The parade, despite the misgivings of everyone around Kennedy, had been a success. Thousands of people stood along the route waving at the president as his car rode past. When the long line of 17 cars made a right on Houston, Nellie Connally tipped her head back to the president and said “Mr. President, you can’t say the people of Dallas don’t love you”. Nearing the turn on Elm Street, Kennedy replied “No, you certainly can’t”. As the black convertible Lincoln slowed to make the final turn of the parade route, the first shot rang out.

Was it a motorcycle backfire? Perhaps a firecracker? Only two people in the motorcade suspected a rifle blast. One was secret service agent Rufus Youngblood, two cars behind Kennedy assigned to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who jumped into the back seat yelling “Get down!” while covering the vice president. John Connally, an avid hunter, also knew it was not a motorcycle backfire or firecracker. He turned quickly to his right to glimpse back at Kennedy while saying “no, no!” repeatedly. Luckily, the first shot was a miss. The second, however, will find its mark.

Standing less than 100 feet away on a white plinth, Abraham Zapruder had been filming since JFK’s convertible had made the turn on Elm Street. As the second shot rang out, the president's car passed behind the Stemmons Freeway sign, blocking Zapruder’s camera view. When it emerged, Kennedy’s hands were awkwardly positioned around his throat. The second shot cuts through Kennedy’s back, exits out his throat, turns to hit the governor in the fifth rib, exits below his right nipple, smashes into his right wrist, then finally lodges in his left thigh.

…

Wait, stop the tape. Are we to assume that the second shot caused seven wounds on two different targets while twisting and turning? How is this possible, given the roughly 16-degree angle of the shot from The Texas School Book Depository's window, if Kennedy and Connally are seated directly in front of or behind each other?

The Warren Commission concluded that the first shot, fired sometime between frame 210 and 225 of the Zapruder film, hit Kennedy in the back of the neck and a second shot missed. The third struck the president in the right side of the head at frame 313 in the Zapruder film. The total time elapsed between the frames is approximately 5 to 6 seconds. Using its own rifle experts, the Commission also concluded that the rifle Oswald fired, at best, could be cocked, aimed, and fired in 2.3 seconds. In other words, we have either three or four shots fired faster than humanly possible, one hit on Kennedy, one miss, one hit on Connally, and another hit in the right side of Kennedy’s head. Unfortunately for the Commission, they found three shell casings on the sixth floor and needed Oswald to be the lone assassin. Their conclusion; one shot had to have hit both Kennedy and Connally.

However, as stated above, the first shot happened just as the motorcade turned on Elm Street. This was ignored by the Commission (they started to view the Zapruder film at frame 171, after the first shot) but, strangely enough, helps make their case. This seemingly minor yet pivotal detail missed by the Commission shows Connally turned in his seat having reacted to the first shot. Connally had taken off his hat for the parade route and held it in his right hand across his lap. But, if the shot exited out of Kennedy’s throat, then shouldn’t it have hit Connally, seated directly in front of the president, in the upper back? A quick glance at the Lincoln convertible that transported the president that day, is the final piece of the puzzle.

Governor Connally rode in a jump seat in front of Kennedy; a seat that is three inches lower and slightly more inboard (to the left) when compared to the president’s position. When this detail is taken into consideration, the single bullet starts to add up. In other words, the governor’s fifth rib, while turned in his jump seat, is in line with the president’s throat - as is his right hand, which still held his hat over his left thigh.

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Roll, tape. A slight delay before the pain sets. Governor Connally groans, “They are going to kill us both”! Nellie only thought of her husband’s safety as she pulled his 6’2” frame onto her lap and covered him with her body, the top of her head still exposed to the assassin’s line of sight. A moment later, a third shot rings through Dealey Plaza...