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

Oswald’s Actions in Building After Assassination

To determine whether Oswald could have been at the southeast corner window of the sixth floor when the shots were fired, the Commission reviewed testimony of witnesses who observed Oswald inside the building within minutes of the assassination. The Commission found that Oswald’s documented movements through the building were consistent with his having been positioned at the window at 12:30 p.m.

The Encounter in the Lunchroom

Patrolman M. L. Baker of the Dallas Police Department was the first to encounter Oswald after the assassination. Baker, riding a motorcycle behind the press car, heard the shots and immediately suspected they came from the Depository Building. He raced to the northwest corner of Elm and Houston, parked, and entered the building with superintendent Roy Truly. After failing to summon an elevator, they climbed the northwest stairway to the second floor. Through a glass window in the vestibule door, Baker glimpsed a man walking into the second-floor lunchroom. Baker drew his revolver and confronted the man, commanding “Come here.” The man turned and walked back calmly toward Baker. Truly identified the man as Lee Harvey Oswald. Neither Baker nor Truly observed any change in Oswald’s expression, breathlessness, or any items in his hands. Commission counsel conducted reenactment timing tests to establish that Oswald could have fired the shots and reached the lunchroom by the time Baker and Truly arrived.

Oswald’s Descent from the Sixth Floor

Timing tests demonstrated that the minimum time required for Baker to park his motorcycle and reach the second-floor lunchroom was within three seconds of the time needed to walk from the southeast corner of the sixth floor down the stairway to the lunchroom. Special Agent John Howlett’s test runs required between 1 minute, 14 seconds and 1 minute, 18 seconds to descend from the sixth floor to the lunchroom at walking pace. Analysis of the two slow freight elevators confirmed they could not have been used by Oswald for descent: both were on the fifth floor when Truly checked from the first floor, and neither could have reached the second floor in the brief interval before Baker and Truly arrived. Testimony from fifth-floor employees Jarman, Norman, and Williams—who were watching the parade directly below the sniper’s window and then rushed to the west windows—indicated their view of the stairwell was blocked by shelves and boxes during the period Oswald would have descended. The Commission concluded that Oswald’s use of the stairway was consistent with all available evidence.