Eugene Thane Cesar: Next to Kennedy on the right was Eugene Thane Cesar, a last minute replacement ... Cesar said that he had pulled his gun during the shooting but was unable to fire a shot. There is someone however who says that Cesar did fire and more than once: Don Schulman, reporter: ‘Just then the guard who was standing behind Kennedy took out his gun and he fired also.’
Once again the Los Angeles police did not follow normal procedures; they did not confiscate Cesar’s gun and did not look for other possible weapons in the pantry. ibid.
Cesar also owned a .22-caliber which no-one has ever been able to find ... Cesar had sold it three months after the assassination. ibid.
M K Ultra CIA’s Secret Program: In 1970 America was shocked to learn that for over fifteen years the CIA had run a secret program called M K Ultra: their intent was to manipulate the human mind. ibid.
For a three-month period prior to the assassination Sirhan completely disappeared from sight. ibid.
A lone gunman is serving a life sentence for killing senator Robert Kennedy on June 5th 1968 ... Was there a second gunman? Best Evidence: The RFK Assassination
The failure to collect the security guard’s gun is just one of many inconsistencies. ibid.
Cesar’s story changed several times after the event. ibid.
Accusations of lost and mislabelled evidence and a less than thorough investigation. ibid.
The LAPD’s own reports showed that they had destroyed evidence after Sirhan’s trial including burnings of 2,410 photographs, door frame, a room divider and ceiling tiles. ibid.
Pruszynski tape: today’s audio equipment is much more sophisticated: ‘approximately thirteen shot sounds’. ibid.
On a hot August night in 1964 Robert F Kennedy mounted the podium at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City. American Experience: RFK, PBS 2004
He was small, awkward, shy: his family described him as the family runt. ibid.
No-one rankled him more than Jimmy Hoffa ... Bobby could never bring Hoffa down. ibid.
He would do whatever it took to get his brother elected. ibid.
LBJ and Bobby detested each other. ibid.
Bobby would launch a secret war against him [Castro]: Operation Mongoose. ibid.
He began to speak out on behalf of the dispossessed. ibid.
June 5th Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles: 42-years-old Robert Kennedy has just been shot. As he’s rushed to hospital no-one knows whether he will live or die. Infamous Assassinations: Robert Kennedy
The US Senate’s Rackets Committee is after one person in particular: Jimmy Hoffa ... Kennedy is also convinced Hoffa is linked to organised crime. ibid.
Hoover almost goes out of his way to frustrate Kennedy in his continuing campaign against organised crime. ibid.
On finishing, he leaves the stage via a corridor being used as a kitchen pantry. It’s lined with people all eager to shake his hand. Sirhan has infiltrated this group. He’s armed with an eight-shot .22 Iver Johnson revolver ... Sirhan pulls out his gun and opens fire. He’s only two or three feet from his target. Kennedy is hit three times and slumps to the floor. But Sirhan keeps firing, hitting five more people. ibid.
Several witnesses to the attack say that Sirhan was actually facing Kennedy when he fired. However, if this is the case, it doesn’t stack up with the fact that the first bullet to strike Kennedy apparently hit him in the head behind his left ear. So the question has to be asked, Was there another assassin in the kitchen corridor at the same time? ibid.
Then this girl came running down the stairs in the back, came running down the stairs and said, ‘We’ve shot him, we’ve shot him.’ And I said, ‘Who did you shoot?’ And she said, ‘We shot Senator Kennedy.’ She had on a white dress with polka dots, with white skin, dark hair. Sandra Serrano, televised interview
And a boy came down with her. He was about twenty-three years old, and he was Mexican-American – I can remember them because I’m Mexican-American. Sandra Serrano
cf.
I want to talk to you like a brother. Look, I presume, I don’t know what religion you are. I’m Catholic, Are you Catholic? ... Right OK here’s the thing. You’re an intelligent young girl. You know that for some reason this was made up. So, what, here’s what you’ve got to think about right now is that I think you owe it to Senator Kennedy, the late Senator Kennedy, to come forth being a woman about this. If he and you don’t know and I don’t know whether he’s a witness right now in this room watching what we’re doing in here. Don’t shame his death by keeping this thing up. I have compassion for you. I want to know why. I want to know why you did what you did. This is a very serious thing ... Are you afraid right now, Sandy? Sergeant Enrico Hernandes LAPD, mysteriously recalled from overseas visit, harassing witness Sandra Serrano; interrogation survived culling of evidence
These are lies. This story is a lie. This didn’t happen. No, it didn’t happen. LAPD interrogation of Sandra Serrano
Bobby had just made a speech and we were getting ready to go some place else but, somehow or another, Bobby jumped off the back of the stage and everyone was out of position and by the time we caught up with him when shots rang out. We were running to see we could stop all the violence that was going on and then we saw Sirhan with the gun so I went and pulled him up on the stage and then up on a table.
George Plimpton had been struggling with the gun hand and I just wrenched it out of Sirhan’s hand and put it in my pocket. Later on Rafer Johnson asked me if I had it and I gave it to him. Rosey Grier, Kennedy’s friend & bodyguard
I knew immediately it was a .22, a small calibre, so I hoped it wouldn’t be so bad, but then I saw the hole in the Senator's head, and I knew. Agent William Barry
What follows is more than the story of a complex conspiracy. It is also a portrait of law enforcement at its worse. This crime was covered up more by the Los Angeles Police and District Attorney’s Office than by the conspirators. The trail of suppressed or destroyed evidence and intimidated witnesses is a long one. Philip H Melanson, The Robert F Kennedy Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Cover-Up
To date there have been four witnesses whose accounts seem credible to me, who have talked about seeing a man in plain clothes with a gun in the pantry. And three of those four witnesses allege that such a gun was fired in proximity to Kennedy. Dr Philip Melanson, RFK Assassination Archives
Here we have four shots in the centre of Kennedy’s clothing. Five other people got shot – that’s nine. Sirhan had an eight-shot revolver. Dr Robert Joling, forensic expert
The trajectory of the bullets would indicate that Senator Kennedy was shot from behind. Dr Robert Joling
I was standing behind Kennedy as he was taking his assigned route into the kitchen. A Caucasian gentleman stepped out and fired. The security guard hit Kennedy in all three times. So Kennedy slumped to the floor. And the security guard fired back. As I saw the man who had shot Kennedy in the leg before they could get him it looked like to me he shot a woman and he shot two other men. They then proceeded to carry Kennedy into the kitchen and I don’t know how his condition is now. Don Schulman, male witness
He shot, and just then the guard who was standing behind Kennedy took out his gun and he fired also. The next thing I knew is that Kennedy was shot three times. Don Schulman
I was in the pantryway following the senator ... We were packed in there like sardines. The lights and cameras and people and a lot of excitement ... Another man, I think it was the Maitra d’ walked up and took his hand. As we were slowly pushed forward, another man stepped out and he shot; just then the guard who was standing behind Kennedy took out his gun and he fired also. The next thing I knew is that Kennedy was shot three times ... He [Sirhan] was three to five feet. He [the assassin] was standing directly to the side and back of Kennedy. He was standing on the right-hand side. I told this story to several different people including several police authorities right after it happened. I insisted the Senator was shot three times ... I also told them the guard pulled out the gun ... But the things that I did see I’m sure about. And that is Kennedy being shot three times. The guard definitely pulled out his gun and fired. Don Schulman
The bullet which killed Kennedy it was an inch away from his head. This bullet didn’t come from Sirhan. Did not come from Sirhan because he never got that close. Karl Uecker, witness
Witnesses said they saw another gun. The police department never picked up the guard’s gun. Never picked up any other gun in that room that night. Paul Schrade, Kennedy staff member
As Sirhan Sirhan stepped out and fired at the Senator, the Senator as he was going down, I saw many guns being pulled out. And one gun was pulled out by a security guard and it was fired. And that’s what I saw. Male witness
Sirhan Sirhan was out of position and out of range and therefore could not have shot Kennedy. Lawrence Teeter, Sirhan’s lawyer