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

Service Station Rifle Sale Allegation

A mechanic at an Irving service station, Robert Adrian Taylor, reported three weeks after the assassination that he believed Oswald sold a U.S. Army rifle to him in March or April 1963 to pay for car repairs, as a passenger in a vehicle at the station. Taylor later expressed doubt the man was Oswald, and a second station employee who recalled the incident believed the passenger was not Oswald despite a slight resemblance.

Rifle Practice Sightings

Multiple witnesses reported seeing a man resembling Oswald practicing with a rifle in fields, wooded areas, and ranges around Dallas in the weeks before the assassination, with some claiming he was alone and others saying he was accompanied. Most of these sightings lack substantial basis to confirm the man was Oswald, though a group of witnesses reported seeing a man matching Oswald’s description at the Sports Drome Rifle Range in Dallas between September and November 1963, with consistent descriptions of the man’s rifle and his accuracy with it.

Sports Drome Rifle Range Sightings

Four witnesses (Malcolm H. Price Jr., Garland G. Slack, Sterling C. Wood, and Dr. Homer Wood) expressed confidence they saw Lee Harvey Oswald at the Sports Drome Rifle Range in Dallas between September and November 1963: Price adjusted the scope on the man’s rifle, Slack had an altercation with him for shooting at Slack’s target, and the Woods spoke with the man about his rifle. Two other witnesses reported seeing a person resembling Oswald firing a similar rifle at a range near Irving two days before the assassination. However, the sightings are inconsistent with known details of Oswald’s life: Price recalled adjusting the scope for the man on September 28, 1963, when Oswald was confirmed to be in Mexico City, and Slack claimed to have seen the same man at the range on November 10, when Oswald was at the Paine home in Irving and did not leave. The man Price assisted drove an old 1940 or 1941 Ford, but Oswald could not drive and had no access to such a vehicle. None of the witnesses’ descriptions of the man (blond hair, wearing a “Bulldogger Texas style” hat, chewing gum or tobacco) matched Oswald’s known appearance, and no sign-in record for Oswald or his known aliases was found at the Sports Drome range, though many patrons did not sign the register. Reports of companions with the man were inconsistent and unsubstantiated, and a bearded man reportedly present with the man was located and had no connection to Oswald.