Lone gunman killed Kennedy

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, November 24, 2008

Finally, after 45 years, ballistic tests and trajectory analysis — as well as the latest in forensic artificial body creation — have proven once and for all that shots fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building killed President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

Those shots fired from the depository building came from a rifle used by Lee Harvey Oswald.

With methodical cutting-edge forensics and Zapruder film archives, experts painstakingly show that the fatal bullet was fired from the depository building, not the nearby grassy knoll.

JFK: Inside the Target Car, was the title for a Discovery Channel documentary. Assembled were experts to set up the ballistic tests and trajectory analysis, in a meticulous manner. Blood splattering seen on the Zapruder film, taken at the assassination site in 1963, matched almost perfectly splattering (on film) from a replica of a human head shot this year from the same distance and height by an expert rifleman.

In 2000 I had the opportunity to visit The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. I concur with the results of this latest analysis of the JFK assassination.

Also in agreement is the brother of Lee Harvey Oswald who for years has maintained that his brother acted alone in shooting down JFK. As for conspiracy theories, that argument has been dampened by those who point out that Oswald was an unstable individual, albeit a marksman.

Asked one historian who worked as a consultant to the Discovery Channel, “Who in their right mind would include Oswald as part of a conspiracy?”

On the other hand, in support of conspiracy theorists, it should be noted that Oswald was gunned down by Jack Ruby only two days after the assassination in the basement of the Dallas police headquarters. Conspiracy theories will no doubt continue for years to come.

The late Peter Jennings of ABC said five years ago, on the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination, that America needed psychologically to bring in the conspiracy theory in lieu of the possibility of a single gunman acting alone.

“It was hard for people to believe that someone like Oswald could not only kill a president, but also could wipe out an entire presidential administration,” said Jennings.

The Discovery Channel worked with Adelaide T&E Systems, an engineering company that specializes in creating exact human specimens. Using Kennedy’s hat size, the experts created a replica of a human head, with the same size and density. A special effects team recreated the Presidential limousine.

“JFK: Inside the Target Car, is the latest example of using breakthrough technology to authenticate scientific theories," said John Ford, president and general manager of Discovery Channel. "This documentary encompassed an intensive forensic investigation that proved the origin of the fatal bullet. It’s momentous for the network to help support the science behind this definitive evidence."

The investigation team included Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas and a 25-year veteran of Kennedy investigations; Michael Yardley, world renowned sharpshooter; Wesley Fisk, chief operating officer of Adelaide T&E Systems; and Tom Bevel and Steve Schlieble, veteran crime scene and forensic examiners.

I prefer to remember JFK for accomplishments during his lifetime, including his Navy heroism in World War II, instilling pride in being an American during the early 1960s, his sense of humor, love for sailing at his home state of Massachusetts and his visit to Grand Forks just two months before his death.

Tom Hintgen’s column appears Mondays.

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