Jfk assassination how many bullets

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor John B. Connally, and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough led the welcoming party. A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. A platform was set up and the president, wearing no protection against the weather, came out to make some brief remarks. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it.

The warmth of the audience response was palpable as the president reached out to shake hands amidst a sea of smiling faces. Back inside the hotel the president spoke at a breakfast of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, focusing on military preparedness. The presidential party left the hotel and went by motorcade to Carswell Air Force Base for the thirteen-minute flight to Dallas. Arriving at Love Field, President and Mrs. Kennedy disembarked and immediately walked toward a fence where a crowd of well-wishers had gathered, and they spent several minutes shaking hands.

The first lady received a bouquet of red roses, which she brought with her to the waiting limousine. Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, were already seated in the open convertible as the Kennedys entered and sat behind them.

Since it was no longer raining, the plastic bubble top had been left off. Vice President and Mrs. Johnson occupied another car in the motorcade. The procession left the airport and traveled along a ten-mile route that wound through downtown Dallas on the way to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a luncheon.

Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around p. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza. Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. The governor was shot in his back. The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President.

A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at p. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously wounded, Governor Connally would recover.

Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B. The brief ceremony took place at p. He was being held for the assassination of President Kennedy and the fatal shooting, shortly afterward, of Patrolman J. Tippit on a Dallas street. On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred from police headquarters to the county jail.

Viewers across America watching the live television coverage suddenly saw a man aim a pistol and fire at point blank range. The assailant was identified as Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner. Oswald died two hours later at Parkland Hospital. That same day, President Kennedy's flag-draped casket was moved from the White House to the Capitol on a caisson drawn by six grey horses, accompanied by one riderless black horse.

At Mrs. Kennedy's request, the cortege and other ceremonial details were modeled on the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Crowds lined Pennsylvania Avenue and many wept openly as the caisson passed. During the 21 hours that the president's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, about , people filed by to pay their respects. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. They were long, round-nosed rifle bullets. Their copper metal jackets had the dull color of a worn penny, giving testimony to their age.

Alongside the bullets were bullet fragments that revealed the contorted deformation of the lead and jacket metal when they expended a huge amount of energy upon impact. These items were very typical of firearm evidence that I examined in my 30 years as a forensic scientist. Although the fired bullets were not unusual looking, they were extraordinary historically. These were the bullet artifacts from the John F.

Kennedy assassination. My family found out about it the next day via a Voice of America radio broadcast where we lived in West Germany. My father was in the U. I was 8 years old, and my family lived in a village just outside the base. President Kennedy was revered by the German populace, primarily due to the U. It was typical to see his portrait in German households.

Thus, the outpouring of grief was probably as strong in Germany as it was in the U. My own sadness was paired with the anxiety and sadness of my father and mother, who were concerned that the assassination might have been perpetrated by an enemy nation, and, if so, the NATO base where my father worked might be called upon to send out its fighter-bombers in retaliation.

In addition to many other items collected during the investigations that followed the assassination, the bullet and two bullet fragments that killed Kennedy and injured Texas Gov. John Connally are housed at the National Archives in a secure and climate-controlled environment. These items are closely controlled by NARA experts, as are a bullet that the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald fired from the same rifle seven months earlier in his attempt to assassinate retired Maj.

Researchers or investigators sometimes inquire about seeing the assassination bullets, but NARA officials rarely release them for physical examination. Instead, photographs of the bullets have been made available to researchers.

However, the technology was now available for an improved means of dissemination and preservation: creating virtual copies of the bullets and bullet fragments. If the actual ballistic items were accurately measured in 3D, then the National Archives could release the virtual copies for examination without risk of damage to or loss of the originals. But how were we to accomplish this, since it would be impossible to move our huge research microscopes to the National Archives to scan the bullets?

Prior to the artifacts ever coming to NIST, our team carried out dry-run preparations for many weeks so that we would be well prepared for scanning the actual specimens. I had previously acquired similar ammunition and a 6. This was the kind of rifle the assassin used in the shooting. Because I had already closely examined the actual bullets and bullet fragments at NARA, I was able to fire the Carcano rifle at the ATF forensic science laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, to produce a similar collection of test-fired bullets and fragments.

But by the official account, gunman Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, shooting at Kennedy as he rode in a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, Oswald reportedly fired three shots. Connally, who was sitting just in front of Kennedy, survived. All were imaged with a specialized microscope that scanned their surfaces, charting their features much like a satellite recording the topography of a mountain range. The pictures were then stitched together by NIST ballistics specialists to generate a vivid 3-D rendering detailed enough to show grooves left by the barrel of the gun.