The JFK 100
"The Easiest Shot"
The limousine on Houston Street
The limousine on Houston Street
Researcher and veteran sportsman John Cahill writes:JIM . . . [The conspirators] don't shoot [the President] coming up Houston, which is the easiest shot for a single shooter in the Book Depository, but they wait till he gets to the killing zone between three rifles.(1)
From my experience, a shot approaching, with the angle constantly changing and becoming more acute, would be more difficult than, say, with the target moving away, becoming less acute.Also, researcher David Blackburst notes that Oswald "might have balked at drawing the attention of armed agents who were facing him. If he waited until they were facing away from him, he would have a better chance to avoid harm."(3)The slight downward angle as the target goes toward the underpass tends, also, to make the target movement less apparent.(2)
Webmaster John McAdams concurs: "Look at the Altgens photo of the limo on Elm, and imagine that you are facing four Secret Service agents on the running boards of the Queen Mary, and four more agents in the car itself. Presumably they all had pistols in shoulder holsters."(4)
Associated Press photographer James "Ike" Altgens snapped this photograph during the assassination
NOTES:1. Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar, JFK: The Book of the Film (New York: Applause, 1992), p. 163. All quotations are from the shooting script and may vary slightly from the finished motion picture.
2. John Cahill, e-mail to author, October 21, 2001. Cahill is a competitive shooter and former hunter who describes himself as a pacifist and a reluctant member of the National Rifle Association, with which he has earned a rating of Expert. He is a longtime collector of firearms, particularly military weapons of German manufacture, and is a member of the Northern Virginia Gun Collector's Association. He owns three 91/38 6.5 Mannlicher-Carcanos -- the Short Rifle, a T. S. Carbine, and a Cavalry Carbine -- and considers them "solid, dependable, accurate military firearms."
3. David Blackburst, newsgroup post of December 4, 1998.
4. John McAdams, newsgroup post of December 4, 1998.
