Deep Politics Timeline

[Tracy Riddle]

The Assassination 12:30pm, Dallas, November 22 1963

Z# indicates a frame in the Zapruder film (18fps speed of the film)

12:30 PM

Abraham Zapruder, a Dallas dress manufacturer, begins to film the motorcade from the north side of Elm St. with his new 8 mm camera. He is standing on a concrete monument, filming from the President's right as the limousine moves along Elm St.

In the motorcade's lead car which is almost beneath the overpass, Forrest V. Sorrels says to Chief Jesse Curry: "Five more minutes and we'll have him there." Winston G. Lawson calls the Trade Mart, giving them a five minute warning.

Rose Cheramie, now convalescing at a state hospital in Jackson, Louisiana, is watching television with several nurses when a spot report about JFK's motorcade comes on. Cheramie says "This is when it is going to happen!" The nurses dismiss her remarks - until moments later. Cheramie has also told one of the hospital interns "...that one of the men involved in the plot was a man named Jack Rubenstein." (Probe Vol. 6, No. 5)

Walter Sheridan is sitting in a federal court building in Nashville, where Jimmy Hoffa is awaiting trial.

Positioned in the front doorway of the Texas School Book Depository, watching the motorcade are: Wesley Buell Frazier, Danny Arce, Billy Lovelady and -- fifteen feet away, near a lone v-shaped oak tree -- Mr. Roy Truly and Mr. Ochus Campbell.

SS Agent Emory Roberts jots in his shift report, "12:35 pm, the President arrived at the Trade Mart."

Laura Knight writes: "The Secret Service could count on the reinforcement of its 28 agents in Texas, including 5 based in Dallas. Eight agents were assigned to guard the Trade Mart, but there were none at all at Dealey Plaza. The Secret Service was so unconcerned about the Texas trip that it even left its chief behind. At the time of the assassination, Jerry Behn was dining in a Washington restaurant. Roy Kellerman, who took his place at Dallas, proved so incompetent that at Parkland Hospital his men started taking orders from agent Emory Roberts. Later, during the flight back to Washington, Rufus Youngblood took over. These men had traveled 200,000 miles with the President. Somewhere along the line, they had neglected the first rule of security: they had lost their reflexes." Note: Whenever French President Charles De Gaulle now travels by car, he is protected by 47 motorcycle policemen spread out in rows. Several police cars precede and follow the Presidential vehicle, and the car immediately following the President contains a sharpshooter and a photographer equipped with an automatic Japanese camera similar to a Robot. When de Gaulle makes shorter, routine trips, he is protected by a smaller force of 8 motorcycle policemen who surround the car. Today, only four motorcycle policeman are positioned at the rear and on either side of JFK's limo. The Protective Research Section, headed by Robert I. Bouck, now has 65 offices across the country and 50,000 files on people who have threatened the President. Between November 1961 and November 1963, it has investigated 34 Texas residents and opened 115 other files on Texans. On November 8, 1963, the PRS spent ten minutes inspecting Dallas.

Army Intelligence officer James Powell is now in the Dal Tex building. This is the building that Jim Braden will be found coming out of in a matter of minutes and will be arrested. Braden has an office in New Orleans : Room 1701 in the Pere Marquette Building. During this same period in late 1963, David Ferrie is working for Carlos Marcello on the same floor ... in the same building .... just down the hall from Braden -- in Room 1707.

(Beginning of the Zapruder film) the motorcade comes into view with three motorcycle cops out in front. Zapruder films the lead motorcycle cops for a few of seconds, and then there is a break in the film and suddenly the presidential limo appears. Zapruder turned his camera off and then turned it back on several seconds later. His camera could only film for under a minute before running out of film. He started filming when he saw a motorcycle come around the corner. But as soon as he realized the president's limousine was not in sight, he turned it back on. The view is looking up Elm Street, with the buildings behind the Dal-Tex visible. On the right is the solid white wall of the County Records Building.

Z25

At about this frame the bike on the right hand side of the street keeps going north on Houston, while the other two turn onto Elm. Livingstone says that this is not the case; officer H.B. Freeman "is very clearly one of the three motorcycles we see in their proper position ahead of the car in the Bell film. Mel McIntire's photo in The Dallas Times Herald showed the limousine rapidly overtaking all three of the cycles as it approached the Stemmons Freeway on-ramp." (Killing the Truth 329)

At roughly Zapruder frame 120, James Towner takes a photograph of the limo beginning the turn onto Elm. The Dal-Tex building is in the background.

Associated Press photographer, James W. Altgens has now stationed himself at a vantage point on Elm Street across from the Texas School Book Depository Building to photograph the presidential motorcade as it passes through Dealey Plaza and heads onto the Stemmons Freeway.

The Tina Towner film shows the limo turning in front of the TSBD. Victoria Elizabeth Adams, a witness observing the motorcade from the 4th floor of the TSBD says: "I watched the motorcade come down Main, as it turned from Main onto Houston, and watched it proceed around the corner on Elm, and apparently somebody in the crowd called to the late President, because he and his wife both turned abruptly and faced the building, so we had a very good view of both of them."

The Bell film captures the limo passing in front of the TSBD. He turned his camera off just before the shooting began.

The Elsie Dorman film is taken from the fourth floor of the TSBD.

Z133

The film cuts to the presidential limousine turning onto Elm. Howard Brennan is sitting on the wall at upper-right.

The Zapruder film has often been seen as a "complete record of the Kennedy assassination". This view is, however, challenged by Max Holland, author of The Kennedy Assassination Tapes, and the professional photographer Johann Rush in a joint editorial piece published by The New York Times on November 22, 2007. Holland and Rush point out that Zapruder temporarily stopped filming at frame 132, when only police motorcycles were visible. When he resumed filming, frame 133 already shows the presidential motorcade in view. This pause could have great significance for the interpretation of the assassination, Holland and Rush suggest. Holland and Rush argue that the break in the Zapruder film might conceal a first shot earlier than analysts have hitherto assumed, and point out that in this case a horizontal traffic mast would temporarily have obstructed Oswald's view of his target. In the authors' words, "The film, we realize, does not depict an assassination about to commence. It shows one that had already started."

SS agent Winston Lawson, riding in the motorcade's lead car, tries to wave onlookers off the triple underpass. The Dallas police officer, standing with the railroad employees on the overpass, does not notice the signaling. Lawson will later say: "From Love Field to Dealey Plaza, there were 20,000 windows. How could we possibly check them all?"

Police Ban (Channel 2) Jesse Curry, in the lead car, reports that his car has just reached the underpass. Eight seconds later, the police dispatcher announces the time: "12:30:18 PM CST"

Z135

JFK comes into view, waving with his right hand, his head turned slightly to the right.

Z141

Rosemary Willis begins running along the sidewalk of Elm.

Z150

Some researchers believe that the first shot (which hit the pavement) occured between 150-152. After this shot, Kennedy turns from his left to his front-right.

Z154

Livingstone: "Kennedy turns very rapidly from left to right at Z 154..."

Z155

Robert Groden says the film begins to blur at frame 155, indicating a possible nervous jolt by Zapruder as the shot (which missed) occured. Above is a frame from an undamaged copy.

Z156

"Frames Z155 and 156 are...missing and at Z157 there is another splice in the original film...Life has never given a public accounting of this further loss of part of the original film." (Trasj 97) Above is from an undamaged copy of the film.

Z157

H.E. Livingstone believes there is a splice at this point, and JFK appears to be reacting to something.

Z158

The CBS 1967 documentary detected a noticeable blur between 158 and 160, perhaps caused by Zapruder's reaction to a gunshot. The HSCA believed that the first (missed) shot occured between 157 and 161.

On hearing the first burst of firing, Sheriff Bill Decker glances back and thinks he sees a bullet bouncing off the street pavement. Motorcycle officer, Starvis Ellis also will testify he sees a bullet hit the pavement. (Neither Decker nor Ellis will ever be questioned about this by the Warren Commission.) Motorcycle officer James Chaney will also tell newsmen this day that the first shot missed. It is suggested that JFK is hit by small pieces of the street pavement, and stops waving for a moment.

The John Martin film shows Rosemary Willis running through the gap between the concrete monuments.

Mrs. Donald Baker, standing in front of the TSBD, says that she sees a shot hit the pavement near the Stemmons Freeway sign. "I thought it was a firecracker. It looked just like you could see the sparks from it and I just thought it was a firecracker and I was thinking that there was somebody was fixing to get in a lot of trouble and we thought the kids or whoever threw it were down below or standing near the underpass or back up here by the sign."
Mrs. DONALD BAKER. Well, after he passed us, then we heard a noise and I thought it was firecrackers, because I saw a shot or something hit the pavement.
Mr. LIEBELER. And you heard that immediately after the first noise; is that right?
Mrs. BAKER. Yes…Well, as I said, I thought it was a firecracker. It looked just like you could see the sparks from it and I just thought it was a firecracker..

Z160

Robert Croft photo, taken around Z160-Z162 (he can be seen in the Zapruder film taking the photo).

Gerald Posner believes that the first (missed) shot occured near this frame, or soon after: "Beginning at frame 160, a young girl in a red skirt and white top who was running along the left side of the President's car...began turning to her right." (Case Closed 321,323) John McAdams: "Most people today who believe that Oswald did the shooting by himself believe that he made the first shot at about Zapruder frame 160, giving him about 8.4 seconds to get off all three shots." Vincent Bugliosi also agrees that the first shot was fired here.

Robert Harris believes that at this frame, a shot was fired from the 3rd floor of the Dal Tex building. It was fired by a rifle using a silencer, which caused it go to awry and it missed the car, hit the pavement, produced an explosive-like sound described by many witnesses as probably a "firecracker" or a "backfire," produced debris that president was shielding himself from with his hand positioned in front of his face. Some witnesses started to react to that shot too (like Mrs. Kennedy starting to turn her head), but their reaction was relatively slow because the sound was nowhere near that loud and startling as the next shots.

Z161

JFK continues waving and Connally turns to look over his shoulder.

Z162

"[Connally's] head turned from mid-left to far right in less than half a second, beginning at frame 162, when the Willis girl started turning around and the President stopped waving." (Case Closed 322) Livingstone: "Mrs Kennedy begins turning her head from left to right at frame 162."

Z166

Starting at this frame the WC determined that a tree blocked the view of the President from the sixth floor window.

Z177

H.E. Livingstone believes that Kennedy was shot in the back from a low position at about this frame.

Z183

Livingstone: "Jackie begins looking to the right a second time at about frame 183. Everyone in the car is looking to the right at about frame 183..."

Z185

Limo was travelling at about 17.5 mph. Sylvia Meagher notes that those WC supporters who claim that Oswald could have fired the single-bullet shot at earlier frames ignore the fact that "an earlier shot would have meant a steeper downward trajectory..."

Z186

The WC determined that the limo came back into view from the Sixth Floor window for this one frame. (H 5 146-51)

The Hugh Betzner photo, taken on the south side of Elm, corresponds with Z186 according to the HSCA

Z187

"By frame 187, less than 1.5 seconds later, the enhancement cleary shows [Rosemary Willis] has stopped, twisted completely away from the motorcade, and was staring back at the... Depository...Just after...the enhanced film shows that President Kennedy...suddenly stopped waving. He looked to his right toward the crowd, and then back to his left toward Jacqueline...As the President began waving again, Mrs Kennedy's head abruptly twisted from her left to right..." (POSNER 321-22)

Z188

Rosemary stops running; Kennedy is still waving.

Robert Groden believes that Kennedy was first hit in the throat (from the front) at 188; "...his upper torso pushed rearward...the President's right hand appears to move forward slightly when, in fact, it is his upper body that is being thrown to the rear. The film shows the changing position of the President's hand in relation to his head: His hands and arms start to drop, then come up to his throat. This motion continues after after the President disappears behind the [sign]." The "sniper's nest" was still blocked at this point.

Z189

Trask: "Beginning at about Z189, the President's hand acts in a manner inconsistent with his previous waving motion." Sprague and Cutler believe JFK was shot in the throat from the fence on the knoll at this point.

Z190

The HSCA believed JFK was first hit at this frame. NPIC's analysis in 1963 also listed this frame as a possibility for the first shot. CBS's 1967 tests showed a "jiggle" in the picture around Z189-190, reacting to a shot a few frames earlier.

Jim Moore: "Connally's doctors agreed that the Governor had turned his body to the right by the time he was shot. So, the Governor couldn't have been sitting in front of the President facing straight ahead. In the HSCA diagrams, he isn't. In the Zapruder film, however, he is facing directly ahead of him. Frame 193...for instance shows the Governor's head turned to the right....His torso is, however, facing forward...The Governor's body had to be turned to his right, which doesn't happen until at least frame 234..." (Conspiracy of One 172)

According to Pat Speer:
Hit Kennedy in back around 190, fell out in limousine. (Possibly a hand-loaded bullet.)
From: the sixth floor window of the TSBD.
Heard by: pretty much everyone in Dealey Plaza between the time of the shot and 10 frames afterward.
Other evidence for: the wound in Kennedy's back. Kennedy's jerky head and hand movements beginning around Zapruder frame 194. Jackie Kennedy's turning to her husband beginning at 190. Phil Willis' testimony that Mrs. Kennedy snapped her head in that direction at the sound of the first shot. Kennedy's lowering his right arm and lifting his left before frame 224. Nearly intact bullet found on a gurney in Parkland hospital. Secret Service Agent George Hickey's turning to his right starting around frame 193. Secret Service Agent John Ready's turning to his right around Zapruder frame 203. Hugh Betzner's photograph, believed by him to be taken just before the first shot, determined to have been taken at frame 186. Rosemary Willis's turning to her right around frame 198 in the Zapruder film. Phil Willis' photograph taken as a reaction to the first shot, determined to have been taken at frame 202. Connally's testimony that he believed the first and second shot were fired very close together and indicative of automatic rifle fire. The testimony of numerous witnesses indicating that the first shot rang out when Kennedy was waving or as the limousine approached the Thornton Freeway sign.
Jiggle analysis: Zapruder's camera jiggles at 194.

Z192

Livingstone: "The frames badly blur at 190-92, which may indicate Zapruder's reaction to a shot."

Z193

Connally can be seen beginning to turn to look over his right shoulder.

Z195

Limo was traveling at about 11.2 mph.

Z197

Livingstone: "JFK is clearly reacting to a shot by frame 197."

Z200

Groden: "By Zapruder frame 200, the President's right hand has stopped waving, and the next few frames show the succession of rapid head movements from right to left. This is evidence of...the throat shot." Sylvia Meagher observed that "Mrs Kennedy makes a sudden sharp turn toward the President, bending her head as if to look at him...." (Accessories After the Fact 28) Jim Moore: "Kennedy's hand stops in mid-wave, and his head begins a turn from his right toward the left in the direction of Mrs. Kennedy."

Z202

Phil Willis photo taken about this time opposite Zapruder's position (frame 202 according to the WC). Almost exactly the same as Betzner's photo. government experts to have been taken at Z-frame 202. (H 15 695-7) Willis: "As I was about to squeeze my shutter, that is when the first shot rang out and my reflex just took that picture at that moment. I might have waited another full second...but being with my war nerves anyway - when that shot rang out, I just flinched and got it." (Willis interview with Trask)

Rosemary Willis is standing still at this frame.

Z206

JFK begins to disappear behind the Stemmons Freeway sign; he was still waving. NPIC listed this as a possible location for the first shot.

Trask: "At Z206 the tip of a dark umbrella is first seen...It is revolving slightly clockwise and moving up and then down..."

Z207

A splice shows in the frame in the WC's evidence. Sylvia Meagher observed that Howard Brennan was looking over his left shoulder until this frame, when "he turns his head suddenly to look at the right. The Secret Service agent riding on the front right running board of the follow-up car...also looks sharply to his right in Frame 207." (Accessories After the Fact 28)

Howard Brennan later said he saw the man firing the rifle in the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] floor window of the TSBD "was standing up and resting against the left window sill." (H 3 144). But photos taken that day right after the shooting show the window not even halfway up, which meant "most probably he was either sitting or kneeling." (the Commission's words)(H 6 164; H 19 563-64; WR 144). But the WC considered it "understandable, however, for Brennan to have believed that the man with the rifle was standing" because "the window ledges in the Depository Building are lower than in most buildings," and "from the street, this creates the impression that the person is standing." (WR 144-45). But Brennan insisted that he had seen the man both stand up and sit down: before the motorcade arrived "he came to the window and he sat sideways on the window sill...And I could see practically his whole body, from his hips up. He also saw the man walk away from the window "a couple of times." (H 3 143-44)

Weisberg: "A page after beginning its account of the observation of its "accurate observer," the Report begins apologizing for him. It says, "although Brennan testified that the man in the window was standing when he fired the shots, most probably he was sitting or kneeling." It does not say how Brennan would have known the height, weight and clothing of a man sitting or kneeling behind a solid 16-inch wall. Exhibit 1312, previously referred to, shows a sitting man could not have performed this feat without major contortions, and his face would have been against a double thickness of dirty windows from which the sun was reflecting. Exhibit 1311 (22H484) shows a standing man also would have had to fire through the doubled window." (Whitewash)

Brennan also claims he thought the first shot was a backfire: "I heard this crack that I positively thought was a backfire." (H 3 143) Then something made him think that there was a "firecracker being thrown" from the building. He "glanced up" at the sixth floor window and saw the man: "Well, as it appeared to me he was standing up and resting against the left window sill...and taking positive aim and fired his last shot. As I calculate a couple of seconds. He drew the gun back from the window as though he was drawing it back to his side and maybe paused for another second as though to assure hisself [sic] that he hit his mark, and then he disappeared." (H 3 144). He said as he heard the final shot he was "diving off of that firewall and to the right for bullet protection of this stone wall." (H 3 144); what is interesting about this statement is that if he did that, he would still be in the line of fire from the Depository, but protected from any bullets coming from west-northwest. (H 27 197-98; see photo of wall above). He said he heard only two shots (WR 63)

Z208

In the WC's evidence, this frame was missing; limo was traveling at about 8.2mph (Citizen's Dissent) Harold Weisberg: "Frames 208-211 are missing. What is labeled Frame 212 [in the FBI's photographic prints] seems to be the top of 208 and the bottom of 212. Now, in saying that the FBI had the uncut film, Hoover acknowledges that the FBI could have supplied the missing frames to the Commission." But in H 18 these frames are missing. This is no small matter, for these are probably the frames in which Kennedy was first shot. Shaneyfelt said that none of the Commission members viewed the original print of the film; only the FBI and Secret Service did. (Photographic Whitewash; Case Open 4-5)

Z209

In the WC's evidence, this frame was missing

Z210

In the WC's evidence, this frame was missing. The WC determined that this was the first frame at which a sixth-floor gunman would have a clear view of the President, unobstructed by trees. They felt that he was first shot between frames 210 and 225. Livingstone saw a slide of this frame: "Frame 210 is badly blurred." Josiah Thompson believed that the first shot came somewhere between Z210 and 224; Bugliosi agrees with this.

Z211

In the WC's evidence, this frame was missing

Z212

JFK is completely behind the sign and the right half of the black umbrella becomes visible to the right of the sign. Beginning at 212 there are several frames with bad scratches. 212-228: black umbrella moves noticeably upward (in relation to the sign) as the limousine passes in front of it.

Z213

NPIC listed this as a possible frame for the first shot.

Z215

Limo was traveling at about 12.2 mph.

Z221

Connally comes back into view; he is looking to his right. Connally seems to be reacting to something from here on - either a wound or a gunshot.

Z222

Jacqueline can be seen looking to her right.

Pat Speer: Shot or shots #2. Approximate firing time: Zapruder frame 222.
Hit Kennedy in hairline at frame 224, exited his throat. Connally wounded in his chest, wrist, and thigh. Wounds seem instantaneous, but it seems likely they were created by separate bullets rapid-fired from a semi-automatic weapon.
From: most likely the upper floors or roof of the Dal-Tex Building.
Heard by: a few near Houston and Elm, perhaps a few on the railroad bridge. Bullet and/or bullets were either fired from a rifle equipped with a silencer, or fired from deep within a building so its sound was muffled in comparison to the other shots. Subsonic ammunition may also have been involved. It's noted that Nellie Connally, both in her book and in her testimony, says "and then--a second shot" or "and then there was a second shot;" and that she rarely mentions hearing this second shot. In fact, she didn't mention hearing this second shot until 1966, when she said as much to Life Magazine. Since she also swore she saw her husband get hit by this shot and that it came after he yelled "No, no, no," and since her husband's testimony and the Zapruder film demonstrate she didn't even look at him till frame 230 and he didn't yell anything until after he'd already been hit, it's safe to say she might have been confused. Neither her husband, for that matter, nor Mrs. Kennedy, recalled hearing a shot between the first shot which hit the President, and the last, which killed him. As a result it seems possible that, due to her proximity, Mrs. Connally simply heard this shot strike the President and/or her husband, and registered it as a shot, without noting that it was not as loud as the first shot.
Other evidence for: the small entrance wound in Kennedy's hairline, and the small wound in Kennedy's throat. Connally's back wound, which, according to Connally's doctors, suggested that the bullet striking Connally had not previously struck Kennedy. Connally's wrist wound, which, according to Connally's doctor, Dr. Charles Gregory, was inconsistent with a wound created by the nearly pristine bullet supposedly creating this wound, Exhibit CE 399, unless this bullet was traveling backwards. The traces of copper found on the front of Connally's clothing, which suggests that the jacket of the bullet striking Connally had been disrupted even prior to striking his wrist. The movement of Connally's jacket forwards which briefly obscures his shirt from view in the Zapruder film. The rapid lifting of Kennedy's hands towards his throat as seen in frames 226 and 227. (His hands were actually dropping towards his chest between 224 and 225, but they shot sharply upward at 226.) Connally's hair jumping up and his being straightened out in his seat, only to collapse back to his right around 234. Bullet fragments removed from Connally's wrist that do not match the bullet found on the gurney nor the fragments found in the President's skull. (Actual bullet or bullets may have bounced out of the car off Connally's leg, or been picked up by a Secret Service Agent. There were rumors that a hole in the floor of the limousine was discovered in early 1964, which might account for the bullet leaving Kennedy's neck should it have been a separate bullet.)
Jiggle analysis: Zapruder's camera jiggles around 227 and again at 231.

Z223

Limo was traveling at about 9.2 mph. (Citizen's Dissent) Posner believes that the single-bullet shot occured between 223 and 224. (p329)

Z224

Connally's lapel flips up; Posner believes that this is when the bullet passed through his chest. But the lapel could have flipped up because of the strong north-south wind blowing that day (according to some sources; motorcycle cop Billy Joe Martin remembered the wind coming from the southwest. Photographic evidence shows the coats of Jean Hill and Mary Moorman blowing to the east). "The movement of the jacket took place at the exact area where the Governor's suit and shirt have a bullet hole, as the missile passed through his right shoulder blade and out under his right nipple." Posner says that a film enhancement of that frame by Michael West showed that Connally's hat, which he had in his right hand, started rising. It flipped up quickly in 227 and 228 and then at 229 started coming down rapidly; West says that violent movement is "positive proof" of a neurological reaction to physical trauma. (Case Closed 330)

Z225

JFK comes back into view, and is raising his arms up to his throat; his right arm is above his left. His mouth seems to be wide open, as if yelling. Groden believes Connally can be seen at the moment the bullet passed through his chest (shot #3); the right front of his jacket moves. Groden feels this bullet was fired from the western window of the Depository. Posner: "the President is almost in full view and his hand is lower, with the elbow resting on the edge of the car. He was bringing it down from a wave." (Case Closed 328)
Although expert lip-readers Mr. and Ms. Petrimoulx had not previously studied any of these materials, they noted immediately that President Kennedy was already shot when he emerged from behind the Stemmons Freeway sign.

Mrs. Connally: . . . I could resist no longer. When we got past this area I did turn to the President and said, 'Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you.' Then I don't know how soon, it seems to me it was very soon, that I heard a noise, and not being an expert rifleman, I was not aware that it was a rifle. It was just a frightening noise, and it came from the right. I turned over my right shoulder and looked back, and saw the President as he had both hands at his neck.
(Arlen Specter, Assistant Counsel). And you are indicating with your own hands, two hands crossing over gripping your own neck?
Mrs. Connally. Yes; and it seemed to me there was -- he made no utterance, no cry. I saw no blood, no anything. It was just sort of nothing, the expression on his face, and he just sort of slumped down. Then very soon there was the second shot that hit John. As the first shot was hit, and I turned to look at the same time, I recall John saying, 'Oh, no, no, no.' Then there was a second shot, and it hit John, and as he recoiled to the right, just crumpled like a wounded animal to the right, he said, 'My God, they are going to kill us all.' I never again --
(Allen W. Dulles, Commission Member). To the right was into your arms more or less?
Mrs. Connally. No, he turned away from me. I was pretending that I was him. I never again looked in the back seat of the car after my husband was shot. My concern was for him, and I remember that he turned to the right and then just slumped down into the seat, so that I reached over to pull him toward me. I was trying to get him down and me down. The jump seats were not very roomy, so that there (were) reports that he slid into the seat of the car, which he did not; that he fell over into my lap, which he did not. I just pulled him over into my arms because it would have been impossible to get us really both down with me sitting and me holding him. So that I looked out, I mean as he was in my arms, I put my head down over his head so that his head and my head were right together, and all I could see, too, were the people flashing by. I didn't look back any more. (4H147)

Roy Kellerman:
As we turned off Houston onto Elm and made the short little dip to the left going down grade, as I said, we were away from buildings, and were -- there was a sign on the side of the road which I don't recall what it was or what it said, but we no more than passed that and you are out in the open, and there is a report like a firecracker, pop. And I turned my head to the right because whatever this noise was I was sure that it came from the right and perhaps into the rear, and as I turned my head to the right to view whatever it was to see whatever it was, I heard a voice from the back seat and I firmly believe it was the President's, 'My God, I am hit,' and I turned around and he has got his hands up here like this.
Mr. Specter. Indicating right hand up toward his neck?
Mr. Kellerman. That is right, sir. In fact, both hands were up in that direction.
(Senator John Sherman Cooper, Commission Member). Which side of his neck?
Mr. Kellerman. Beg pardon?
Senator Cooper. Which side of his neck?
Mr. Kellerman. Both hands were up, sir; this one is like this here and here we are with the hands --
Mr. Specter. Indicating the left hand is up above the head.
Mr. Kellerman. In the collar section.
Mr. Specter. As you are positioning yourself in the witness chair, your right hand is up with the finger at the ear level as if clutching from the right of the head; would that be an accurate description of the position you pictured there?
Mr. Kellerman. Yes. Good. There was enough for me to verify that the man was hit. So, in the same motion, I come right back and grabbed the speaker and said to the driver, 'Let's get out of here; we are hit,' and grabbed the mike and I said, 'Lawson, this is Kellerman,' -- this is Lawson, who is in the front car. 'We are hit; get us to the hospital immediately.' Now, in the seconds that I talked just now, a flurry of shells come into the car. I then looked back and this time Mr. Hill, who was riding on the left front bumper of our follow-up car, was on the back trunk of that car; the President was sideways down into the back seat." (2H73-4)

Z226

The HSCA thought that Connally showed signs of reacting to a wound at about this frame. This means about two seconds elapsed after JFK was hit, according to the HSCA. Posner: "Kennedy started raising his arm again." (Case Closed 328) Trask: "At Z226 his right hand, which is holding a Stetson hat, suddenly shows itself to the camera, and during the next two frames, his head turns forward."

Sprague and Cutler believe JFK was hit in the back from the Dal Tex building at this point.

Governor Connally: . . . We had just made the turn, well, when I heard what I thought was a shot I heard this noise which I immediately took to be a rifle shot. I instinctively turned to my right because the sound appeared to come from over my right shoulder, so I turned to look back over my right shoulder, and I saw nothing unusual except just people in the crowd, but I did not catch the President in the corner of my eye, and I was interested, because once I heard the shot in my own mind I identified it as a rifle shot, and I immediately -- the only thought that crossed my mind was that this is an assassination attempt. So I looked, failing to see him, I was turning to look back over my left shoulder into the back seat, but I never got that far in my turn. I got about in the position I am in now facing you, looking a little bit to the left of center, and then I felt like someone had hit me in the back.
Mr. Specter. What is the best estimate that you have as to the time span between the sound of the first shot and the feeling of someone hitting you in the back which you just described?
Governor Connally. A very, very brief span of time. Again my trend of thought just happened to me, I suppose along this line, I immediately thought that this -- that I had been shot. I knew it when I just looked down and I was covered with blood and the thought immediately passed through my mind that there were either two or three people involved or more in this or someone was shooting with an automatic rifle. These were just thoughts that went through my mind because of the rapidity of these two, of the first shot plus the blow that I took, and I knew I had been hit, and I immediately assumed, because of the amount of blood, and, in fact, that it had obviously passed through my chest, that I had probably been fatally hit. So I merely doubled up, and then turned to my right again and began to -- I just sat there, and Mrs. Connally pulled me over to her lap. She was sitting, of course, on the jump seat, so I reclined with my head in her lap, conscious all the time, and with my eyes open… (WC testimony)

Bronson photo (#3) above taken somewhere between 220-229. Bronson would then switch to his 8mm movie camera.

Z227

Posner: "President's elbow jerked off the car. He was in full reaction to the bullet..." (Case Closed 328) Mrs Connally turning toward her husband at 227-228. CBS's 1967 tests showed a "jiggle" in the film in this frame.

Z228

Connally turns back to face the front. JFK's right arm is visibly higher than his left one. Groden believes he was shot in the back at about 228. Jim Moore: "Most researchers believe Kennedy is reacting to his first wound here. Instead, the President is responding in fright to a first, missed shot." (Conspiracy of One photo section)

Z229

Trask: "The hat and hand then rise to Connally's chin level and in a fragment of a second between Z229 and Z230, he flips the hat over."

Z230

The 11/25/1966 issue of Life quoted Specter as saying that "it looks like to me as if his face [Connally's] is wincing [in frame 230], indicating a probability he's been hit." The magazine responded, "Life's photo interpreters think he looks unharmed [in frame 230], as does Connally himself." Specter told Life, "We're pretty sure from the medical evidence that when Connally was hit, his right wrist was down in his lap...frame 230 the wrist is too high to be hit and throughout the rest of the sequence - all the way until Connally collapses - that wrist stays raised." But Life responded, "Nor is there any medical evidence, despite Specter's claim, that Connally's right hand was in his lap when he was hit."

Cyril Wecht points out that Connally can be seen holding his Stetson hat with his right hand; this would indicate that he had not sustained the wrist wound yet. Kennedy leans back slightly. Moore: "The President's hands are rising to cover his face and Governor Connally is reacting to the sound of the shot."

Z233

Kennedy leans forward slightly. A man standing to the right of the freeway sign holds his open umbrella above his head and pumps it up and down as the limousine passes his location.

Z234

Connally believed he was hit at this frame. (Life 11/25/1966); he had told the WC that he thought he was hit between frames 231 and 234 (H 4 145); Mrs Connally thought it was between 229 and 233. Dr. Gregory testified that he felt Connally could have been hit "in frames marked 234, 235 and 236." (H 4 128) Dr. Shaw believed that the bullet struck him at frame "236, give or take 1 or 2 frames." (H 4 114)

Z235

At about this frame Connally starts to turn to his right; it appears to this author that he may have then switched his hat to his left hand. Posner: "Connally does not appear to show any reaction to his wounds until his mouth opens at frame 235...just over half a second between the reactions of the two men." (POSNER 326-7) Moore: "Oswald fires his second shot, which hits the President in the back...It's important to remember that at no time in frames 235 to 238 do either of Kennedy's hands cover his neck or throat....it appears likely that the President was hit by a bullet moving with a downward declination of about 19 degrees 42 minutes, and that shot struck him in the right shoulder. Hunched forward at the time, Kennedy's body position allowed the bullet to travel an almost level path through his body and exit his throat..."

Lee Bowers, in the railroad tower behind the knoll, is aware of some kind of "commotion" behind the picket fence - where he has previously noticed two men milling around: " I just am unable to describe rather than it was something out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around, but something occurred in this particular spot which was out of the ordinary, which attracted my eye for some reason, which I could not identify."

Z236

JFK's forward-most position is shown. Connally's doctors believed that the Governor was hit at around this frame. (Thompson, Six Seconds 174) "Since the assassin's view of the Presidential limousine was no longer blocked by the oak tree it is unlikely that a bullet fired from Oswald's rifle at frame 236...could have hit anything other than the President... [CE399] was turned sideways at the moment of impact with Connally's rib, and flying nearly backwards when it hit the Governor's wrist." (Conspiracy of One 170)

Lip-reading experts Mr. and Mrs. Petrimoulx believe Connally shows no sign of pain until now.

Governor John Connally recognizes the first noise as a rifle shot and the thought immediately crosses his mind that this is an assassination attempt. From his position in the right jump seat immediately in front of JFK, he instinctively turns to his right because, to him, the shot seems to have come from over his right shoulder. [WC] Mrs. Connally will later recall: "I heard a noise that I didn't think of as a gunshot. I just heard a disturbing noise and turned to my right from where I thought the noise had come and looked in the back and saw the President clutch his neck with both hands. He said nothing. He just sort of slumped down in the seat. John had turned to his right also when we heard that first noise and shouted, "no, no, no ..."

James T. Tague, standing near the concrete abutment of the triple underpass, about 260 feet downhill from the President's position, is hit on his cheek by a piece of concrete blown off the street curb when it is hit by one of the bullets fired at the President. Tague is standing on a curb on Main Street, not Elm Street. He is more than one full block away from the President's car. Tague will not be questioned by the Warren Commission and his existence is not even publicly announced for seven months following the assassination. If one draws a line from the point of impact on the curbstone (where Tague was standing) back to a position within a circle with an eighteen-inch diameter around the President's head and shoulders and then project that line back to some firing point, the gunman is placed in a window on the second floor of the Dal-Tex building, behind the President's car. On the other hand, if a line is drawn from that same point of contact with the curbstone back to the alleged lone gunman's lair on the sixth floor of the Book Depository building, the bullet would have traveled about twenty-two feet to its right.

Z238

Where most people believe that Connally first reacts to his wound: his right shoulder collapses, his cheeks puff out, and his hair flies. Presidential limo was travelling at about 13.2 mph. Josiah Thompson notes that Connally "gives the appearance of someone who has just had the wind knocked out of him." (Six Seconds 93; MOORE 119) Connally was probably struck around 236 or 237. Jim Moore: "the two men were in precise alignment during the tenth of a second in which Connally appears to be hit..." (MOORE 171)

Sprague and Cutler believe Connally was hit in the back from the TSBD (from one of the western windows) at this point.

Z240

Connally is no longer in a position to receive a bullet in his back from the rear.

Z242

NPIC's 1963 analysis showed this as the likely spot for the second shot. Z242-250 Lip-reading experts Mr. and Mrs Petrimoulx believe Connally is saying "no no no no" at this point.

Z244

Roy Kellerman , riding in the front seat of the limo, will testify that he hears JFK say, "My God. I'm hit." No one else in the limo recalls hearing JFK say anything.

Secret Service agent Clint Hill realizes immediately that something is wrong and jumps off the SS follow-up car. He sprints towards the President's limousine. The Altgens photo displays the reason: Hill is looking forward at the President while the other agents are looking in various directions. He is therefore undoubtedly the first Secret Service agent to recognize the president's distress.

According to LBJ, Rufus Youngblood, his SS bodyguard -- yells "Get down!" and immediately jumps on top of Vice-President Johnson, pushing him down in the car. Youngblood then practically sits on top of the prone VP. (This is the version of the story as told by LBJ. Ralph Yarborough refuted this version, saying that both Youngblood and LBJ ducked down in the car at the first sounds of gunfire and that Youngblood remained in the front seat.) LBJ's car is the only car in the motorcade that does NOT have a Secret Service driver.

Motorcycle policeman Marrion L. Baker immediately glances up and sees pigeons fluttering off the Depository's roof. He believes the shots have come from either the Depository or the Dal-Tex building. He dismounts from his motorcycle and, gun in hand, rushes towards the TSBD building.

Z249

Kennedy leans forward a bit more and then a little to the left.

Z255

Gov. Connally is screaming and talking (his face is in shadow; he may be saying, "My God, they're going to kill us all," based on what can be seen of his expressions).

Most researchers believe that this frame corresponds with the famous Altgens photo. Ike Altgens captures the president on film in a now-famous shot taken within two seconds of the impact of the bullet that strikes JFK's head. For a while, controversy rages around a figure visible in the background of the photograph. A man many people think strongly resembles Lee Harvey Oswald is pictured standing in the front entrance of the Book Depository Building. If it is, in fact, Oswald, he could not have been on the sixth floor of the building when the shots were fired. The Warren Commission will discount any possibility that the figure is Oswald, and instead identifies the man as Billy Nolan Lovelady, another building employee. One researcher argues that the Altgens photo was taken before 255, because Greer's hands are not on the steering wheel as shown in the Zapruder film.

Z256

Connally has turned all the way around to his right to look at Kennedy, and he is still clutching his hat; Groden says he is still holding it with his right hand. Michael Baden told Posner that "If he doesn't drop the hat, it doesn't mean a thing. Some say that the Governor's radial nerve was damaged, but that's not true. There was no radial damage, but even if that nerve had been hit, he wouldn't have dropped it. His wrist was clearly wounded, with the radius bone broken. No one argues that." Baden says it is a "moot point" since the film never shows him dropping the hat. (Case Closed 330) Trask: "Connally has his mouth open and is visibly still holding his Stetson in his right hand with a wrist now pierced and fractured by a bullet."

SS agent Roy Kellerman, sitting next to the driver of JFK's limo (William Greer), testifies that he hears Mrs. Kennedy say to JFK: "What are they doing to you?" Kellerman does absolutely nothing during the shooting. Numerous witnesses describe the presidential limousine slowing down, though Greer denies this.

Agent John D. Ready jumps off SS follow-up car to dash to JFK limo. He is recalled by special Agent-in-Charge Emory Roberts. Roberts also orders all other agents not to move.

In her open convertible, Mrs. Earle Cabell smells the unmistakable odor of gunpowder in the air. Ralph Yarborough also smells gunpowder. He will eventually say: "I always thought that was strange because, being familiar with firearms, I never could see how I could smell the powder from a rifle high in that building."

Mary Moorman has fallen on the grass after taking a Polaroid photograph of JFK in his limo. She pulls at the leg of Jean Hill, screaming: "Get down! They're shooting!"

Five seconds after JFK has first clutched his neck, the limousine still seems to be in its stultifying pause, the driver (Greer) looking over his shoulder into the back seat. (Greer's son will eventually wonder why his father was JFK's driver, citing his father's intense dislike of JFK as the reason.)

In the motorcade press buses, men are asking each other if what they've just heard could be rifle fire. A driver says: "They're giving him a twenty-one-gun salute."

Mrs. Earle Cabell, is riding in an open convertible six cars back from the motorcade's lead car. At this moment, her car is just passing the Depository building. She jerks her head up on hearing the first shot because "I heard the direction from which the shot came ..." Looking up, she sees an object projecting from one of the top windows of the Depository building.

While still sprinting toward the Presidential limousine, Clint Hill hears more shots.

Z264

NPIC's analysis in 1963 placed the second shot here as possibly being at this frame, 4.1 seconds after the first shot.

Z265

The David Wiegman film begins around this frame. Wiegman was in Camera Car #1

Z276

From here on Connally's hat is out of the camera's view.

Z280

Driver Will Greer first becomes clearly visible here. He has turned around to his right and seems to be looking at JFK.

Gov. Connally will later testify: " I do not believe, nor will I ever believe, that I was hit with the first bullet. I don't believe that. I heard the first shot. I reacted to the first shot and I was not hit with that bullet: Now, there's a great deal of speculation that the President and I were hit with the same bullet that might well, be, but it surely wasn't the first bullet and Nelly doesn't think it's the second bullet. I don't know, I didn't hear the second bullet. I felt the second bullet. We obviously weren't hit by the third bullet. I was down reclining in her lap at the time the third bullet hit."

At this sound, driver William Greer will testify, he realizes that something is wrong, and he presses down on the accelerator as Roy Kellerman yells, "Get out of here fast." As he issues his instructions to Greer and to the lead car, Kellerman hears a "flurry of shots" within 5 seconds of the first noise. [WC]

Z285

Robert Harris: "…a gunshot at frame 285 which startled the limo passengers and caused Bill Greer to panic and lift his foot from the gas."
Harris thinks this is the shot that missed and wounded James Tague.
Luis Alvarez believed that some loud noise must have happened at this frame to cause reactions by people in the following frames; he speculated that a siren must have sounded.

Sprague and Cutler believe that a shot from the Dal Tex building was fired at this point, and wounded James Tague.

Z288

Connally is still visibly upright and facing to the rear and after that he falls back onto the seat, into his wife's lap, and facing the camera.
In this researcher's opinion, Connally may not have been shot until around 288-290, by a sniper on the South Knoll.

Z292

Connally does not appear to be in any pain here.

Z293

Jacqueline leans closer to JFK.

Z298

Blurring Zapruder's reaction to the shot that hit Connally? Connally now appears to be in pain.

Z300

Greer briefly looks forward, then turns around again.

Z301

Connally is clearly in pain and beginning to collapse into his wife's arms.

Z310

Pat Speer: Shot #3. Approximate firing time: Zapruder frame 310-311.
Hit Kennedy near the temple at frame 313. Bullet fragmented. One piece of its core seems to have continued on to chip the concrete near Tague around 319.
From: the sixth floor window of the TSBD
Heard by: everyone in Dealey Plaza from the time of the shot up to 10 frames afterward. Tague would have heard this shot around 319 or 320.
Other evidence for: extensive damage to the head of the President. Explosion of skull as visible in the Zapruder film. Bullet fragments found in the President's brain. Additional fragments believed to be linked to these fragments found underneath Nellie Connally's seat as well as on the front seat of the limousine. Front seat fragments linked to rifle found on the sixth floor of the TSBD.
Jiggle analysis: Zapruder's camera jiggles around 318 and 324 and again at 331.

Z312

Jim Moore: "The President's head moves forward, in an almost unseen blur....his head moves forward slightly as a result of the impact of the bullet on the back of the skull." Josiah Thompson found that between frames 312 and 313 (1/18th of second) there is an almost unnoticeable forward movement of JFK's head, followed by the massive jolt back of his head and body. He believed that a first shot hit him from behind, and then immediately after came one from the front.
Sprague and Cutler believe a shot from the west end of the TSBD hit JFK in the head at this point.

Mary Moorman Polaroid was taken at almost the instant before the head shot. Other studies say it corresponds with Z315 or 316.

Z313

The fatal head shot occurs. Frame 313 was published in the WR (p108), though the photo is small and, since it is not shown in relation to the frames before and after it, not very helpful. " Based upon debris from the head shot, the Warren Commission reported frame 24 of the Nix film, frame 42 of the Muchmore film and frame 313 of the Zapruder film as synchronous. However, the hemline of Mary Ann Moorman's coat is freely hanging on frame 24 while windblown on frame 42.

The right side of the President's head explodes in a shower of blood and brain tissue. JFK appears to be slammed backwards and to the left with violent force. This reaction is seen in the film by Abraham Zapruder and will be the subject of considerable discussion and debate in years to come.

Sprague and Cutler believe a shooter behind the concrete pergola fires this shot.

Escort motorcycle officers at the left-rear of the limousine - Bobby W. Hargis and B. J. Martin - are splattered by blood and brain matter. Martin, who has looked to his right after the first shots, will later find bloodstains on the left side of his helmet. Hargis, who is riding nearest the limousine about six to eight feet from the left rear fender, sees Kennedy's head explode and is hit by bits of flesh and bone with such impact that he will tell reporters he thought he had been shot. The motorcycle policemen to the right rear of the President's limousine are not struck with any debris.

Mrs Connally: "The third shot that I heard I felt, it felt like spent buckshot falling all over us, and then, of course, I too could see that it was the matter, brain tissue, or whatever, just human matter, all over the car and both of us. I thought John had been killed, and then there was some imperceptible movement, just some little something that let me know that there was still some life, and that is when I started saying to him, 'It's all right. Be still.'" (WC testimony)

At least seven witnesses see a puff of smoke on the grassy knoll.

Witness Howard Brennan, who is reportedly observing a rifle protruding from the sixth floor window at this time will later testify that he does NOT see the last shot fired. "But you heard the last shot?" he is asked. "Yes, sir."

In the Secret Service car immediately behind the Presidential limousine, SS agent George W. Hickey, Jr. reaches down and picks up an AR 15 (an automatic rifle) which has been kept "locked and loaded" in the car. Releasing the safety on the weapon, Hickey stands up in the rear car seat of the convertible and looks around to find the source of the shots. In a moment, the car will lurch forward, knocking him backward. (In the book MORTAL ERROR it is suggested that Hickey accidentally fires his AR 15, actually inflicting JFK's mortal head wound .)

Anthony Marsh has conducted a computer study based on the relationship of each person in the fatal limousine to parts of the car such as door handles and so on. His finding is that the President's head does not move forward at any time..the head only moves backward..." (Killing the Truth 334)

The WC, the FBI and the news media had never mentioned the backward-snap of JFK's head, though they had viewed the Z-film. Consequently, there was never any need to explain the backward movement until the film became more widely seen. Liebeler confirmed, "It's only since the critics have raised this point that anybody has ever looked at it closely." (Six Seconds 86-7)

Only after the head shot does Greer face forward and speed up. The WC determined that the fatal head shot occured 265.3 ft from the rifle in the window, at a downward angle of 15 deg 21 min. (CE 902, WR 108) H.E. Livingstone believes that this shot came from the manhole in front of the car, where the stockade fence joins the overpass. Jim Moore: "...a piece of bone can be seen rocketing several feet into the air." Weisberg has believed since the mid-60s that "the President was actually struck [in the head] from each direction almost simultaneously, the bullet before the one that explodes in Frame 313 coming from the rear." (Photographic Whitewash)

Z314

At about this frame Connally rolls to his left and he and his wife duck down out of view.

Gov. Connally: …and then, of course, the third shot sounded, and I heard the shot very clearly. I heard it hit him. I heard the shot hit something, and I assumed again -- it never entered my mind that it ever hit anybody but the President. I heard it hit. It was a very loud noise, just that audible, that clear.
Immediately I could see on my clothes, my clothing, I could see on the interior of the car which, as I recall, was a pale blue, brain tissue, which I immediately recognized, and I recall very well, on my trousers there was one chunk of brain tissue as big as almost my thumb, thumbnail, and again I did not see the President at any time either after the first, second, or third shots, but I assumed always that it was he who was hit and no one else. I immediately, when I was hit, I said, 'Oh, no, no, no.' And then I said, 'My God, they are going to kill us all.' Nellie, when she pulled me over into her lap --
Mr. Specter. Nellie is Mrs. Connally?
Governor Connally. Mrs. Connally. When she pulled me over into her lap, she could tell I was still breathing, and moving, and she said, 'Don't worry. Be quiet. You are going to be all right.' She just kept telling me I was going to be all right. After the third shot, and I heard Roy Kellerman tell the driver, 'Bill, get out of line.' And then I saw him move, and I assumed he was moving a button or something on the panel of the automobile, and he said, 'Get us to a hospital quick.'I assumed he was saying this to the patrolman, the motorcycle police who were leading us. At about that time, we began to pull out of the cavalcade, out of the line, and I lost consciousness and didn't regain consciousness until we got to the hospital." (4H132-3)

Z315

The violent backward movement of JFK's head is explained by WC supporters as the "jet effect" or the result of a neuromuscular spasm. The blood and brain matter that splattered motorcycle cops riding to the rear of the car is explained by saying that they drove through it as the car moved forward, though even Gerald Posner admits that the car was basically stopped before the head shot.

Roy Kellerman: So, in the same motion, I come right back and grabbed the speaker and said to the driver, 'Let's get out of here; we are hit,' and grabbed the mike and I said, 'Lawson, this is Kellerman,' -- this is Lawson, who is in the front car. 'We are hit; get us to the hospital immediately.' Now, in the seconds that I talked just now, a flurry of shells come into the car. I then looked back and this time Mr. Hill, who was riding on the left front bumper of our follow-up car, was on the back trunk of that car; the President was sideways down into the back seat." (2H73-4)

Z318

Nix film. CBS' 1967 tests showed a "jiggle" in the film at this frame, as Zapruder reacted to the head shot.
Livingstone: "In 318 [of the National Archives slides] there is a big hole in the head generally in the precise position noted in the autopsy report. But it is not visible in each set of slides at the National Archives, and there is no way of knowing which set we are given. This box of slides ends at 323, and the next box of slides starts at 324. A close observation of the frames shortly after the fatal head shot shows a black shadow over the back of the head...Although the head would be somewhat out of the direct sunlight in that position, facing to the northeast, the shadow appears to be drawn on the film, and would mask the large loss of skull and scalp known to have occured in that area....Shadow in that position is highly unlikely at midday, with bright reflections close by on the film..." (Killing the Truth 334-5,77)

Z319

Robert Hill Jackson, in the motorcade: "And as we heard the first shot, I believe it was Tom Dillard from the Dallas News who made some remark as to that sounding like a firecracker, and it could have been somebody else who said that. But someone else did speak up and make that comment and before he actually the sentence we heard the other two shots. Then we realized or we thought it was gunfire, and then we could not at that point see the President's car. We were still moving slowly, and after the third shot the second two shots seemed much closer together than the first shot, than they were to the first shot. Then after the last shot, I guess all of us were just looking all around and I just looked straight up ahead of me which would have been looking at the School Book Depository and I noticed two Negro men in a window straining to see directly above them, and my eyes followed right on up to the window above them and I saw the rifle, or what looked like a rifle approximately half of weapon, I guess I saw. and just looked at it, it was drawn fairly slowly back into the building, and I saw no one in the window with it. I didn't even see a form in the window."

Z320

Pat Speer: Sound or Shot #4. Approximate firing time: Zapruder frame 320-327.
Missed or possibly not even a shot. Quite possibly a loud firecracker used as a diversionary device. Combat Lessons #6, a 1944 publication of the U.S. Army, noted that, in both the Pacific and European theaters of World War II, "enemy troops have used firecrackers for diversionary purposes, especially when trying to deceive our troops as to the positions of snipers." Combat Lessons #4, from 1942, notes as well that German snipers used slow-burning fuses so that no one would be near the firecrackers when they exploded. This tactic, which single-assassin theorist Mike Williams assures me is still in use today, was therefore not only known to snipers in 1963, but was one likely to be used, should there have been multiple shooters in buildings requiring minutes to escape.
From: somewhere west of the Texas School Book Depository, possibly the railroad yards, but more probably the back of the arcade north of the grassy knoll, or the parking lot across the street. William Newman, and Abraham Zapruder, both facing the President, with the picket fence on their right and school book depository on their left, nevertheless felt the last shot came from behind them. Since a loud sound coming from behind them at this time would arrive but a split second after the sound of a third shot fired from the depository building, a sound's coming from this area would be likely to confuse Newman and Zapruder, and other witnesses nearby, and lead them to recall hearing but two shots. Sure enough, Newman, Zapruder, Mrs. Kennedy, Bobby Hargis, Clint Hill, and Paul Landis, could clearly recall but two shots, and those nearby Kennedy claiming they heard three shots mostly did so while claiming the last two shots were nearly simultaneous. A diversionary device set off in this location would, of course, draw attention from the buildings behind the President when he was shot. If this was the plan, of course...it worked. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the bulk of the Police and eyewitnesses looking for the shooter ran towards the grassy knoll and railroad yards, and ignored the buildings behind the motorcade.
Heard by: everyone in Dealey Plaza from the time of the explosion to 10 frames afterward. Due to their proximity, many interpreted this shot or sound as being the same shot as shot #3. Tague would have heard this explosion around 331-334, which might explain why he was initially convinced he was hit before the third shot.
Other evidence for: reports of smoke near the stockade fence. There were gusts of wind up to twenty miles an hour which may have blown the smoke in that direction. The statements of Dallas officer Joe Marshall Smith, who thought he smelled gunpowder in the parking lot west of the School Book Depository.
Jiggle analysis: camera jiggles at 324 and again at 331.

Z323

Jackie has raised her head up and begun looking at JFK. At some point after she saw a piece of his head ejected back toward the trunk.

Z334

JFK collapses onto Jackie.
[h=2]Z33