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Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

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Robert Kennedy

U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. At the time he was killed, Kennedy had just won the California primary and was the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president during the 1968 presidential election.

He died the next day, on June 6, 1968. Like his brother's 1963 assassination, Kennedy's death has been analyzed by conspiracy theorists. These theoriests have led various third parties to come up with theories and solutions to the crime.

The assassin, 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan B. Sirhan, attributed the killing to Kennedy's support for Israel during the Six-Day War.

Kennedy won the Indiana and Nebraska primaries, lost the Oregon primary and on June 4, 1968 picked up a big boost in his drive toward the Democratic nomination when he won in South Dakota and in California. After Kennedy addressed his supporters that evening in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Sirhan B. Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, shot into the crowd surrounding Kennedy in the kitchen hallway. Kennedy was shot at point blank range. Olympic gold medalist decathlete Rafer Johnson and [[American Olympic gold medalist decathlete Rafer Johnson and football player Roosevelt Grier helped detain Sirhan with Grier jamming his thumb behind the trigger of the gun to prevent further shots from being fired.

It is widely believed that Sirhan fired the shots that hit Kennedy, and that this was what Sirhan intended. However, some conspiracy theorists disagree, arguing that Sirhan's position makes it impossible that he fired those shots. There seems to be no dispute that Sirhan did fire; what is disputed is whether it was another gunman, behind Kennedy, that actually hit him.

Sirhan, a Palestinian born in Jerusalem, fired into the crowd surrounding Kennedy in the Ambassador Hotel after Kennedy finished addressing supporters. Sirhan was detained at the scene by bystanders, and then arrested. On March 3, 1969, in a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan admitted that he had killed Kennedy. But as with President John F. Kennedy's assassination, questions persist. All the witnesses to the shooting said that Sirhan was at least three feet away from Kennedy. Los Angeles coroner Thomas Noguchi, however, found powder burns on Kennedy's ear and gunpowder residue in his hair. Noguchi said this meant the gun was just inches from Kennedy's head when he was shot. (When a firearm is discharged, the powder travels only a few inches because the gas is very light.) It was later revealed a photographer had taken many pictures at the exact moment of the shooting, but these were confiscated by the LAPD and never found. It was also later revealed a young Kennedy supporter named Sandy Serrano said a couple burst out of the hotel the night of the shooting exclaimed, "We shot Kennedy".

Sirhan said he felt betrayed by Kennedy's support for Israel in the Six-Day War. The assassination took place one year after the start of that war. Sirhan later also claimed he acted unconsciously, possibly as the result of "hypnotic brainwashing" which he attributed to the CIA's MK-Ultra program.

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