Paul Landis, one of the Secret Service agents on duty when President John F. Kennedy was slain on November 22, 1963, has come out with an alternative account of events that calls into doubt the previously accepted narrative.
Landis, 88, stated that he has no ulterior intentions in coming out and only wants the American people to draw their judgments. The former Secret Service agent’s new memoir is expected to call into question the Warren Commission’s “magic bullet theory,” which was proposed following an investigation into the assassination.
According to the Warren Commission, one of the bullets fired at Kennedy’s motorcade hit the president from the back, exited out the front of his throat, and struck Texas Governor John Connally many times.
The investigation revealed that Connally received injuries to his chest, back, wrist, and thigh from the same bullet. As a result of the unusual oath that one bullet allegedly took, the nickname “magic bullet” became famous.
A report from investigators confirmed that the bullet was found from a stretcher believed to have held Connally at Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital. However, Landis, who was never interviewed by the Warren Commission, has a different narrative to tell.
JFK assassination witness breaks his silence and raises new questions https://t.co/2WZHN4zc9w— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) September 10, 2023
Landis asserts he discovered the “magic bullet” in the presidential limousine rather than the hospital.
When he saw the bullet, he grabbed it and, for reasons unknown to him, placed it on the stretcher in the hope that physicians may use it to save Kennedy. Landis believes the two stretchers were brought together at some point, allowing the bullet to shake from one to the other.
“There was nobody there to secure the scene, and that was a big, big bother to me,” Landis disclosed to the New York Times. “All the agents that were there were focused on the president.”
It was a now-or-never moment for him to make such an important decision, so he immediately grabbed the bullet.
“This was all going on so quickly. 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.”
