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,
On the Mindless Menace of Violence Kennedy then restlessly wandered around the hotel, checking in on his staff. When asked if King's murder had reminded him of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, his brother, Kennedy replied, "Well, that. But it makes me wonder what they might do to me too." He told speechwriter Jeff Greenfield, "You know, the death of Martin Luther King isn't the worse thing that ever happened in the world." Greenfield later said, "I could not for the life of me understand that callousness until, of course, I realized he had been thinking of the death of his brother." Meanwhile, in