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

Used-Car Lot Witnesses

Four men at a used-car lot on the southeast corner of Patton and Jefferson—Warren Reynolds, Harold Russell, Pat Patterson, and L.J. Lewis—saw a white male carrying a revolver running south on Patton, then turning west on Jefferson. Reynolds and Patterson followed him until he turned north toward a service station parking area. Russell and Patterson identified Oswald from photographs; Reynolds later confirmed the identification before a Commission staff member; Lewis declined to make a positive identification due to the distance of his observation.

Murder Weapon

When arrested, Oswald possessed a Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver (serial V510210), positively identified by three arresting officers. Four cartridge cases found at 10th and Patton were unanimously identified by FBI experts (Cunningham, Frazier, Killion) and by Illinois Bureau expert Nicol as having been fired from Oswald’s revolver to the exclusion of all other weapons. Four lead bullets recovered from Tippit’s body matched the revolver’s rifling characteristics (five lands and grooves, right twist), but due to mutilation, experts could not definitively identify them as fired from Oswald’s weapon—though Nicol concluded one bullet matched to the exclusion of all others. Ballistic and cartridge evidence suggested that five shots may have been fired, with one cartridge case or bullet unaccounted for.

Ownership of Revolver

FBI tracing identified George Rose & Co. of Los Angeles as a distributor of this revolver model. Seaport Traders, Inc. records showed that on January 3, 1963, a shipment of 99 guns was received, including the serial-numbered revolver, which was later shortened to a 2¼-inch barrel. A mail-order coupon signed “A.J. Hidell, aged 28” with a Dallas P.O. box was received after January 27, 1963, with the witness signature “D.F. Drittal.” The revolver was shipped March 20, 1963. Treasury and FBI handwriting experts, along with Marina Oswald, identified the order and witness signature as Oswald’s handwriting. Marina identified the revolver as her husband’s and recognized it in Neely Street photographs; police recovered an empty holster matching the photos from Oswald’s room.