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It is extremely revealing that Governor Connally and his wife disagreed on one critical point. The Governor testified, "...I immediately, when I was hit, I said, 'Oh, no, no, no'".17

Nellie Connally said, "I recall John (her husband) saying 'Oh, no, no, no, no'. Then there was a second shot, and it hit John..."18

Governor Connally had already felt the punch of the bullet wound which he thought was the second shot, before he uttered, "Oh, no...". Mrs. Connally said he was wounded after those words. The Governor was deceived by his delayed reaction. Mrs. Connally was deceived by her husband falling at the sound of a shot which missed everyone in the limousine.

As we discussed before, Governor Connally did not fall immediately after being wounded. He first turned far to his right, and then swung back to his left. This sequence occurs during frames Z235-275. It is not surprising that Mrs. Connally whose attention was on the President, as well as others who could not see Connally's face, thought he was unharmed at this point. In Mark Lane's documentary film, "Rush to Judgment - The Plot to Kill Kennedy", Mr. S.M. Holland confirmed Mrs. Connally's impressions:

"The first bullet, the President slumped over and Governor Connally made his turn to the right and then back to the left and that's when the second shot was fired and knocked him down to the floorboard." 19

Holland, who was unaware that the Governor was wounded earlier, confirms Nellie's testimony that a shot occurred after the Governor's right-left turning sequence, and just before he collapsed into her arms during the Z290's. Like Mrs. Connally, he made the mistaken presumption that Governor Connally was struck at the sound of the Z284 shot.

Holland's impression was confirmed by Presidential aide, Dave Powers who was well positioned on the right side of the jump seat in the Secret Service followup car. This is from his affidavit to the Warren Commission:

"Shortly thereafter, the first shot went off and and it sounded to me as if it were a firecracker. I noticed then that the President moved quite far to his left after the shot, from the extreme right hand side where he had been sitting. There was a second shot and Governor Connally disappeared from sight and then there was a third shot which took off the top of the President's head..." 20

This scenario of a single, early shot, a miss at Z284, and the fatal head wound 1.6 seconds later at Z313 is confirmed by Special Agents in the followup car. SA George W. Hickey said,

"I heard two reports which I thought were shots and that appeared to me completely different in sound than the first report and were in such rapid succession that there seemed to be practically no time element between them. It looked to me as if the President was struck in the right upper rear of his head. The first shot of the second two seemed as if it missed because the hair on the right side of his head flew forward and there didn't seem to be any impact against his head. The last shot seemed to hit his head and cause a noise at the point of impact which made him fall forward and to his left again. - Possibly four or five seconds elapsed from the time of the first report and the last." 21

While we might question the "hair flying", Hickey clearly tells us that there was a missed shot, followed quickly by the explosive, fatal head wound.

SA William T. McIntyre (left rear running board of the followup car) said,

"The Presidential vehicle was approximately 200 feet from the underpass when the first shot was fired, followed in quick succession by two more. I would estimate that all three shots were fired within 5 seconds. After the second shot, I looked at the President and witnessed his being struck in the head by the third and last shot." 22

Again, we have confirmation of the second and third shots fired in "quick succession" - the second missing, and the third inflicting the fatal wound.

The driver of the Secret Service followup car, SA Sam A. Kinney said,

"I saw the President lean toward the left and appeared to have grabbed his chest with his right hand. There was a second of pause and then two more shots were heard. " 23

SA Winston Lawson in the lead car reported,
"As the lead car was passing under this bridge, I heard the first loud, sharp report. and in more rapid succession, two more sounds like gunfire." 24

SA Glenn A. Bennett (right, rear seat) tells this rather baffling story,

"At this point the well-wishers numbered but a few; the motorcade continued down this grade enroute to the Trade Mart. At this point I heard what sounded like a fire-cracker. I immediately looked from the right/crowd/physical area and looked towards the President who was seated in the right rear seat of his limousine open convertible. At the moment I looked at the back of the President I heard another fire-cracker noise and saw the shot hit the President about four inches down from the right shoulder. A second shot followed immediately and hit the right rear high of the President's head." 25

Bennett's testimony has confused researchers for many years. He seems to stand alone in suggesting that a first shot missed the President, with a second striking him in the back.

The key to this puzzle is in Bennett's statement that "A second shot followed immediately and hit the right rear high of the President's head...". Had Bennett actually heard say, a second shot at Z224, he would have sat and stared at the wounded President for five seconds before the fatal head wound came at Z313. This would hardly have seemed to be "immediate".

What undoubtedly happened is that Bennett heard the first shot which did indeed strike the President in the back. But, Bennett did not immediately recognize it as a shot, and did not look at the President right away. When he did look at him, it was just before he heard the missed shot at Z284. When he heard the report, it was quite natural to examine the President more closely. When he spotted the back wound, he of course, presumed it was inflicted by the shot he just heard. Of course, the head wound at Z313, came 1.6 seconds later - certainly, much more consistent with the term, "immediate".

We get an even better clue by observing Bennett in a blowup of the Z255 Altgens photo. He is very definitely and clearly smiling! Of course, he testified that he did not immediately recognize the first shot. At that instant he was simply unaware that a shooting was taking place!

At this point, we have testimony from Mrs. Connally, SA Kellerman, SA Greer, S.M. Holland, SA Hickey, SA McIntyre, SA Kinney, SA Lawson, SA Bennett, Dave Powers and from the large majority of witnesses in Dealey Plaza that day, that there were two audible shots fired closely together at the approximate time of the fatal head wound. Further confirmation comes from the analysis of what is called "jiggle analysis".

Developed by Dr. Luis Alvarez, this study demonstrates that the operator of a camera will respond involuntarily to gunshots by slightly moving the camera which causes a noticeable blurring. Dr. Alvarez also discussed a secondary blurring which occurs 5-6 frames after the first. The Z284 shot was followed by heavy blurring in frames Z290-291 and by a weaker, but very obvious blur in frame Z296 - exactly as predicted by Alvarez's theory. Interestingly, the gaps from the known shot at Z312, to the blurring at 318 and 324 are identical to the 290 and 296 blurring after Z284.

Dr. Alvarez, in his original report was thoroughly befuddled by these misplaced "jiggles" and suggested that there may have been a siren going off at frame Z285 which caused Zapruder to jump. Of course, witnesses confirmed that the sirens began much later, well after the shooting ended. In fact, not one single witness said there was a siren prior to the head wound. Dr. Alvarez's analysis simply adds more confirmation to the overwhelming evidence for this shot!

As we mentioned before, Governor Connally testified that he never heard a second shot. To understand why this happened, we go to the Zapruder film again. The shot we are considering at Z284 would probably take 3-4 frames (we don't know the velocity of that weapon) to arrive at the limousine. This means the Governor could not have heard it before Z287.

But at that point, Governor Connally is in possibly the worst pain he has yet felt, as his damaged lung further (figure 12) collapses and his cheeks swell up like a small beach ball. Almost immediately after this, he falls back toward his wife, obviously in terrible agony. There is no doubt that Governor Connally had good reason to overlook this second shot.


Figure 12

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