Errata: In a previous blog I mentioned that the brass in the School Book Depository, Sixth Floor, had been policed. RATHER, the brass had been left on the floor near the window. The police did a poor job of forensic work. There are no photographs of it in place. There were no finger prints on the brass, “hulls” which is what the Warren Commission calls them.

Also, Oswald got a ride to work the morning of November 22, 1963.

ISSUE 14. Secret Service: The primary job of the Secret Service is to guard the President and to protect his life. Secret Service agents are trained to handle weapons and to shoot weapons. They cull threats to the President, and determine appropriate responses to each threat. They determine which threats are eminent, pending or on-going.

There is nothing good to say about the Secret Service on November 22, 1963. Although many people believed Shot One was a backfiring car, some people realized it was a shot from a firearm. Every Secret Service agent apparently believed the noise was a backfire. None alerted anyone that a shot had been fired, although there was additional noise from a ricochet. All that Secret Service training was useless.

On Elm Street driving slowly comes Shot Two. The driver of the limousine apparently was a Secret Service Agent for a day. He was at the airport and had a cap that said limo driver. Someone came up and asked, “Do you want to drive President Kennedy around for the day?” “Sure, sounds like a blast. I’ll work for free.” Texas Governor was riding in the Presidential limousine that day, heard Shot Two and thought, “That’s a hunting rifle. Who’s shooting?” He was wounded. Rather than realize – two loud noises, someone’s shooting – the driver didn’t accelerate. He reportedly (in 1963) turned to see what was going on. Shot Three hit the President killing him.

CONCLUSION

The strongest evidence of Oswald’s shooting the President is he qualified as a Marine Corp marksman, barely, a few years before. His Marine Corp career was mediocre. Oswald was a screw-up. He lacked discipline. Also Oswald owned a rifle of the same make as the one found at the window of the Sixth Floor of the School Book Depository. That rifle was not found. Only a rifle of that make was found at the window.

HOWEVER,

Oswald lacked discipline throughout 1963. He had various jobs, a few from which he was fired. He moved his residence many times, but could always be contacted. He used his name and did not rely on a Selective Service card in his possession in another name. His wife moved out to share a house with a Russian/English speaking woman. Oswald went to New Orleans and traveled to Mexico City.

The rifle in the FBI’s possession is the make Oswald ordered and received in March 1963, but is it the same weapon? Investigations into the rifle and the scope were inconclusive. No one remembered Oswald at any gun shop or store. No one remembered Oswald buying ammunition. One person remembers a rifle of that make with the cheap scope having no shoulder strap, unlike the FBI/Sixth Floor rifle. 

There are holes and omissions in all the investigations and analyses of each. It is impossible to explain the discrepancies by looking at Lee Harvey Oswald as a lone shooter. Supplying another shooter – one with a reliable weapon (like the reenactments) and a capable shooter (unlike Oswald) – fills in holes and omissions. 

Oswald’s fingerprints on boxes near the Sixth Floor window is inconsistent with no fingerprints on the brass (shell casings, the “hulls”) found on the floor there. There is no indication when and how Oswald’s fingerprints got on the boxes – did he move them from a lower floor to the Sixth Floor?

If Oswald had shot the President would he act innocently after the shooting. He was cool and civil, unlike most of his behavior throughout 1963. He did shoot the Dallas Police Officer, but no one actually knows what transpired between them. In 1963 carrying a concealed weapon in Texas was not unusual, so carrying a handgun was not evidence of Oswald shooting the President.

We do not know if Oswald was part of a conspiracy. It is concluded early on that Oswald likely did not know any other shooter. It may be that Oswald, unaware, helped a shooter in the School Book Depository. After the shooting he put two plus two together and knew he was in trouble. During any interrogation Oswald knew his life, however non-criminal and disjointed, and all his acquaintances and “friends” would come under scrutiny. He did not like the government and its meddling. He tried putting distance (not much) between himself and the scene.

The attempted assassination of Walker [April 1963] has been challenged. The bullet fired at Walker may not have been fired from a rifle Oswald had access to. Two men may have been involved. Suppose Oswald did not attempt that shooting: He still had a very unreliable weapon with which he had not practiced up to November 22. Indeed, while doing the investigation, the FBI was unable to shoot with the Sixth Floor rifle without shots drifting.

I note no reenactment and no analysis has its expert, its marksmen, its sharpshooter, etc. adjusting sights, moving and reloading before each shot and taking all the shots within the five seconds. Also no reenactment expert, marksman or sharpshooter missed the Shot One by so wide a margin, yet put the next shots on target.

Supposedly, Oswald had a ride to work, and he carried a length of “curtain rods” in a brown grocery bag. Some say the bag was Oswald’s lunch; he had carried one on many work days before. [He was eating something in the lunch room.] Almost everyone agrees that if the “curtain rod” bag was the rifle, Oswald had to assemble much, some or part of the rifle. It seems Oswald had no time to test it. He likely put it together in a hurry. [Indeed, the FBI found the weapon in poor assembly.] He shot and missed Shot One.

Summarizing, Oswald’s marksmanship credentials are old; he is not a good shot. He’s not the same guy in November 1963 as he was when he barely qualified as a marksman. The rifle is very mediocre; it is unreliable. Shot One is the strongest support for refuting Oswald’s role as the lone gunman. He couldn’t hit the broadside of a limousine. Because of poor police work (state and federal), the American people will never get answers and receive a definitive answer.