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

Oswald’s Departure from the Building

Within a minute after Baker and Truly left Oswald in the lunchroom, Mrs. R. A. Reid, clerical supervisor, saw Oswald walk through the second-floor clerical office toward the front stairway, carrying a full bottle of Coca-Cola. Reid had heard three shots she believed came from the building and had run upstairs to her desk. When she remarked to Oswald that the President had been shot, he mumbled something in response and continued walking. Oswald was wearing only a T-shirt, having left his blue jacket behind—Marina Oswald had suggested he wear a jacket that morning but was still in bed when he left. The jacket, later identified by Marina as her husband’s, was subsequently found in the building.

第三章 [C4-305] Euins, who was on the southwest corner of Elm and

This chapter continues the investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald’s actions surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy. It reconstructs the timeline of Oswald’s movements immediately after the shooting, examines when and how the Texas School Book Depository Building was sealed by police, and traces Oswald’s journey from the Depository through Oak Cliff to his eventual arrest. The chapter also presents the Commission’s conclusion that Oswald fired the shots from the sixth floor window, and introduces the killing of Patrolman J.D. Tippit and the evidence connecting Oswald to that crime.

Mrs. Reid’s Timeline

Mrs. Reid testified that she returned to her desk from the street approximately 2 minutes after the shooting. The Commission reconstructed her movements by having her run the distance three times, with a stopwatch timing of 2 minutes representing the minimum possible duration. Based on this reconstruction, Mrs. Reid probably met Oswald at about 12:32 p.m., roughly 30-45 seconds after Oswald’s encounter with Patrolman Baker and Roy Truly in the lunchroom. After leaving Mrs. Reid in the front office, Oswald could have descended the stairs and exited the front door by 12:33 p.m.—approximately 3 minutes after the shooting—at which point the building had not yet been sealed off by police.