Dan Rather and Gerald Posner analyze the shots that killed JFK

[David Josephs]

1 hour ago, Robert Card said:

21 shots fired, but i only heard 3.  Could muzzle silencers have been used?

Or coordinated firing via radio communication..  "Fire!" and 2-4 shooters shoot... sounds like one, unless they used one of these with a sabot

 

[David Andrews]

23 hours ago, David Josephs said:

Or coordinated firing via radio communication..  "Fire!" and 2-4 shooters shoot... sounds like one, unless they used one of these with a sabot

 

Enfield receiver and .45 ACP  round chambering?  Interesting considering how both those characteristics have been associated with Dealey.  Nice piece of household hardware as well.  I've fired someone's Colt 1911, and the lack of recoil in this weapon is...wow.

Edited December 29, 2018 by David Andrews

[Eddy Bainbridge]

A small, but significant piece of evidence in Bonny Ray-Williams short film. He says "Bang, Bang-Bang"

[Cliff Varnell]

10 hours ago, Eddy Bainbridge said:

A small, but significant piece of evidence in Bonny Ray-Williams short film. He says "Bang, Bang-Bang"

Has anyone ever done an inventory of the "bang...bang-bang" witnesses?

[Jeremy Bojczuk]

13 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:

Has anyone ever done an inventory of the "bang...bang-bang" witnesses?

Yes: Andrew M. Mason, 'Witness Evidence in the JFK Assassination' at http://www.spmlaw.ca/jfk/shot_pattern_evidence.pdf (PDF: 90kb), found 47 or so witnesses who either explicitly or implicitly claimed that the final two shots were noticeably closer together than the first shot. Mason quotes their testimony, and gives sources.

One thing Mason fails to take into account is that most of these witnesses' accounts date from some time after the media had been consistently promoting the doctrine that three and only three shots had been fired. Nevertheless, it's good evidence that there was a noticeable gap between the first shot (or group of shots) and the final two shots (or groups of shots).

Mason makes two worthwhile arguments against the long-discredited single-bullet theory:

- Firstly, that the 'bang ... bang bang' pattern is incompatible with the standard version of the theory. This has the shots occurring at Zapruder frames 160, 223 and 313, with a gap of around three seconds between shots one (which missed) and two (which hit JFK and Connally), and a gap of around five seconds between shots two and three.

- Secondly, that all the relevant witness evidence is consistent with the first shot (or group of shots) occurring after the Betzner photograph which was taken at frame 186. A shot at frame 186 would occur almost exactly two seconds before frame 223 (37 frames at 18.3 seconds per frame), too soon for both shots to have been fired from the sixth-floor rifle.

Mason's own theory is a version of the FBI's original account of the assassination: three shots were fired, and all three hit either JFK or Connally. According to Mason, the first shot was fired at around frame 200, and wounded only JFK. The second shot was fired at around frame 271, and wounded only Connally. On page 22 of his article he writes that "Such a shot at frame 271 is consistent with Oswald firing all three shots and all three shots striking within the President's car", though he does admit that this is unlikely: "The time between the second and third shot (frames 271 to 313 - 42 frames) is 2.29 seconds, very close to the minimum which the FBI said was needed to fire, reload, aim and fire again." I'm not sure how many people believe Mason's theory.

PS: He doesn't mention the T3 entrance wound or the bunching of JFK's jacket. Sorry about that.

[Cliff Varnell]

16 hours ago, Jeremy Bojczuk said:

Yes: Andrew M. Mason, 'Witness Evidence in the JFK Assassination' at http://www.spmlaw.ca/jfk/shot_pattern_evidence.pdf (PDF: 90kb), found 47 or so witnesses who either explicitly or implicitly claimed that the final two shots were noticeably closer together than the first shot. Mason quotes their testimony, and gives sources.

One thing Mason fails to take into account is that most of these witnesses' accounts date from some time after the media had been consistently promoting the doctrine that three and only three shots had been fired. Nevertheless, it's good evidence that there was a noticeable gap between the first shot (or group of shots) and the final two shots (or groups of shots).

Mason makes two worthwhile arguments against the long-discredited single-bullet theory:

- Firstly, that the 'bang ... bang bang' pattern is incompatible with the standard version of the theory. This has the shots occurring at Zapruder frames 160, 223 and 313, with a gap of around three seconds between shots one (which missed) and two (which hit JFK and Connally), and a gap of around five seconds between shots two and three.

- Secondly, that all the relevant witness evidence is consistent with the first shot (or group of shots) occurring after the Betzner photograph which was taken at frame 186. A shot at frame 186 would occur almost exactly two seconds before frame 223 (37 frames at 18.3 seconds per frame), too soon for both shots to have been fired from the sixth-floor rifle.

Mason's own theory is a version of the FBI's original account of the assassination: three shots were fired, and all three hit either JFK or Connally. According to Mason, the first shot was fired at around frame 200, and wounded only JFK. The second shot was fired at around frame 271, and wounded only Connally. On page 22 of his article he writes that "Such a shot at frame 271 is consistent with Oswald firing all three shots and all three shots striking within the President's car", though he does admit that this is unlikely: "The time between the second and third shot (frames 271 to 313 - 42 frames) is 2.29 seconds, very close to the minimum which the FBI said was needed to fire, reload, aim and fire again." I'm not sure how many people believe Mason's theory.

PS: He doesn't mention the T3 entrance wound or the bunching of JFK's jacket. Sorry about that.

Thank you, Jeremy.  Interesting stuff.

The above link doesn't work for me but this one does:

http://www.spmlaw.ca/JFK/shot_pattern_evidence.pdf