Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Conclusion

Conclusion Based on the chapter’s evidence analysis, the Commission concluded that the shots killing President Kennedy and wounding Governor Connally were fired from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository Building. Two bullets probably caused all wounds suffered by both men. Since the preponderance of evidence indicated three shots were fired, the Commission concluded one shot probably missed the Presidential limousine and its occupants, and that the three shots were fired over a time period ranging from approximately 4.8 to in excess of 7 seconds.

KAPITEL IV.

CHAPTER IV — The Commission evaluates the evidence underlying its conclusion regarding the identity of President Kennedy’s assassin, building on the prior chapter’s finding that the fatal shots were fired from a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter rifle (serial C2766) found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Chapter IV examines the evidence establishing that Lee Harvey Oswald owned and used the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (serial number C2766) to assassinate President Kennedy. The chapter covers fiber analysis linking the rifle to Oswald’s clothing, photographs of Oswald with the weapon, ownership verification, and the circumstances by which the rifle was brought into the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963. Chapter IV of the Warren Commission report investigates whether Lee Harvey Oswald carried the assassination weapon into the Texas School Book Depository concealed in a brown paper bag and fired shots from the southeast corner window of the sixth floor. The chapter reviews eyewitness testimony about Oswald’s arrival, analyzes discrepancies in witnesses’ estimates of the bag’s length, examines the physical and forensic evidence linking Oswald, the bag, the rifle, and the window, and concludes that Oswald assembled the rifle on the sixth floor and fired from that location. This chapter covers evidence linking Lee Harvey Oswald to the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository from which the assassination shots were fired, including forensic identification evaluations, pre-assassination presence testimony, recovered physical evidence, and eyewitness accounts of the shooter.

KAPITEL IV.

CHAPTER IV — The Commission evaluates the evidence underlying its conclusion regarding the identity of President Kennedy’s assassin, building on the prior chapter’s finding that the fatal shots were fired from a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter rifle (serial C2766) found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

The Assassin

The preceding chapter established that the bullets killing President Kennedy and wounding Governor Connally came from the southeast corner window on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and that the weapon was a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter rifle, serial number C2766. This chapter sets out the evidence supporting the Commission’s conclusion about the assassin’s identity.

Evidence of Identity

The Commission evaluates eight categories of evidence: (1) ownership and possession of the assassination weapon, (2) how the weapon was brought into the Depository Building, (3) the identity of the person at the firing window, (4) the killing of Dallas Patrolman J.D. Tippit within 45 minutes of the assassination, (5) Oswald’s resistance to arrest and attempted shooting of another officer, (6) Oswald’s lies to police, (7) evidence linking Oswald to the attempted killing of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker on April 10, 1963, and (8) Oswald’s demonstrated capability with a rifle.

Ownership and Possession of Assassination Weapon

This section addresses ownership and possession of the assassination weapon, beginning with the purchase of the rifle by Oswald, tracing it from the manufacturer to the distributor to the retailer, examining the mail-order transaction, and confirming Oswald’s possession through the post office box used for delivery, his use of the “Hidell” alias, counterfeit identification documents, the New Orleans activities conducted under that alias, a palmprint on the rifle barrel, and fiber evidence linking the rifle to Oswald’s shirt.

Purchase of Rifle by Oswald

Shortly after the rifle was recovered from the sixth floor of the Depository, FBI agents identified Crescent Firearms, Inc., of New York City, as a distributor of surplus Italian 6.5-millimeter military rifles. On the evening of November 22, 1963, Crescent’s records showed it had shipped an Italian carbine bearing serial number C2766 to Klein’s Sporting Goods Co. of Chicago. Officers at Klein’s, searching records from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., located the shipment of that serial-numbered rifle to “A. Hidell, Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Texas,” on March 20, 1963.