did not view the Presidential motorcade itself inasmuch as the crowd was in his line of sight, and did not see Lee Harvey Oswald after the shots were fired." (2-17-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950, p45) "Subject gave the following information..."During the presidential parade, I was standing by a window on the lower floor at the front of the building watching the cars pass when I heard this shot.  It shook the window and I moved away from the window and looked at the clock.  It was exactly 12:25 P.M.  Some more shots were fired.  I distinctly heard three shots in all.  Some one said they were coming from the railroad tracks, I said no they are coming from the top of the building." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H6680) “When President John F. Kennedy was shot, I was sitting on a box on the first floor of the Texas School Book Depository watching the parade from the window.  I could not see the president’s car from where I was sitting but I heard three shots ring out and saw people looking up at the building. It seemed to me the shots came from inside the Texas School Book Depository.” (4-8-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H380) (When asked which window he was looking out) “it’s the second window from the corner…I couldn’t see anything--too many people…I heard one shot, and then the next shot went off, and I got up and went on back, back where they make coffee at the end of the counter where I could see what happened and before I could get there, the third shot went off, and I seen the people all running.”  (When asked if he could tell where the shots came from) “No, sir, not for sure.” Analysis: Piper's telling the DPD that he looked at the clock after the first shot suggests there was a larger gap between this shot and the second than between the second and the third, but is a little too vague.

Geneva Hine was manning the phones in the second floor offices of the Texas School Book Depository, on the west end of the building. (11-23-63 FBI report, CD5 p369-370) "Mrs. Hine advised that sometime between 12:25 PM and 12:35 PM she was alone in her office on the second floor of the company building...At approximately that time she heard what she described as three shots. She heard these very distinctly and believes they came from somewhere inside the building, inasmuch as it sounded to her that the shots originated above and to the west of her." (11-23-63 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 1 folder 8 file 52 of the Dallas JFK Archives) "Was in the office alone the day of the shooting heard three shots and did not know what happened until the Police came in the office and told the president had been shot." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H651) "At the time President Kennedy was shot I was on the second floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. I was alone at the time." (4-7-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H393-397)  “I could see it from the east window of our office…I saw the President's car coming and I saw the President and saw him waving his hand in greeting up in the air and I saw his wife and I saw him turn the corner and after he turned the corner I looked and I saw the next car coming. Just at the instant I saw the next car coming up was when I heard the shots…Three…they came from inside the building…the building vibrated from the result of the explosion coming in...they sounded almost like cannon shots they were so terrific." (When asked if she was standing at the window at the time of the shots) "Yes, sir; that is when I was at the window, because the next car, you see, was coming up and turning and I looked. Of course I looked when I heard the shots. I just stood there and saw people running to the east up Elm Street. I saw people running; I saw people falling down, you know, lying down on the sidewalk. ” Analysis: Ms. Hine’s testimony, if taken literally, would indicate the first shot missed somewhere back before the beginning of the Zapruder film sequence of the motorcade on Elm, at a time when Tina Towner was still filming the Presidential limo's turn onto Elm. Perhaps, by the “next car”, then, she simply meant that the next car holding a politician was coming up to the corner when the first shot was fired. This would be the Lincoln holding Vice-President Johnson. If so, then her words are more compatible with the LPM scenario than with a first shot 190 scenario. If she meant the "next car" to mean the Presidential back-up car, however, then her words are incompatible with the LPM scenario as well as most other scenarios. Her statement that "Of course, I looked when I heard the shots" and then describing people falling down--which did not happen until after the head shot--suggests that she was not paying much attention at the time of the first shot. In support of this is the fact that she never mentioned looking out the window until 4 1/2 months after the shooting. Her statement that she could tell the shots were from inside the building, by the way, is refuted by nearly every other witness in the building, and suggests she was not above exaggerating for the sake of self-grandification. Those nevertheless using this assertion as evidence Oswald fired all the shots from the sniper's nest ignore that she originally said she thought the shots came from above and to the west--which would indicate an open window on the west end of the building, where Arnold Rowland claimed to have seen a man with a gun. Possible LPM scenario.

Mrs. Carol Hughes (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H654) “I went to south window near my desk which overlooks Elm Street to watch the Presidential motorcade…I was standing looking out this window when President John F. Kennedy was shot.”  Analysis: too vague.

Steven Wilson (1-9-64 FBI report, CD329 p.27) “Due to a large tree being in the way he could not view the entire procession, but as his view became obstructed , he heard three distinct shots which he thought came from a rifle.” (3-25-64 statement to the FBI, 22H684) “the fatal shots at the President were fired from a storage area which is three floors directly above my private office…I left my private office and went in my company’s main office…From my position, I watched the motorcade as it approached, moving north on Houston Street, and turned west on Elm street…As the motorcade proceeded, my view of President Kennedy and his car and the other occupants, became obscured by some trees which are on Elm Street.  In a matter of ten seconds or less after the President’s car and occupants were obscured from view by the trees, I heard three shots…It is my opinion there was a greater space of time between the second and third shots than between the first and second.  The three shots were fired within a matter of less than five seconds…At that time it seemed the shots came from the west end of the building or from the colonnade located on Elm Street across from the west end of our building…at the time the President’s car and its occupants went out of my view, being obscured by the trees, as mentioned above, the car was not so far as 100 yards from me.”  Analysis:   since the shots occurred “In a matter of ten seconds or less” after the limousine disappeared and the shots themselves were fired within a five second span,Wilson implies the shots began several seconds after the limo disappeared behind the tree.  It did so around 160.  Possible LPM scenario.  Probable first shot 190.

Doris Burns (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19, file 2 of Dallas JFK Archive) "Miss Burns had the radio on and heard the motorcade was close to her location. She walked to Mr. Wilson's office on the third floor facing Elm Street. The window was open and she heard the last shot before she got to the window." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H637) “at the time President John F. Kennedy was assassinated I was walking from my office…While walking I heard one loud noise which sounded like a shot.”  (4-7-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H397-399) “I went around to American Book Co., which is the office closest to us that had a window looking out on Elm. There was nobody in there, so then I started down the hail to Allyn and Bacon. As I went down this hall towards the windows that looked out on Houston Street, I heard a shot, but I didn't think much about it. I didn't, of course, know it was a shot because when you hear tires backfire and all, they all sound alike to me, so I didn't think a thing about that… It must have been the last one because I didn't hear any more…it just sounded as though it was back of me. You see, I was going towards Houston Street. I was facing east and it sounded to me as it came toward my back.”  Analysis:  Miss Burns’ statements support that the final loud noise came from west of the building.  Too vague.

Mrs. Edna Case (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, CD950, p.51) "The subject stated that on November 22, 1963 she was in the offices of the MacMillan Publishing Company on the third floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building at the time the Presidential motorcade was passing the building.  She stated that she had only heard of the shooting after it had occurred. She stated that she did not know Lee Harvey Oswald and that, as far as he knew, she had never seen him around the building."  Nothing to go on.

Mary Ann Hollies was in the fourth floor offices of Scott Foresman Company, apparently looking out the seventh and eighth windows from the east with a woman named Alice Foster. (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box 3, folder 19, file 11 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "At about 12:35 PM, Miss Hollies heard three shots, just as the President's car was headed down toward the triple underpass. She stated the shots sounded as if they were coming from inside the building." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H652) "On November 22, 1963…I was standing at the window of the Scott-Foresman offices overlooking Elm Street…As the motorcade passed by I heard three shots and observed the President slump over in the automobile in which he was riding."  Analysis:  she doesn’t tell us anything about when this slump occurred in relation to the shots.  Too vague.

Elsie Dorman (11-24-63 FBI report, CD5 p.34) “She stated that she had never seen Lee Harvey Oswald in the building and failed to recognize his photographs when shown on television. When the President’s motorcade passed, Mrs. Dorman advised she was looking out the window on the fourth floor…It was at this time she heard sounds which sounded like shots. She felt that these shots were coming from the area of the Records Building.” (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H644) “I was using my husband’s camera and was not too familiar with its operation. As the motorcade turned onto Houston Street from Main Street, I started taking photographs…as the motorcade turned from Houston Street on to Elm Street I became excited and did not get any more photographs.  I was at this window attempting to photograph the motorcade when I heard a noise like gunshots…I do not know Lee Harvey Oswald and have no recollection of having seen him.”  Analysis:  Dorman’s film is one of the least understood or analyzed pieces of evidence surrounding the assassination.  While there is a blur on the film a second or so after Rosemary Willis runs by the fountain, which could have come as a result of a shot at frame 160, Mrs. Dorman stopped filming at this time, raising the possibility the blur was caused by her stopping the film.  Even so, as her film shows camera car # 3 and H.B. McClain approaching Elm Street 10 seconds after we last see Miss Willis, Mrs. Dorman’s film is invaluable in debunking the dictabelt evidence. Too vague.

Dorothy Ann Garner (3-20-64 statement to the FBI, 22H648) (I) was watching the Presidential motorcade through a window…the fifth window from the east end of the (Texas School Book Depository) building. I recall that Mrs. Elsie Dorman was sitting next to me at that time looking out the sixth window and that Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles were both standing next to Mrs. Dorman… I recall that moments following the passing of the Presidential car I heard three loud reports which I first thought to be fireworks but only seconds later realized something had happened on the street below although at the time of the shots, the Presidential car was out of view behind a tree. I thought at the time the shots or reports came from a point to the west of the building…I do not recall ever having seen Lee Harvey Oswald at any time prior to the assassination.”  Analysis:  yet another employee of the school book depository who had no recollection of Oswald whatsoever and who would therefore have had no idea what a stranger in the building would look like.   Too vague.

Sandra K. Styles (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H676) “On November 22, 1963, I was in my office at a window facing Elm Street watching the Presidential motorcade at the time President Kennedy was shot…I never knew Lee Harvey Oswald, not even by sight as an employee at the building…I heard shots but thought at the time they were fireworks.”  Analysis:  no recollection of Oswald.  Too vague.

Vickie Adams (11-24-63 FBI report, CD5 p.39) “as the car…was passing, she heard three loud reports which she first thought to be fire crackers…and she believed the sound came from toward the right of the building…After the third shot she observed the car containing President Kennedy to speed up and rush away.” (2-17-64 statement to the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19 file 3 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "When the President got in front of us I heard someone call him and he turned. That is when I heard the first shot. I thought it was a firecracker. Then the second shot I saw the Secret Service man run to the back of the President's car. After the third shot I went out the back door."  (3-23-64 statement to the FBI, 22H632) “I recall that at about 12:30 PM, just after the car carrying President Kennedy had passed on the street below, I heard three loud reports which I first thought were firecrackers…After the third shot I observed the car carrying President Kennedy speed away.” (4-9-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H386-393) “I watched the motorcade...proceed around the corner on Elm, and apparently somebody in the crowd called to the late President, because he and his wife both turned abruptly and faced the building… from our vantage point we were able to see what the President’s wife was wearing, the roses in the car…Then we heard—then we were obstructed from the view…A tree.  And we heard a shot, and it was a pause, and then a second shot, and then a third shot.  It sounded like a firecracker or a cannon at a football game, it seemed as if it came from the right below rather than from the left above.”  Analysis: Adams’ testimony that she saw Kennedy suddenly turn to his right before the first shot confirms Mary Woodward’s account and that the first shot rung out around frame 190. Her mentioning a pause after the first shot, but not between the second and third suggests the last two were bunched together.  First shot 190. Last two shots bunched together.

Ruth Smith Nelson (2-18-64 report of the Dallas Police Department, box folder 19 file 16 of the Dallas JFK Archive) "she went to the fourth window from the east side of the building facing Elm Street. She stood up and watched the motorcade. She heard the three loud reports and thought they were part of the celebration." (3-23-64 statement to the FBI, 22H665) “at the time President John F. Kennedy was assassinated I was viewing the motorcade from the fourth window on the east side on the fourth floor along with Mrs. Yola Hopson…I did not see Lee Harvey Oswald at this time and have not to my knowledge ever seen Lee Harvey Oswald.” Analysis: too vague. 

Mrs. Alvin Hopson (12-4-63 FBI report, 24H521) “she was looking out a window on the south side of the fourth floor of the TSBD Building when the motorcade of President John F. Kennedy passed in front of the building…Immediately after he passed, she heard two or more loud shots which she thought were firecrackers.  She stated that she thought they had been set off on the street below…at the time she heard these shots she could not see the presidential car since there were some trees along the edge of the street which blocked her view…She stated that it did not sound to her like the shots were coming from her building…she does not know Lee Harvey Oswald and does not recall ever having seen him.” (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H653) “I heard an unrecalled number of loud noises which I thought sounded like firecrackers. I could not view the position of President John F. Kennedy due to the trees in front of the building.” Analysis: too vague.

Jack Dougherty (11-22-63 Affidavit to Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, 24H206) “I had already gone back to work and I gone down on the fifth to get some stock when I heard a shot. It sounded like it was coming from inside the building but I couldn’t tell from where. I went down on the first floor and asked a man named Eddie Piper if he had heard anything and he said yes, that he had heard three shots.” (11-23-63 statement to the FBI, 22H645) “I was working on the fifth floor of the building at 411 Elm Street…when I heard a loud explosion which sounded like a rifle shot coming from the next floor above me.” (12-19-63 FBI report, CD 206, p.11) “He stated that as soon as he arrived on the sixth floor, he went down to the fifth floor to get some stock…it was while he was on the fifth floor that he heard a loud noise.  He said that it appeared to have come from within the building but could not tell where. He said that he went down to the first floor and saw a man, Eddie Piper, and asked if he had heard a loud noise.” (4-8-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 6H373-382)  “Well, when I got through getting stock off of the sixth floor, I came back down to the fifth floor…Well, then immediately I heard a loud noise---it sounded like a car backfiring, and I came back down to the first floor, and I asked Eddie Piper, I said, "Piper, what was that?" I says, "Has the President been shot?'. He said, "Yes…"(When asked if he’d previously told the FBI the sound was of a rifle shot) “Well; I believe I told them it sounded like a car backfiring.” (When asked if he’d said it was from the floor above him) “No.” (When asked if it did sound like it came from the floor above him) “Well, at the time it did---yes.” (When asked where he was when he heard this sound) “Well, I was about 10 feet from the west elevator---the west side of the elevator…I was getting some stock.”  Analysis:  why only one shot? Too vague.

Since there has been virtually no support for the LPM scenario so far, one might assume that the closest witnesses, those in the windows just below the sniper’s nest, would offer some support that the first shot missed, or that there was a five second gap between the second and third shots.  Wrong.

James Jarman  (11-24-63 FBI report, CD5 p334-335) “He said that he heard a shot and then saw President Kennedy move his right hand up to his head. After an elapse of three or four seconds, he heard a second shot and then the vehicle bearing President Kennedy speeded up and he was unable to observe any more about the presidential vehicle. He said a third shot was heard by him closely following the second shot possibly within a second or two afterwards.  He said these shots sounded to him to be too loud to have been anywhere outside the TSBD building.” (12-7-63 Secret Service Report based on interviews conducted between 12-2 and 12-5, CD87 p785) "Jarman was standing near Williams in a front window overlooking Elm street when the parade went by and a moment later he heard three shots." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H655) “At the time President Kennedy was shot I was at the third window from the east side on the fifth floor. I was with Harold Norman…and Bonnie Ray Williams.” (3-24-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 3H198-211) (On seeing Oswald earlier that day) "It was between 9:30 and 10 o'clock, I believe...In between two rows of bins...On the first floor...Well, he was standing up in the window and I went to the window also, and he asked me what were the people gathering around on the corner for, and I told him that the President was supposed to pass that morning, and he asked me did I know which way he was coming, and I told him, yes; he probably come down Main and turn on Houston and then back again on Elm. Then he said, "Oh, I see," and that was all." (On the shooting) “After the motorcade turned, going west on Elm, then there was a loud shot, or backfire, as I thought it was…A backfire or an officer giving a salute to the President.  And then at that time I didn’t, you know, think too much about it.  And then the second shot was fired, and that is when people started falling on the ground and the motorcade car jumped forward, and then the third shot was fired right behind the second one…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 wasn’t a backfire or anything, that somebody was shooting at the President…I couldn’t say that I saw him actually hit, but after the second shot I presumed that he was…I saw him lean his head…(When asked from where he’d heard the shots) “I thought at first it had came from below…I am sure it came from the left. (When asked if he had any doubt that the sounds he heard were gunshots, given that he’d had 8 years in the military) “Not after the second shot.” (Interview with CBS, aired 6-25-67) (On seeing Oswald earlier in the day) "I was talking to him around ten o'clock. On the outside of the building, some people had gathered. And he asked me what was they gathering around out there for, and I told him that the President was supposed to come by there that morning. And he asked me what time, and I didn't know what time it would be but some of the people had started gathering around. And he asked me which way would the President be coming, and I told him. And so he said, "Oh, yeah?" And I said "Yeah." Then he turned and walked off."  Analysis: as Jarman heard the last two shots close together and saw both Kennedy “lean his head” and people fall to the ground after the second shot, he is a strong witness that the last shot was fired after the head shot. What made him think the shots came from below? First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together (with the last shot after the head shot).

Bonnie Ray Williams (11-22-63 affidavit to Dallas County, 24H229) “Just after we got on the fifth floor we saw the President coming around the corner on Houston from Main Street.  I heard 2 shots it sounded like they come from just above us. We ran to the west side of the building.” (11-23-63 FBI report, CD5 p330-333) “Then he joined two other men known to him as Hank and Junior.  They were looking out windows on the south side of the building approximately at the middle of the building and saw the car of President John Kennedy come north on Houston Street and then make a turn going west on Elm Street down into the triple underpass directly in front of the Texas School Book Depository. While they were watching this car pass, Williams heard two shots which sounded like they came from right over his head…He stated he and the other two men ran to the west end of the building where they looked out and they did not realize the President had been shot.” (12-7-63 Secret Service Report based on interviews conducted between 12-2 and 12-5, CD87 p784) " he can recall having heard only two shots.  He felt that the shots came from the sixth floor but he did not hear the shells fall to the floor nor did he hear the bolt action of the rifle." (3-19-64 statement to the FBI, 22H681) "As the presidential motorcade passed by the building on Elm Street below I heard three shots which sounded like they came from directly above me. At first I thought the noises I heard were firecrackers. I looked up when little pieces of cement hit me on the head, but saw no one. I did not know that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. When I saw all of the confusion on the street below I ran to the west end of the building to get a better view. Hank and Junior who were on the floor with me also ran to the west end of the building." 

(3-24-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 3H161-184) “After the President’s car the last thing I remember seeing him do, you know—it seemed to me he had a habit of pushing his hair back. The last thing I saw him do was he pushed his hand up like this. I assumed he was brushing his hair back. And then the thing that happened then was a a loud shot—first I thought they were saluting the President, somebody even maybe a motorcycle backfire.  The first shot—there was two shots rather close together. The second and the third shot was closer together than the first shot and the second shot, as I remember…the first shot—I really did not pay much attention to it, 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…Harold was sitting next to me...He said it came directly over our heads...I can even hear the shell being ejected from the gun hitting the floor...I heard three shots, but at first I told the FBI I only heard two--they took me down--because I was excited, and I couldn't remember too well.  But later on, as everything began to die down, I got my memory even a little better than on the 22nd. I remembered three shots, because there was a pause between the first two shots. There was two real quick. There was three shots.” (Interview with CBS, broadcast 9-27-64) "The last thing I saw the President do was push his hair back, and the only comments made about the President were that his tan was beautiful, and also that his health was looking good that day." (On what happened after people started falling on the ground) "So we said, “Well, somebody’s shooting at the President.” And then—at first we didn’t believe it, because it just seemed so untrue, you know—and then the other fellow, Harold Norman, said, “Yes, I believe he’s been shot at.” (Interview with CBS broadcast on 6-25-67, additional portions broadcast in 1992) “When the President came around, we remember seeing him standing up and waving.  And then when he turned to go down Elm Street we heard a shot and we saw the President slump.  And then after we saw him slump, we said--I think one guy, I don't remember which one it was-- said "I believe they're shooting at the President and I believe it came from right up over us."...Prior to that we’d decided they were firecrackers and everything, y'now.” (When asked how many shots) “I heard three. The first and the second were further apart than the second and the third. In other words there was a bang and a bang-bang.”  Analysis: as Williams initially mentioned but two shots, it seems obvious he only recalled hearing two clear shots. After being told by everyone there were three shots, and given time to analyze how the shots sounded, however, he switched to saying the last two shots were very close together (so close together that he referred to them as an "it" in his Warren Commission testimony). He said they were "bangbang". Whether he only heard two shots or whether the last shots were simply bunched together, however, doesn’t matter, as far as our analysis of the LPM scenario goes, as both suggest there was more than one shooter in Dealey Plaza. Williams was only ten feet from the sniper’s nest and yet he heard only two bursts of gunfire! His statement that the last thing he saw Kennedy do was push his hand up is probably a reference to Kennedy’s wave circa Z-190. He would have to have seen Kennedy for several seconds past Z-140, when Kennedy last brushed back his hair. First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots bunched together.

Harold Norman (11-26-63 FBI report, CD5 p26) (On seeing Oswald earlier in the day) “He further stated he cannot recall whether he saw Oswald at the Texas School Book Depository during Friday, November 22, 1963." (On the shooting) "He stated that about the time the car in which the president was riding turned on to Elm Street, he heard a shot. He said he thought the shot had been fired from the floor directly above him.  He further stated at that time he stuck his head from the window and looked upward toward the roof but could see nothing because small particles of dirt were falling from above him.  He stated two additional shots were fired after he had pulled his head back in from the window.” (12-4-63 affidavit to the Secret Service, 17H208) (On seeing Oswald earlier that day) "The last time I saw him was about 10:00AM when we were both working on the first floor of the building. I did not speak to him at that time." (On the shooting) “Just after the President passed by I heard a shot and several seconds later, I heard two more shots.  I knew that the shots had come from directly above me, and I could hear the expended cartridges fall to the floor.  I could also hear the bolt action of the rifle…I saw all of the people down on the street run toward the west side of the building, so I went to that side with Williams and Jarman.” (12-7-63 Secret Service Report based on interviews conducted between 12-2 and 12-5, CD87 p783) "Just after the President passed their position, Norman heard a shot fired and several seconds later, he heard two more shots spaced closely together.  Norman claims that he knew immediately that the shots had come from directly above his position." (3-18-64 statement to the FBI, 22H666) “I was with James Jarman and Bonnie Ray Williams watching the motorcade bearing President John F. Kennedy pass the Texas School Book Depository Building when I heard three shots fired from, I believe, the floor directly above me.”  (3-24-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 3H186-198) (On seeing Oswald earlier that day) (I saw him) "around about 10 or 10:15, somewhere in the neighborhood of that...Over in the bins by the windows, I mean looking out, you know, at Elm Street, towards Elm Street...(On) The first (floor)...I was looking out the window. He happened to come by to fill orders." (When asked if he said anything to Oswald and if Oswald had said anything to him) "No, he didn't...No" (On the shooting) “About the time that he got past the window where I was, well, it seems as though he was, I mean you know, brushing his hair.  Maybe he was looking at the public…I can’t remember what the exact time was but I know I heard a shot, and then after I heard a 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 couldn’t 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.” (Interview with CBS aired 9-27-64) “Then the motorcade got to Elm and it turned and it started towards the triple underpass. The President, he was waving at people as he went by and occasionally he would brush his hair back." (Later in the same broadcast) “When I heard the second shot that’s when I saw the people start falling on the ground." (Later in the same broadcast) "But before the third shot was fired I told the guys that, you know, I believed the shot came from the building above us. And eventually, I guess, they agreed with me, because one of the guys said “I believe you’re right.”  And I said “I know I’m right” because I could hear something sound as though the shells were hitting the floor and I could hear the ejection of the rifle, clicks like that, you know.” (Later in the same broadcast) “Well, I was looking out the window and the first shot was fired. Well, y'know, I didn't think much of it, because it, shook the building a little bit. Really, it was just that powerful. Then after the second shot was fired, well, I saw the people. They were all falling on the ground.  And I told one of the fellows. I say, “That shot came from this building.” And then by that time I heard the third shot.  And one of the guys told me, he said, “I believe you’re right.” And I say “I know it did." And then I could, you know, also hear the hulls, empty hulls, the cartridges, hitting the floor, and I could hear the ejection of the rifle, whatever it was. And the first thing we thought is we better get down from here because I know I didn’t want to be involved in anything like that because I didn't have anything like that on my mind…” (Late 1966 interview with Lawrence Schiller recounted in The Scavengers and the Critics of the Warren Report, published 1967) "When the President came around, he was waving, seemed to be happy. About that time I heard a shot, and one of the guys said "Somebody's shooting at the President." And I said : "Well, he sure is, because I know that's a shot." And another shot was fired. Then another shot. I saw the President slump over and the Secret Service men and the policemen, they seemed to not recognize where the shots came from. There was a passenger train over by the railroad track and everybody was running that way. That's where they thought the shots came from at first. But I knew it was someone, the shots came from above us.  I didn't know who it was or where but I know they were above us because I could even hear the cartridges hitting the floor and I knew the shots came from above...They were right over me. I was sitting almost directly under the window that the shots came from and I could hear them very plainly...One of the guys, some of the debris had dropped one one of the fellows' head, in his hair, and he mentioned it to the other fellow and we looked and there it was, in his hair."  (Interview with CBS broadcast  6-25-67, additional portions broadcast in 1992) (On seeing Oswald earlier that day) "On that particular morning there were three or four of us standing by the window, and Oswald came over and said, "what's everybody looking at, what's everybody excited about?" And so I - we told him we was waiting on the President. So he just snudged up and walked away." (On the shooting) "And then I think about that time, Jarman says "Somebody's shooting at the President." And I told Jarman, I said "I know it is" because I could hear it being above me and I could hear the shots and everything.  And I could even now hear the empty cartridge hit the floor I mean after the shots had been fired.  And so, after the shots were fired, well all the officers and everyone else seemed to think it came from down the track down by the underpass cause that's where everyone ran over thatta way.  But just like I've said, I've been hunting enough to know the sound of a rifle from a backfire or a firecracker, especially this close to me." (When asked how many shots he heard) “Three. I’d say just about like this BOOM…click click…BOOM…click click...BOOM.  Something similar to that.”  

(10-20-77 HSCA interview, portion posted on alt.assassination.JFK) "And then 3 shots was fired:  Boom, clack-clack, boom, clack-clack, boom.  One at a time.  I see the President fall back and do high hand." (When asked where he thought the shots were coming from:) "From right up above me, up on the fifth floor. And I knew the shots had to be on the 6th floor, you know, on top of the roof." (11-09-83 AP article found in the Indiana Gazette) ""I didn't see the gun barrel but I did see the debris that fell in one of my friend's hair. I could hear a gun going off above us, and the debris fell each time there was a shot," said Norman. The debris was dust and tiny pieces of concrete broken loose by the concussion of the rifle, he said. "I sure do see that scene — sometimes pretty regularly. Sometimes I'll be driving down the street and thinking about it," he said. "I can close my eyes and see President Kennedy again. One minute he's smiling and waving and then he's slumped back and wounded.'' Norman said he never believed a conspiracy was involved in the assassination, but he also never fully believed his coworker —Oswald—was the trigger man." (7-23-86 testimony in a televised mock trial, On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald) "Well, I heard a shot when the motorcade came by. The first shot, it made the President slump. Then I heard two more shots. (When asked if he heard a total of three shots) "Yes, sir." (When asked how he could tell the shots came from above) "Because I could hear the empty hulls--that's what I call them--hit the floor and I could hear the bolt action of the rifle being pushed back and forward."  (When asked how many hulls he heard hit the floor.) "Three." (When asked by the defense to describe the rhythm of the sounds) "As I recall, the rhythm of the sounds of the shots was Boom! Click, click. Boom! Click, click. Boom! Click, click." (When asked by the defense if he thought there was an armed man directly above him) "I can't say that I thought that." (When asked if he thought there was somebody up there) "I thought there was somebody up there." (1-19-92 interview with Gerald Posner, reported in Case Closed, 1993) "When the first shot came, I heard boom, then click-click, boom, click-click, boom. I could hear the sound of the click. I could hear the sound of the shells hitting the floor. I could hear everything. Three shots. No doubt in my mind." (6-13-93 Interview with PBS Frontline) (On seeing Oswald earlier in the day) "We were looking out towards Elm Street, so he walked up and asked us, said, "What is everybody looking for? What's everybody waiting on?" So we told him we was waiting on the President to come by. He put his hands in his pocket and laughed and walked away, so I don't know where he went, or if he went upstairs or downstairs or where." (On the sound of the shots) “We was sitting on the fifth floor, directly under the sixth floor windows. The shots came from above and there was a gun and the shots were sounding, "Boom! Click, click. Boom! Click, click. Boom! Click, click." So there was three shots fired right up over us when we were sitting on the fifth floor.” (Intriguingly, the transcription of the first part of this Frontline interview, when published in Gus Russo's 1998 book Live by the Sword, had a few extra lines.) In Russo's transcription, between Norman's saying Oswald "laughed and walked away" and his saying "I don't know where he went" he says "I thought maybe he's just been happy that morning or something. He was glad the President was coming through. He acted as though he didn't know, but I kind of think he did know."  (Russo's transcription of the second part of the interview, in which Norman describes the shots, was also considerably different than the interview shown on TV, and far more expansive.) "At the time of the shooting, James Jarman and myself were on the fifth floor. Somehow he (Bonnie Ray Williams) lost us. But he did come down to find us just before the motorcade came through. So he joined us and we pulled up some cartons, standing in the window waiting on the motorcade. And as the motorcade came by, we started looking and we had a good view. And all of a sudden, we hear something. 'Boom, ack, ack, boom, ack, ack, boom.' I told Jarman, 'I believe somebody's shooting at the President.' And he said, 'Yeah, that certainly sounds like it.' And then by this time we looked over and there was some debris or dirt or something fell on top of Jarman's head. And that was three of the shells I heard on the floor. And when the police officer asked about it, we told them about it and they went up there and that is what they found up there on the sixth floor. Three empty cartridge shells up there."

Analysis:  as Norman’s earliest statements indicate he heard three booms but only one or two shells ejected (Williams quoted him as saying “shell”), his words leave open the possibility that only two shots were fired from directly above him.  As he testified to two shots—a first one that hit—and a second one that was apparently the last shot, and then back-tracked and said  “I couldn’t see at all at the time but I know I heard a third shot fired” it certainly seems his memory of this third shot is unclear. As Bonnie Ray Williams initially left out a shot altogether, there’s reason to believe Norman barely remembered this same shot. As Norman’s earliest statements mention “two additional shots” and “two more shots,” without mention of a five second gap between them, and as the Secret Service noted that he'd said they were "spaced closely together", it certainly seems reasonable to assume he initially thought these last two shots were close together. There was so much talking going on amongst the three men on the fifth floor, however, that it’s hard to say for sure.  What one can say for sure, thanks to Norman’s second CBS interview of 9-27-64, is that he agreed with Jarman that people hit the dirt after the second shot.  As the Zapruder film and the statements of the eyewitnesses indicate that no one hit the dirt till after the head shot, this indicates he heard a shot after the head shot. Finally, while some use Norman's latter day statements as proof that all three shots came from above, they fail to mention that Norman said he could only tell that the shots came from above by the sound of the hulls hitting the floor, and that he didn't quantify the number of clicks of the rifle or hulls falling to the floor as three until many years after the shooting, after being flown to London as a witness for the prosecution in a mock trial. They also fail to reveal that Norman has repeatedly changed his story. Between March and September 1964 Norman changed his story about whether it was he or Jarman who first said the shots came from above. In 1967 he changed it back, only to change it back again in the Frontline interview cited by Russo. Far worse, on 11-26-63 he denied even seeing Oswald on the 22nd, only to change his story by March 64 and testify that he saw him around 10 O'clock but did not speak to him, only to modify his story yet again and tell CBS and Frontline that he not only saw him but was with a group of people that spoke to him. This change in his story, whether a simple misunderstanding or a deliberate deception, reveals Norman to be not particularly reliable, and thus no witness upon which to build a case.

Which could explain Frontline's editing of his interview. Unless Russo made up the transcript in his book, Norman, with this interview, not only changed his story yet again as to who first said the shots had come from above, but on whose head debris had fallen. More significantly, he changed his description of the shots between takes from "boom ack ack boom ack ack boom" to "boom click click boom click click boom click click." Having the sound end with a "click click," of course, suggests that the sniper ejected a third bullet, and re-chambered a fourth, which fits the single-assassin scenario. (If only two click-clicks were heard, it would be hard to explain how three shots could have been fired, and three bullets found on the floor). One can only wonder, then, if someone "coached" Norman to add this extra click-click back into his story between takes.

Norman's statements to Frontline are intriguing for yet another reason. As there are no edits in between Norman's lines in the first part of the televised interview, and Russo's transcription of the first part of the interview has three sentences between "walked away" and "I don't know," we can assume that either 1) Russo, who'd worked on the program, had access to an alternate take of the interview (as suggested by his widely divergent transcription of the second part of the interview), or 2) Russo invented these lines to help sell his theory that Oswald was eagerly anticipating Kennedy's arrival, so he could kill him. As the second part of the interview as published by Russo is so damaging to Norman's credibility, I believe we should suspect the former. First shot hit 190-224.  Last two shots probably bunched together, with the last shot after the head shot.