A former Secret Service agent near President John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, made a claim about the so-called “magic bullet” in his book scheduled for October publication.
Paul Landis wrote in “The Final Witness,” published by the Chicago-Review Press, that the bullet believed to have hit both President Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally did not, in fact, hit the Texas governor.
Landis, 88, was responsible for the safety of First Lady Jackie Kennedy that fateful November day, according to a report from the New York Post.
“I recall hearing the gunshot ring out in Dealy Plaza while I was walking just feet away from the president in 1963,” said in an interview with The New York Times.
The former agent added he heard two more shots and witnessed Kennedy collapsing in the back of the open limousine.
“In the ensuing chaos, I picked up a bullet that was lodged in the back seat of the car where Kennedy had been sitting and placed it on the president’s hospital stretcher for investigators,” Landis now recalls.
This 6.5 mm bullet, previously believed to have been found on the stretcher of Connally, has been the subject of much debate.
The Warren Commission, in its official findings, concluded that this “magic bullet” was fired by Lee Harvey Oswald and had passed through Kennedy before injuring Connally in multiple places.
Landis, however, believes there might have been some mix-up.
“I placed the bullet on Kennedy’s stretcher at the hospital, but now believe at some point the bullet shuffled from the president’s to the governor’s stretchers while they were pushed together,” he wrote in his book.
The Warren Commission had dismissed the possibility of the bullet originating from the president’s stretcher.
“There was nobody there to secure the scene, and that was a big, big bother to me,” Landis explained about the chaos after Kenney was shot. “All the agents that were there were focused on the president.”
“This was all going on so quickly,” he added. “And I was just afraid that — it was a piece of evidence, that I realized right away. Very important. And I didn’t want it to disappear or get lost. So it was, ‘Paul, you’ve got to make a decision,’ and I grabbed it.”
Landis claims he was never approached for his testimony by the Warren Commission.
He believes the bullet did hit Kennedy but did not penetrate deeply, suggesting it might have been undercharged.
While he had always believed Oswald was the sole gunman, he admits that “At this point, I’m beginning to doubt myself.”
The Warren Commission’s report concluded the bullet, which was found intact, was fired from Oswald’s Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.
James Robenalt, a historian and author, who has extensively researched the JFK assassination, believes Landis’ revelations could reignite debates about the events of that day.
“If what he says is true, which I tend to believe,” Robenalt remarked, “it is likely to reopen the question of a second shooter, if not even more.”
He further added that this could challenge the core findings of the Warren Report.
“If the bullet we know as the magic or pristine bullet stopped in President Kennedy’s back, it means that the central thesis of the Warren Report, the single-bullet theory, is wrong,” concluded Robenalt.
Robenalt also raised the possibility that Connally might have been injured by a different bullet, hinting that Oswald might not have had the time to reload swiftly.
The theory of multiple shooters has been a topic of discussion since the assassination took place.
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