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Of equal importance to this case is the question of exactly when Hill heard the last shot. Here is another part of his testimony, in which he describes running toward the Presidential limousine and hearing that final shot,

"...Just about as I reached it, (the Presidential limo) there was another sound, which was different from the first sound." 33

Figure 22 is from the Muchmore film and shows Clint Hill at the equivalent of Zapruder frame 316. He has just stepped off the running board and is approximately in line with the front tires of the followup car. This is the point at which he should have become aware of the report of the head shot at Z312/313.


Figure 22 Equivalent to Z316

But Hill said he heard a shot just as he reached the limousine. Is it possible that he did not hear the third shot either? He jumped off the car before he could have detected the report of the rifle at Z313. Perhaps he was so absorbed in his desperate dash to the President that the sound didn't consciously register. Look at figure 23. This shows Hill's position at the equivalent of Zapruder frame Z324, which is about when he would have detected the report of a weapon fired from the storm drain, only 60 feet away. At this point, he would certainly be more likely to claim he had "just about reached" the limousine.


Figure 23 Equivalent to Z324

Hill's claim that this shot sounded very different from the first is also illuminating. Here is more of his Warren Commission testimony in which he describes the sound of that shot,

"It was right, but I cannot say for sure that it was rear, because when I mounted the car it was - it had a different sound, first of all, than the first sound that I heard. The second one had almost a double sound - as though you were standing against something metal and firing into it, and you hear both the sound of a gun going off and the sound of the cartridge hitting the metal place, which could have been caused probably by the hard surface of the head. But I am not sure that that is what caused it." 34

Could Hill have gotten the impression of a "double sound" from the lingering ring of Z313, combined with a shot at Z323, about 1/2 second later? Is it possible that two reports fired almost on top of one another would create exactly that impression?

If we try to apply the traditional spacing of shots, and posit Hill as hearing reports at say, Z224 and Z313, we run into problems with his testimony. He reacts very slowly, standing around for almost 5 to 7 seconds after hearing the first report; he incorrectly describes the shots as sounding different from one another; he incorrectly states that he was almost to the Presidential limousine when he heard the last shot. His statements and impressions fit perfectly when we consider him responding to shots at Z284 and Z323.

On the right, rear running board of the followup car, SA Paul Landis only heard two reports, but his impression of the source of the final shot points directly at the storm drain,

"My immediate thought was that the President could not possibly be alive after being hit like he was. I still was not certain from which direction the second shot came, but my reaction at this time was that the shot came from somewhere towards the front, right-hand side of the road."35

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