It is a hot, frantic night in Los Angeles. June 5, 1968. Robert F. Kennedy has just won the California primary. He flashes a victory sign, tells his supporters "on to Chicago," and ducks through a pair of gold-colored swinging doors into a crowded kitchen pantry.
Minutes later, he’s on the floor.
If you search for a bobby kennedy assassination video, you might expect to find something like the Zapruder film. You’re looking for that definitive, frame-by-frame capture of the moment the shots rang out. But here is the reality that trips most people up: there is no film of the actual shooting. None.
While his brother’s death in Dallas was captured on a silent 8mm home movie, Bobby’s final moments in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel exist only in audio, still photography, and the shaky, chaotic "aftermath" footage that began rolling seconds after the gun was wrestled away from Sirhan Sirhan.
The Missing Link: Why No Cameras Were Rolling
You have to remember the tech of the time. 1968 wasn't the era of the smartphone. In fact, it wasn't even the era of portable, lightweight video cameras for news crews. TV cameras were massive, tethered beasts.
When Kennedy finished his speech in the Embassy Ballroom, the major networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—pretty much stayed put at the podium. They were setting up for a press conference or wrapping up their election night broadcasts. When Bobby took the "shortcut" through the kitchen to reach the press room, the professional film crews weren't trailing him.
They were left behind in the ballroom.
✨ Don't miss: Why the Air France Crash Toronto Miracle Still Changes How We Fly
Then, the pops. Most witnesses thought they were firecrackers.
The Stanislaw Pruszynski Tape
The closest thing we have to a "live" record of the assassination isn't a video at all. It’s a cassette recording. Stanislaw Pruszynski, a Canadian journalist, had his tape recorder running as he followed the Senator into the pantry.
You can hear the shots.
You can hear the screaming.
Decades later, forensic audio experts like Philip Van Praag analyzed this tape. They claimed it revealed 13 shots—five more than Sirhan’s eight-round revolver could hold. This sparked a whole new wave of conspiracy theories about a second gunman. But as far as a bobby kennedy assassination video goes, the visual record starts only once the dust began to settle.
What the Surviving Footage Actually Shows
When people talk about seeing "video" of the event, they are usually referring to the newsreel footage shot by crews who sprinted into the pantry after hearing the gunfire.
It is haunting.
🔗 Read more: Robert Hanssen: What Most People Get Wrong About the FBI's Most Damaging Spy
The most famous clips show a grainy, black-and-white scene of absolute bedlam. You see Rafer Johnson and Rosey Grier—pro athletes turned bodyguards—struggling to pin Sirhan Sirhan against a steam table. You see the flash of a busboy, Juan Romero, kneeling over Kennedy, placing a rosary in his hand.
- The Boris Yaro Connection: Boris Yaro of the Los Angeles Times was there with a camera, but he was a still photographer. He famously fought off a woman who tried to stop him from taking photos, telling her, "Goddammit, lady, this is history."
- The CBS and ABC Reels: These networks eventually got cameras into the kitchen. They captured the Senator's wife, Ethel Kennedy, pleading for the crowd to give him air.
Honestly, the footage is hard to watch. It’s shaky. It’s dark. It captures the raw, unedited panic of a country losing its second Kennedy in five years.
The Mystery of the Scott Enyart Photos
There’s a weird sub-plot here that fuels the "lost video" fire. A 15-year-old high school student named Scott Enyart was in the pantry. He was snapping photos like crazy as he followed Bobby.
The LAPD seized his film at gunpoint.
Enyart spent years fighting to get his negatives back. When the city finally agreed to return them in the 90s, they claimed the photos were "stolen" from a courier's car on the way to the courthouse. Enyart eventually won a massive legal settlement, but the images? Gone. This "missing" visual evidence is why many people are convinced a more definitive bobby kennedy assassination video or photo set must exist somewhere in a government vault.
How to View the Footage Today
If you’re looking to piece together the events of that night, you won't find a single "assassination clip." Instead, you have to look at the synchronized archives.
💡 You might also like: Why the Recent Snowfall Western New York State Emergency Was Different
- Newsreel Compilations: Major archives like Getty and the Associated Press have digitized the "aftermath" reels. These show the transition from the victory speech to the chaos in the hall.
- Documentary Restorations: Modern documentaries use AI upscaling to make the grainy 16mm film clearer, though it remains fragmented.
- The Pruszynski Audio Overlay: Some researchers have synced the Pruszynski audio tape with the silent still photos taken by Bill Eppridge and Boris Yaro to create a "virtual" timeline of the shooting.
Basically, the "video" is a jigsaw puzzle.
We see the before. We see the after. The "during" is a gap filled only by the sounds of a .22 caliber pistol and the screams of a crowd.
Actionable Insights: Digging Deeper Into the Records
If you're a history buff or a researcher trying to find the most accurate version of events, don't just look for a single YouTube clip. Most of those are edited for drama.
- Visit the California State Archives: They hold the bulk of the LAPD’s "Rfk Investigation" files, including thousands of photographs that haven't been turned into viral videos.
- Study the Acoustics: If you want to understand the "second shooter" theory, look for the "Van Praag Acoustic Analysis." It’s the technical backbone of the modern debate over the pantry layout.
- Check Primary Sources: Read the witness statements of Juan Romero and Boris Yaro. Their first-hand accounts provide the "color" that the grainy black-and-white footage lacks.
The search for a bobby kennedy assassination video often leads down a rabbit hole of "what ifs." While the lack of a "Zapruder film" for RFK has allowed myths to grow, the records we do have—the audio, the frantic newsreels, and the iconic still photos—tell a story of a moment that changed American politics forever.
Next time you see a "newly discovered" video online, check the timestamps. Usually, it's just a newly digitized angle of the same pantry chaos we've been deconstructing for over fifty years.