The Sixth Floor

[David S. Brownlee]

I'm a fairly simple guy. I shoot guns for fun. Were I ever have to shoot at a target I would want it STOPPED. If that couldn't be done I would much prefer a target coming dead at me. 0ne shot two shots - no worries about the other people getting hurt...I sure wouldn't wait until I had to deal with a tree...then pop off three shots at a target going downhill and sideways.

[Gil Jesus]

I'm a fairly simple guy. I shoot guns for fun. Were I ever have to shoot at a target I would want it STOPPED. If that couldn't be done I would much prefer a target coming dead at me. 0ne shot two shots - no worries about the other people getting hurt...I sure wouldn't wait until I had to deal with a tree...then pop off three shots at a target going downhill and sideways.

Me ? I'd also like to hit the target either stopped or as slowed down as possible. I'd also like it to be as close as possible. All three of the previous successful Presidential assassinations occurred while the President was either not moving or walking at 2.5 mph and all three assailants fired from a distance of three feet or less.

That's why I think the sewer drains provided the best location to hit the target without being detected, plus it provided protection for the shooters from stray/missed shots. It would also explain why the SS removed the motorcycle escort from the sides of the limo on the night before the assassination, to give those shooters a "clear" shot at the President.----IMO

[J. Raymond Carroll]

I would much prefer a target coming dead at me...I sure wouldn't wait until I had to deal with a tree...then pop off three shots at a target going downhill and sideways.

David, you probably already know that J. Edgar Hoover initially made the same observation, but Hoover failed to follow up on the implications.

A gunman at the HATMAN location WOULD have the target coming towards him and I would be interested in your thoughts on the type of weapon AND AMMUNITION a knoll gunman would have used. In the recent Discovery Channel program "Target Car" suggests that a knoll gunman could NOT have used a high-powered rifle with frangible ammo, as this would have blown JFK's head off.

Is it possible that the head shot at Z312-313 came from a pistol, or from a lower-powered rifle, and what is your view of the type of bullet/ammo used?

Bear in mind that Dr. Guinn's claim that there is a scientific method of "matching" the fragments from JFK and Connally with Carcano ammo has been declared JUNK SCIENCE by state and federal courts.

That's why I think the sewer drains provided the best location to hit the target without being detected, plus it provided protection for the shooters from stray/missed shots. It would also explain why the SS removed the motorcycle escort from the sides of the limo on the night before the assassination, to give those shooters a "clear" shot at the President.----IMO

Gil, can you post the source re the SS removing the motorcycle escort? Removing the motorcycles would also benefit a gunman at the HATMAN location.

Edited January 3, 2009 by J. Raymond Carroll

[Robert Walker]

Frankly, anyone who has visited the sixth floor knows that the best shot is when the motorcade is coming TOWARDS the TSBD while on Houston. The President was a sitting duck. The motorcade is moving super slow, can't back up if they detect shots, and because of the crowds, STILL has to turn onto ELM to escape (so you'd get another shot after the motorcade turns onto Elm).

In contrast, if the first shot to the President (after the motorcade turned onto Elm) was detected, then the SS driver would have a much easier time taking evasive maneuvers by simply accelerating out of the scene.

If Oswald was the assassin and truly wanted to kill Kennedy from the sixth floor window, then he would have shot him while on Houston. I mean why pass up an easy head shot for a harder shot with the target moving away from you and the ability to evade further shots?

If one carries this line of thinking further, then it seems obvious that someone was shooting at the President with the motorcade coming TOWARDS them, ie, the grassy knoll, because of the above reasons.