Phantom Shot

[Drew Phipps]

From what I recollect, Tague said he could have been hit by a flying chip of concrete. He escorted a police officer to a spot 28 feet from where he was standing and located a part of the curb that appeared to have been hit by a bullet.

This particular spot (roughly corresponding with the limo at Zapruder frame 450 but on Main Street not Elm Street) was later covered over by the City of Dallas, and then exhumed and tested by the FBI, which test revealed the presence of lead.

[I use the Z references here not because I believe the Z-film is accurate but because It is still the best way of marking the time interval between events. ]

Neither the spot where Tague was standing (near the triple overpass), nor the spot on the curb, are in line with the "sniper's nest" and the limousine at the time of the "first shot" nor the time of the head shot. Either some sort of improbable ricochet must have occurred, or a different bullet was fired, or some other relatively high energy event (completely unnoticed by eyewitnesses) involving a lead item. Warren Commission thought that made three bullets in total. (I'm no mathematician, but my opinion, that makes 4)

If it was a different bullet, it would have been in line with the limousine and snipers nest at roughly Z406 (roughly 6 seconds after the head shot). The Dal-tex building vantage point comes in line with the limo/curb mark earlier (circa z390 - 5 sec. after the head shot) or even earlier (depending on how badly you believe that a sniper could have missed in the "up" direction). The direction that whatever struck Tague went after hitting concrete is more in line with the County Court Building, but any half decent shooter from that location couldn't possibly have been aiming at the limo and hit the wrong street.