Was Hickey's AR15 in burst mode?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Gayle Newman said that she reckoned that the sound of the shot at Z313 was directly behind her. As shown in my drawing Gayle would have been near the focus of the echo of Hickey's autoburst offa all of the concrete.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

We can add Bill Newman to the list of witnesses who mentioned Hickey holding his AR15 before Z313 (the headshot).
This is a first for any forum – Bill has never been mentioned as an AR15 witness, until today.

https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/4645/bill-and-gayle-newman-oral-history?ctx=0c14edb6454afadd18c00ec3ac9d147091716531&idx=1

[18:20][Bill Newman]
………. Well i want to tell u a little trivia if i may…. i recall seeing people with what i want to call a Thompson sub machine gun…. or some type of a rifle about so long [shows about 3ft]…. & it  seemed like it came from the car that was following…. it seemed like they reached behind like the cab of the ? convertible…. u know, they reached into there & came out with a weapon & ran up the grassy knoll…. U FEEL U SAW THIS?.... yes…. but nowhere has this been proved that i'm aware of…. but i had.. i told this to people…. & its been said that the secret service didn’t leave the car…. so maybe it was some other branch of law enforcement…. but i recall what i think…. was about 30yrs ago…. but i recall seeing someone run up the u know with firearms & not a pistol…. something other than a pistol…………….
Bill then mentions the JFK limo slowing… & then mentions a SSA climbing aboard the JFK limo…. & the JFK limo accelerating away.

Bill Newman has clearly erred re a SSA or two running up to the grassy knoll with a machine gun.
But the main thing arising from his wordage is that at least one SSA in Queen Mary picked up a machine gun or similar.
And, clearly, he infers that this picking up of a machine gun happened early on in the saga.  This makes sense. Early on, Bill would be able to see the JFK limo & Queen Mary both approaching – whereas at about Z313 Bill would be looking at JFK, hence Queen Mary (the followup car) & Hickey would be out of his view (ie too far left) -- & after Z313 the JFK limo accelerates ahead leaving Queen Mary momentarily a long long way behind (the Bell film shows Queen Mary  3 lengths behind ie 62ft behind at Z419 which is 5.8 seconds after Z313), so, once again, Bill would not notice Hickey for the first few seconds after Z313 while Bill was focused on JFK, koz Queen Mary is being left well behind.

Bill says that nowhere has this been proved.
Here he probably means that there has been no official mention of a machine gun or machine guns on the grassy knoll.
However, we all know that the existence of or the picking up of an AR15 (or machine gun)(or rifle) by Hickey (or others) was mentioned by a number of witnesses in a number of official sources in November 1963 & in later years.

And we all know that Hickey picked up his AR15 before Z313 koz we all know that SSA Bennett said that after Oswald's shot (this would be Oswald's shot-2 at Z218) Bennett grabbed for the AR15 on the floor & it was not there. 
Anyhow, now we have Bill Newman confirming Bennett's statement re the timing of Hickey picking up his AR15 before Z313 (apart from all of the other such confirmations by others).

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Here are 2 gifs of the Bell footage that i made in Jan 2023.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Mr. DULLES. Could you see the President’s car when you looked back?
Mr. LAWSON. Not that first time. As I looked back I looked right straight and saw the grassy median. Then the second and third shots, reports, I noticed the President’s car back there, but I also noticed right after the reports an agent standing up with an automatic weapon in his hand, and the first thing that flashed through my mind, this was the only weapon I had seen, was that he had fired because this was the only weapon I had seen up to that time.

SSA Lawson's WC testimony is interesting. He said that an agent (Hickey) was standing & holding the AR15.
My gif of Hickey shows Hickey sitting hi up (on 2 leather cases), holding the AR15, not standing. So, Lawson must have seen Hickey standing well before my gif starts.
We know that Hickey stood up at about Z300, & fell forward when Queen Mary braked, & accidentally squeezed the trigger, firing an autoburst of at least 4 shots, the last being at Z312 (which hit JFK in the head), & then fell back onto his hi-seat (2 leather cases, a small one on a large one, placed on the seat)

Lawson could not have seen the AR15 in Hickey's hands during my gif (of Bell's frames), koz Hickey is too low, or at least the AR15 is too low, ie it is obscured by the windshield & the upturned vizors & the passengers.
In the first frame of my gif we see Hickey already turned to his right, or a bit past right, ie about 110 deg.
And, during my gif, Hickey gradually turns further right, ie further away from Lawson (who is in the right front passenger seat of the lead car which is almost stopped under the TUP).

But, the above duznt make much sense.
If Lawson saw Hickey standing, then Lawson would have seen Hickey falling & shooting.
But praps Hickey stood up again, & then sat down again, just before my gif starts.
I wont get much sleep tonite.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

A close up of my Bell gif of Hickey & AR15 -- & a faster version.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Here is my latest drawing of the Z313 AR15 shot cracking the windshield.
As shown Hickey's shot was at 4 deg relative to Elm St (Elm St is shown level in the drawing for simplicity)(the grade of Elms St was actually about 3.3 deg [needs checking]). The (small hollow point)(ie what was left of it) slug veered in JFK's head & cracked the windshield.
As shown Oswald's fake shot-3 (Oswald fired only 2 shots) would have been at 12 deg relative to Elm St.  The large remnant FMJ slug would have to have veered a long way to crack the windshield (ie impossible) -- & the large (tumbling) slug would have made a giant hole through the windshield (but there was no hole)(just a crack).

............................ SSA Landis saw the cracked windshield....... quote below is from his book........... a small crack, not a hole ........
I heard ATSAIC Roberts and ASAIC Kellerman discussing assignments. It was imperative now to protect Vice President
Johnson, even though he had his own security team. Roberts was sending SA Ready and the rest of his shift to cover Vice President and Mrs. Johnson. I knew these instructions did not include me. My place was with the First Lady. Without hesitation, I continued to run around the rear of the follow-up car and raced to the president’s limo. Clint had already slid off the trunk of SS-100-X and had gone around to the right side of the limo to assist with the removal of President Kennedy’s body.

When I reached the car, Mrs. Kennedy was seated sideways with her back toward me and the left rear door. She was holding what was left of the president’s head in her lap, bending over trying to cover it. I reached over the side of the closed door, took her gently by the shoulders in an attempt to help her up. I said, “Come on, Mrs. Kennedy, let me help you.”

She wouldn’t budge. I couldn’t see her face, but I heard her say firmly, “No, I want to stay with him.” I let go. Realizing that I needed to do something different to get the First Lady to safety, I grabbed the door handle and yanked the door open.
Just then, Clint arrived and took over. He had come around from behind me and stepped inside the large backseat area ahead of me, past Mrs. Kennedy, closer to the president’s body. The situation was fluid-others were trying to remove the body.

I stepped into the limo behind Clint. I was scanning everything insight. The first thing I noticed was a small splintered crack in the front windshield. It was located to the left of the rearview mirror on the driver’s side. I immediately assumed that it had been made by a ricocheting bullet fragment. How on earth could a bullet fragment have flown up there without hitting someone? I wondered.

Looking up, I saw SA Win Lawson. He was running along the walkway coming toward us, pushing a gurney. He was followed by another person dressed in hospital garb who was also pushing a gurney. Two gurneys, why two gurneys?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

........................................From the other thread.....................................https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,3832.16.html

Stop the above youtube at 0:54.

    I'm not sure that the JFK Limo was partially traveling inside the Fast Lane vs being completely inside the Center Lane. Your video below shows the knockoff JFK Limo being entirely inside the Center Lane. Much like the SBT and the placement of Gov Connally's jump seat vs the position of JFK, you are doing likewise by moving the JFK Limo inside the Fast Lane vs SA Hickey's position inside the Queen Mary.

Yes, the problem of the AR15 is like the SBT. But, the SBT works (ie re line & angle), & the AR15 theory works (ie re line & angle).
U correctly mention that we dont know whether the jfklimo was completely inside the center lane. But this is not critical. If the jfklimo was half in the fast lane then this would only make a say 40 inch difference to the alignment of the limo center line where it meets Tague, ie the center line moves 40 inches to the left, ie a 40 inch offset, but is still parallel, ie the angle to Elm St duznt change in the 2 scenarios, ie if Queen Mary too was half in the fast lane.

Notice that in the above frame the jfklimo is say 20% in the fast lane. I forget where i got that frame. Its from one of the members here. But i painted the stars etc. It shows jfk sitting well right, but at Z312 jfk's head was lower & very near the center line of the limo (ie where the lowest star is drawn)(that star is supposed to show the inshoot)(the hollow star shows the position of the crack damage).

What duznt work is the theory that Oswald fired the headshot, ie from the sniper's nest. The angles are wrong (Donahue in Mortal Error).
And a Carcano FMJ duznt explode (Donahue in Mortal Error)(however soft point Carcano's were available)(& Oswald could have made his own Carcano hollow-point i suppose).

I cant remember whether the horizontal line & angle problem for the AR15 has been dealt with in much detail on this forum.
The vertical line & angle problem has been dealt with in this present thread & in a Bronson footage thread that i started a couple of years ago. https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2836.32.html

Donahue dealt with the vertical line & angle problem for the AR15 in Mortal Error. Not so much the horizontal line & angle problem i think.

Daniel R Roffe wrote a book......... JFK Motorcade: The Accidental Shooting Death of President John F Kennedy.
This deals mainly with the horizontal & vertical line & angle problem i think.
I could not find a used copy for sale on the internet, but would cost about $200.
And i could not find any info or drawings from the book.

As detailed in this thread, some or all of the AR15 shots had to pass throo the gap between the upturned vizors on Queen Mary.
And one or two might have had to pass throo the gap between the upturned vizors in the jfklimo.
All of the shots had to pass over the windshield of Queen Mary.
And the 2nd last shot which dented the chrome trim above the mirror in the jfklimo had to pass under the divider/roll-bar of the jfklimo. In the above frame the divider/roll-bar has been left out (because the frame originally  dealt with the SBT i suppose, it did not deal with the AR15).

And the remnant slug from the last shot, the head shot, had to veer 6 deg inside the head, & then crack the windshield.
6 deg is a big ask for a hollow point.
But it works, it has to work.
It was rotten luck, he was just doing his job.