Assassination of John F. Kennedy President Kennedy as his motorcade continued down Elm Street. About 80% of the witnesses recalled hearing three shots. A minority of the witnesses recognized the first gunshot they heard as weapon fire, but there was hardly any reaction to the first shot from a majority of the people in the crowd or those riding in the motorcade. Many bystanders later said that they heard what they first thought to either be a firecracker or the backfire of one of the vehicles shortly after the President had begun waving. Although some close witnesses recalled seeing the limousine slow down, nearly stop,
John F. Kennedy assassination rifle John F. Kennedy assassination rifle In March 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, using the alias "A. Hidell", purchased by mail order a 6.5×52mm Carcano Model 91/38 infantry rifle (described by the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy as a "Mannlicher–Carcano") rifle with a telescopic sight. He also purchased a revolver from a different company, by the same method. The Hidell alias was determined from multiple sources to be Oswald. Oswald fired the rifle from the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, Texas, to assassinate U.S. President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade drove by on November 22, 1963. Photographs