The sun was actually quite hot for a November day in North Texas. Most people forget that. They see the grainy, flickering black-and-white footage and imagine a cold, somber afternoon, but the reality in Dealey Plaza was bright, loud, and weirdly festive right up until the moment it wasn't. You've probably seen the Zapruder film a dozen times. It’s the most scrutinized piece of celluloid in human history. Yet, when you ask how was John F. Kennedy shot, the answer usually gets buried under a mountain of conspiracy theories about the grassy knoll or umbrella men.
Let’s stick to the mechanics of what we actually know.
At 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, the presidential limousine turned off Main Street onto Houston, then made that fateful, slow crawl onto Elm Street. It was moving at about 11 miles per hour. That is slow. A bicycle could have overtaken it. This is one of those details that makes the whole event feel avoidable in hindsight.
Lee Harvey Oswald was supposedly—and the Warren Commission is very firm on this—perched on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. He had a clear line of sight, though it was partially obscured by an oak tree for a few seconds. He used a 6.5mm Carcano Model 91/38 carbine. It wasn't a top-tier sniper rifle. Honestly, it was a cheap, surplus Italian bolt-action gun that he bought through a mail-order ad.
The Ballistics of the First Hits
The first shot didn't actually hit the President. Most historians and ballistics experts like Larry Sturdivan agree the first round likely struck a curb or missed the car entirely, sending a piece of concrete flying that slightly injured a bystander named James Tague.
Then came the second shot. This is where things get complicated and where the "Magic Bullet" theory was born.
When people ask how was John F. Kennedy shot and still feel skeptical, they’re usually thinking about this specific bullet, officially known as CE 399. The bullet entered JFK’s upper back, exited his throat, and then somehow managed to hit Governor John Connally, who was sitting in the jump seat in front of him.
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It sounds impossible. It sounds like a movie script.
But here’s the thing: the seats weren't level. Connally was sitting lower and slightly to the left of the President. When you align the bodies based on the actual jump-seat configuration of that 1961 Lincoln Continental, the path of the bullet is actually a straight line. It pierced Kennedy's neck, smashed through Connally's rib, shattered his wrist, and ended up in his thigh.
It’s gruesome. It’s also physically possible.
The Governor’s wife, Nellie, famously turned to JFK just seconds before and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you." He replied, "No, you certainly can't." Those were his last words.
The Fatal Blow and the Sixth Floor Perspective
The third shot was the one that ended everything.
By this point, the limousine had passed the Stemmons Freeway sign. In the Zapruder film, this is frame 313. The bullet struck the right rear of Kennedy’s head. The impact was devastating. Because of the way the skull reacts to high-velocity projectiles—something called the "jet effect"—the President's head recoiled backward even though the shot came from behind.
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This backward motion is why millions of people think there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll. It looks like he was hit from the front. However, forensic pathologists like Dr. Vincent Di Maio have pointed out that the exit wound and the spray of brain matter and skull fragments (which famously landed on the trunk of the car, prompting Jackie Kennedy to climb out and retrieve them) are consistent with a shot from the rear.
Oswald’s position was roughly 265 feet away. For a trained Marine, that’s not a difficult shot. He had the advantage of the "tracking" angle, meaning the car was moving almost directly away from him, which minimizes the need to "lead" the target.
Why the "How" Still Frustrates Us
We live in an age where we want high-definition answers. We want 4K footage and multiple angles. In 1963, we had a 12-man police escort, a few dozen home movie cameras, and a whole lot of confusion.
The Secret Service was caught completely off guard. You can see Agent Clint Hill jumping onto the back of the car, but he was seconds too late. The driver, William Greer, has been criticized for decades because he tapped the brakes after the first shots instead of flooring it. He was confused. He didn't know where the noise was coming from.
If you look at the acoustics tests done by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in the late 70s, they actually suggested there was a "high probability" of two gunmen based on Dictabelt recordings from a police motorcycle. But that evidence has been largely debunked by later scientific reviews, including a major study by the National Academy of Sciences. They found the "shots" on the tape were actually just rhythmic noise or shutters, not gunfire synchronized with the hit.
Basically, the physics points to one guy in a window with a mediocre rifle.
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Misconceptions That Just Won't Die
One of the biggest hurdles in understanding how John F. Kennedy was shot is the sheer volume of "what ifs."
- The Umbrella Man: There was a man holding a black umbrella on a sunny day. People thought it was a signal or a dart gun. It turns out it was just a guy named Louie Steven Witt protesting Joe Kennedy’s (JFK’s father) appeasement policies in the 1930s. The umbrella was a symbol for Neville Chamberlain.
- The "Puff of Smoke": Several witnesses near the railroad bridge reported seeing smoke near the trees. Black powder creates smoke; modern smokeless powder, which Oswald used, generally does not.
- The Hospital Chaos: When the car reached Parkland Memorial Hospital, the scene was pure trauma. Doctors focused on a tracheotomy, which obscured the exit wound in the throat. This led to early reports that he was shot from the front.
Nuance matters here. When you’re in a concrete canyon like Dealey Plaza, sound bounces. An echo can sound like a primary shot. A shadow can look like a rifle barrel.
Investigating the Evidence Yourself
If you really want to wrap your head around the mechanics of the assassination, you have to look at the geometry. The Texas School Book Depository is now a museum (The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza). If you stand in that space—even though the "sniper’s nest" is glassed off—you realize how close the car actually was.
It wasn't a "long-distance" miracle shot. It was a medium-range shot at a slow-moving, open-top target.
The medical evidence is archived at the National Archives. While some of the autopsy photos are restricted or controversial due to how the body was handled, the X-rays show a clear trail of metal fragments consistent with the 6.5mm ammunition Oswald was using.
What You Should Do Next
To truly understand the "how" behind this event, move past the Hollywood dramatizations. If you want to dive deeper into the technical reality of the shooting, here are the most reliable steps to take:
- Examine the HSCA Forensic Pathology Report: This is far more modern and detailed than the original 1964 Warren Commission. It deals with the "jet effect" and the specific entrance/exit wounds in a way that aligns with modern ballistics.
- Watch the Zapruder Film Frame-by-Frame: Don't just watch it at full speed. Look at the movement of Governor Connally’s lapel at frame 224—that is the exact millisecond the "magic bullet" passes through him. It proves he was hit at the same time as Kennedy.
- Read "Case Closed" by Gerald Posner: While controversial to conspiracy theorists, it provides the most logically consistent, evidence-based breakdown of the physics of the shots.
- Visit Dealey Plaza virtually or in person: Use Google Street View to look at the "Triple Underpass." Seeing the elevation changes makes the trajectory of the shots much more logical than it appears in flat photographs.
The tragedy of the JFK assassination isn't just that a President died. It’s that the "how" was so remarkably simple, yet the "why" remains so vast that we struggle to accept the physics of a lone gunman. The evidence, however, remains fixed in the ballistics and the geometry of Elm Street.
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