Nov. 24, 1963 | Walter Cronkite Reports Shooting of Oswald

Nov. 24, 1963 - President Kennedy’s alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was fatally shot by a Dallas nightclub operator today as the police started to move him from the Dallas city jail to the county jail. The shooting, which was observed by millions of television viewers across the country, occurred in the basement of the municipal building at 11:20 a.m. local time. The assailant, Jack Rubenstein, known as Jack Ruby, lunged from a cluster of newsmen observing the transfer of Oswald from the jail to an armored truck. As the shot rang out, Billy Combest, a Dallas police detective, suddenly recognized Ruby and exclaimed: “Jack, you son of a bitch, don’t!” Four plainclothes men pounced on Ruby as he fired the shot and overpowered him. As Ruby was being held down, he said, “I hope I killed the son of a bitch.” One officer said that Ruby, who came to Dallas from Chicago 15 years ago, was well known around police headquarters and possibly had been passed through security lines because of this. A murder charge was filed against Ruby by Assistant District Attorney William F. Alexander. Justice of the Peace Pierce McBride ordered him held without bail. The 52-year-old night-club operator, an ardent admirer of President Kennedy and his family, was described as having been distraught and sleepless since the President’s assassination Friday. Oswald was arrested that day and charged with murdering the President and a policeman, J.D. Tippit. Today, as the 24-year-old prisoner, flanked by two detectives, stepped onto a basement garage ramp, Ruby thrust a .38-caliber snub-nose revolver into Oswald’s left side and fired a single shot. Oswald slumped to the concrete paving, wordlessly clutching his side, writhing in pain. Oswald apparently lost consciousness very quickly after the shooting. He was taken in a police ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where President Kennedy died Friday. Oswald died in surgery at 1:07 p.m., less than two hours after the shooting.

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