FROM WHAT DIRECTION WAS CONNALLY SHOT?

[Chris Bristow]

Like many people I find it very hard to believe that Connally lost 4 inches of rib on his right side then turned that direction to see JFK. He said he turned as far as he could! According to Cyril Weicht, in addition to his wrist injury he also had the tendon to his right thumb severed. But he not only managed to hold on to his Stetson for 5 seconds, he articulated his wrist to bend downward in order to fit his Stetson between himself and the door as he turned. 
 Connally said he was hit as he turned back around but when JFK was hit in the head Connally had only turned half way back. That would mean the bullet that entered his back and exited under his nipple had to have come from somewhere like the  old courthouse. Could it have come from the East and changed direction upon striking the rib? I don't know.
 I have a vague memory of a CT about a gunman on the roof. wondering if anyone has thoughts on any of this.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Chris Bristow

[Ron Bulman]

I've thought for some time it likely came from the Dal Tex building, maybe the second floor.  The angle would be closer to right for a shot passing through in essence his arm pit, along a rib and exiting the nipple.  Possibly a miss intended for JFK?  The deflection from a raised wrist into his thigh is perplexing.

[Rick McTague]

17 hours ago, Chris Bristow said:

Like many people I find it very hard to believe that Connally lost 4 inches of rib on his right side then turned that direction to see JFK. He said he turned as far as he could! According to Cyril Weicht, in addition to his wrist injury he also had the tendon to his right thumb severed. But he not only managed to hold on to his Stetson for 5 seconds, he articulated his wrist to bend downward in order to fit his Stetson between himself and the door as he turned. 
 Connally said he was hit as he turned back around but when JFK was hit in the head Connally had only turned half way back. That would mean the bullet that entered his back and exited under his nipple had to have come from somewhere like the  old courthouse. Could it have come from the East and changed direction upon striking the rib? I don't know.
 I have a vague memory of a CT about a gunman on the roof. wondering if anyone has thoughts on any of this.

Chris,

Your thread made me think of a topic covered in this thread several years back, about an A/C worker finding a 30.06 casing on the roof of the Dallas County Records Building (caddy-corner from the TSBD).  While other entries describe slugs and fragments being planted in DP over the years, the likelihood of an innocent explanation for one spent shell casing on top of a DP building with line of sight to the limo in 1963, and from a more easterly angle is what led me to post this reply.  I hope it leads to something.

Thanks

[David Andrews]

My feeling is that Connally reacts to his first hit at about Z-290, while he is still turned in his seat to look at JFK.  If this is the back wound, then he is likely shot from a building to the southeast, on Houston Street or Commerce Street. 

Edited June 13, 2019 by David Andrews

[Chris Bristow]

19 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I've thought for some time it likely came from the Dal Tex building, maybe the second floor.  The angle would be closer to right for a shot passing through in essence his arm pit, along a rib and exiting the nipple.  Possibly a miss intended for JFK?  The deflection from a raised wrist into his thigh is perplexing.

I would think it was a miss intended for JFK. What frame do you think Connally was hit in? I can't see how it could have that trajectory through his body unless he was facing almost straight forward which places the shot very early around 235. In the past I have given  weight to both the Connally's opinions that he was hit as he turned 'back' around from right to left.

[Chris Bristow]

5 hours ago, Rick McTague said:

Chris,

Your thread made me think of a topic covered in this thread several years back, about an A/C worker finding a 30.06 casing on the roof of the Dallas County Records Building (caddy-corner from the TSBD).  While other entries describe slugs and fragments being planted in DP over the years, the likelihood of an innocent explanation for one spent shell casing on top of a DP building with line of sight to the limo in 1963, and from a more easterly angle is what led me to post this reply.  I hope it leads to something.

Thanks

I have heard that a shell was found there. It is interesting. I could see finding a round or a fragment but not sure how you explain a shell. Although if you are into shooting you likely pick up your brass so it is possible a workman on the roof had a spent shell in his pocket from another day and it fell out onto the roof. I have had single shells in my pocket after packing up to leave and finding one last piece of brass under my foot. I am reaching with that but they are so into guns there that a spent shell anywhere is feasible. 
It used to be that on the new year at midnight about a million rounds get fired into the air. We would sit under a covered porch in Pasadena, Ca and count the rounds as they hit the street, a roof, a car. One landed every 15 or 20 seconds. So I would expect to find a lot of lead in Dealey Plaza.
 

[Chris Bristow]

5 hours ago, David Andrews said:

My feeling is that Connally reacts to his first hit at about Z-290, while he is still turned in his seat to look at JFK.  If this is the back wound, then he is likely shot from a building to the southeast, on Houston Street or Commerce Street. 

Yes and I have to assume he was hit around that time.  I can't see a 60+ year old guy who is not in an fight or flight mode and who has been hit in a vital organ(The lung)  having a five second delay to being shot. You would think that as he twisted his body to the right he would have exhaled and sent a lot of air and blood out of his sucking/blowing chest wound.

[Ron Bulman]

Re reading this thread makes me reconsider.  One thing that still seems convincing to me regards a lower elevation shot.  If it went trough his arm pit and out his nipple, it didn't come from a 6th floor or a roof top.  He was on a slight downward slope, not a steep one.  And he was not bent forward but sitting up turning.  From farther to the south than Dal Tex does seem more likely but where, at that level.  The laundry truck?  Not much further south.  Few low level window's on Houston further south.  Those that I've ever seen are occupied by parade observers in pictures, no obvious shooters. 

[David Andrews]

10 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

Re reading this thread makes me reconsider.  One thing that still seems convincing to me regards a lower elevation shot.  If it went trough his arm pit and out his nipple, it didn't come from a 6th floor or a roof top.  He was on a slight downward slope, not a steep one.  And he was not bent forward but sitting up turning.  From farther to the south than Dal Tex does seem more likely but where, at that level.  The laundry truck?  Not much further south.  Few low level window's on Houston further south.  Those that I've ever seen are occupied by parade observers in pictures, no obvious shooters. 

Back wound from a lower window in the Post Office on Commerce Street?  Raised up in his seat to look at Kennedy, Connally's back is a big, broad target in that direction.

The wrist and thigh wound(s) may have been from a higher elevation.

Edited June 15, 2019 by David Andrews