Balistics - The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

Running head: BALLISTICS 1 Ballistics The assassination of John F. Kennedy has remained controversial due to the lack of clarity of his real shooter. The event happened on Elm Street, Dallas, Texas, as the PresidentPresident was riding in an open motorcade in a convertible limousine. Several controversial theories have existed surrounding his assassination, some believing that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated the PresidentPresident, while others believe a second shooter was involved. Most individuals also assume a single bullet, “the magic bullet,” that hit and killed John F. Kennedy. However, over the years, several people have analyzed the ballistic evidence of the President'sPresident's assassination and proved most of the controversy theories otherwise.

The number of shots fired during JFK's assassination was three. Haag (2015) reports that the ballistic reports of November 22, 1963, show clear evidence that Lee Harvey fired three shots from the Texas School Book Depository building’s 6th floor. The first bullet missed the PresidentPresident and struck the asphalt of Elm Street (Haag, 2015). A clothing manufacturer, Abraham Zapruder, filmed the JFK assassination using an 8 mm camera. Zapruder heard the first gunshot and continued filming the motorcade. His camera recorded the second bullet hit the PresidentPresident without killing him and passed on to Connally, who was in the same limousine as Kennedy. The third bullet struck and killed Kennedy by exploding his head.

Many people assumed that different bullets hit John F. Kennedy and Connally. The film that Zapruder captured and most witnesses challenge the Warren Commission, appointed by President Lyndon Joseph, whether Lee Harvey Oswald fired all the shots or there was a second shooter involved. According to Spiegelman (2017), investigators found three bullet casings on the Texas School Book Depository building’s 6th floor. However, there was audio evidence indicating more than one shooter that fired the three shots, one of them being Oswald. The

BALLISTICS2 investigation report stated that Oswald fired the first, second, and the third bullet. Perhaps this raises controversies since the time frame of the shots, as filmed by Zapruder's 8 mm camera, seemed to narrow for Oswald to fire all the bullets from his rifle. The film also shows that a single shot, which has been referred to as the "magic bullet," penetrated the neck of the PresidentPresident, and proceeded to Connally.

After President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead, Lee Harvey was arrested as the suspect. The arrest and the Warren commission’s conclusion that pinned Oswald as the shooter is controversial since they may have been based on the fact that he was a communist and was in a depressed mental state. Moreover, Oswald was also shot dead days after his arrest before establishing the real perpetrator. Besides, the ballistics evidence reveals different trajectories traveled by the bullet that penetrated Kennedy’s neck and hit Connally and the one that exploded his head.

The analysis of the ballistics evidence about John F. Kennedy's assassination by different individuals has resulted in the dismissal of various controversial theories. Many people believed that President Kennedy’s assassination involved a single shooter, and the bullet that hit Connally was different from the one that hit Kennedy. However,b more in-depth analysis has revealed that three shots fired during his assassination, the first missed, the second penetrated his neck; it hit Connally, while the third hit and exploded President John F. Kennedy’s head. Moreover, up to date, no one has determined whether his assassination was due to a conspiracy.

BALLISTICS3 References Haag, L. C. (2015). The missing bullet in the JFK assassination. AFTE Journal, 47(2), 67-78. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311671863_The_missing_bullet_in_the_JFK_a ssassination Spiegelman, C. (2017). What better forensic science can reveal about the JFK assassination.

The Conversation. Retrieved October 31, 2020, from https://theconversation.com/whatbetter-forensic-science-can-reveal-about-the-jfk-assassination-88224.