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

Witness Accounts of Oswald’s Arrest and Treatment

Multiple officers corroborated McDonald’s account of the struggle, though none confirmed hearing Oswald’s remark except Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers, who arrived after Oswald had been knocked to the floor. Most officers heard a clicking sound they attributed to the revolver’s hammer, though firearms testimony later established the hammer never contacted a shell; the sound likely resulted from the cylinder being pulled away during the struggle. Theatre patrons offered varying accounts: George Jefferson Applin, Jr., claimed an officer struck Oswald with the butt of a shotgun in the back, a detail not corroborated by any officer, patron, or by Oswald himself, and contradicted by Officer Ray Hawkins and Deputy Sheriff Walthers. John Gibson reported hearing a gun misfire but saw no shotgun, while Johnny Brewer confirmed witnessing the struggle over the revolver and reported hearing an officer say “Kill the President, will you,” though the arresting officers were pursuing Oswald specifically for Tippit’s murder. As Oswald was led out in handcuffs, he cursed and shouted accusations of police brutality.

Oswald Transported to Dallas Police Headquarters

At 1:51 p.m., police car 2 radioed that it was en route to headquarters with the suspect. Captain Fritz, returning from the Texas School Book Depository via a brief stop at the sheriff’s office, arrived at headquarters at 2:15 p.m. and encountered Sgt. Gerald L. Hill and two detectives in the homicide and robbery bureau office. Hill recounted that Fritz had instructed detectives to obtain a search warrant for a Fifth Street address in Irving to apprehend Lee Oswald, citing his employment at the Book Depository and absence from the employee roll call. Hill informed Fritz that Oswald was already in custody.

Oswald’s Interrogation During 12-Hour Detention

Between approximately 2:30 p.m. on November 22 and 11 a.m. on November 24, Oswald was questioned intermittently for about 12 hours. Throughout these interrogations, he consistently denied any involvement in either the assassination of President Kennedy or the murder of Patrolman Tippit. Captain Fritz of the homicide and robbery bureau conducted most of the questioning without taking notes or producing stenographic or tape recordings. Representatives from the FBI and U.S. Secret Service were also present and occasionally participated in the interviews, with their reports compiled in appendix XI of the Commission proceedings.

CHAPITRE V. of this report.

This chapter presents evidence of Lee Harvey Oswald’s false statements during police interrogation following the assassination of President Kennedy, and evaluates the Commission’s case that Oswald also attempted to kill Major General Edwin A. Walker in April 1963. The chapter details paraffin test results, Oswald’s repeated lies about the rifle, revolver, aliases, the curtain rod story, his actions during the shooting, and the four categories of evidence linking him to the Walker shooting attempt: a note, photographs, firearms identification, and admissions to Marina Oswald. This chapter presents the Commission’s evaluation of the Walker shooting attempt, the alleged Nixon threat, and Oswald’s rifle capability. It concludes that Oswald attempted to kill Major General Edwin A. Walker in April 1963 based on documentary evidence, firearms analysis, and Marina Oswald’s testimony. The alleged threat against Richard M. Nixon is found to lack probative value because no evidence confirms Nixon visited Dallas during the relevant period. The chapter then assesses whether Oswald possessed the marksmanship skill and equipment to have fired the shots that killed President Kennedy, drawing on expert testimony about shot conditions, Marine training, post-service practice, and weapon testing. The Infantry Weapons Evaluation Branch of the Ballistics Research Laboratory and the FBI each conducted separate series of tests using the assassination rifle to evaluate its accuracy, its rate of fire, and the likelihood that the weapon’s operator could have replicated the timing of the shots fired during the assassination, with NRA master marksmen firing from a tower at three silhouette targets at distances of 175, 240, and 265 feet, and FBI agents including Robert A. Frazier firing the weapon at ranges from 15 to 100 yards to determine how rapidly and tightly grouped the shots could be placed. Based on these tests, firearms experts including Simmons and Frazier testified that the Mannlicher-Carcano was a quite accurate weapon with less recoil than the average military rifle, that a four-power scope was a substantial aid to rapid and accurate firing, and that the shooter did not need to be an expert marksman to accomplish the assassination, leading the Commission to conclude that Oswald, given his Marine training and familiarity with the rifle, possessed ample capability to fire three shots with two hits within the 4.8 to 5.6 second span established elsewhere in the report.