Was Hickey's AR15 in burst mode?

[John Iacoletti]

“mountain of evidence”. LOL.
“Oswald's rifle”.  LOL.
“pictured holding the rifle”.  LOL.
“His prints are on it”.  LOL
“sent to his PO Box”. LOL.

[Chris Davidson]

The Hickey rise stuff & the head height stuff is dealt with in my Bronson thread. https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2836.40.html
Here is some of my #46 wordage & a pix from that thread… (see also my #26 & #39 from that Bronson thread).
………….Here is a side view of Queen Mary showing heights of Hickey's head & possible pozzy of AR15. Head is say 10" high. The AR15 was 39" long -- thats huge. Kinney the driver & Roberts in passenger seat would have got a fright. Powers & O'Donnell in jump seats not so much -- even if the muzzle was much further back than my estimate of 28"……


Hickey did not have to rise any higher at all, ie from his normal half sitting half standing perch hi up on 2 leather cases on the back seat – but in that case he would have had to lift the AR15 up to his chin (for the AR15 to fire over the windshield of Queen Mary). Why are u fixated with the AR15 having to be in Hickey's armpit? If it was in Hickey's armpit then he would have to be fully erect (84") for the AR15 to see JFK.
But Bronson frame B07 (see #26 of the Bronson thread) shows Hickey a half head (5") higher than when in his sitting pozzy (sitting ht is 71" above the road)(a half head higher is 76" above the road)(top of McIntyre's head is 81" above the road)(Hickey if fully erect would be 84" above road)(windshield is 60" above road)(JFK inshoot is say 7.5" below the 60" windshield)(muzzle of AR15 needs to be say 1" above windshield)(but if Queen Mary brakes with the wt of 9 guys & the front dips then that there 1" might come down to 0").

Because you supplied the armpit graphics:
https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2836.msg142094.html#msg142094
And then followed up with the (abbreviated) same supporting action:

So, if Hickey didn't rise up from his seated position and still shot JFK in the head, please show us (just like the animation does) how he raised and reoriented the rifle in relationship to his body, just before the headshot was fired?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Because you supplied the armpit graphics:
https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2836.msg142094.html#msg142094
And then followed up with the (abbreviated) same supporting action:

So, if Hickey didn't rise up from his seated position and still shot JFK in the head, please show us (just like the animation does) how he raised and reoriented the rifle in relationship to his body, just before the headshot was fired?

The animation has some mistakes…..
1.  Hickey already has the AR15 in his right hand – in reality he had to grab it offa the floor.
2.  Hickey holds the AR15 in one hand at all times – i reckon that he used both hands most of the time.
3.  Hickey has his left hand on the car the whole time – i reckon that he shimmyed across & held the AR15 near the centerline of Queen Mary.
4.  His single shot had to pass either through the vizor on Queen Mary or over it – No & No.
5.  Hickey is shown firing one shot – i reckon that he fired at least 4 shots.
6.  Hickey is shown rising from a hi sitting pozzy – that’s ok, but in reality we know he was sitting even higher than in the animation.
7.  Hickey is shown rising up to an almost erect stance – in reality it was impossible to stand behind the jump seat, there was only 3" of daylite between the front of the rear seat & the back of the top of the jumpseat.
8.  U say that the animation shows Hickey with AR15 under armpit – when i look i see that the AR15 is almost shouldered.
9.  Hickey fired koz he fell forward when Queen Mary braked – the animation duznt show any falling forward.
10.  Hickey after the shots then fell backwards back to his hi perch – the animation duznt show that.

I said that Hickey rose a half head (as per Bronson footage) at at least B07 (& possibly in other frames, which are too blurry to tell) which is at Z312.

I describe a possible scenario for Hickey grabbing his AR15 in #48 of the following posting in the Bronson thread (see link) which i repeat below.
https://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/index.php/topic,2836.48.html
My #44 answers your #43 -- but i now add the following.
In my below drawing on the side-photo of Queen Mary…..
…..If Hickey was as per his standard height (green ellipse shows his head) then he would have to hold the AR15 at almost chin height to do the dirt deed.
…..If Hickey's was half way up to being fully erect (blue ellipse shows head height but not necessarily pozzy) then he would have to hold the AR15 say 1" above chest height.
…..If Hickey were fully erect (red ellipse) then he would have to hold the AR15 say 4"  below chest height.
Now, the (poor 2017 museum copy of the) Bronson footage shows us that at B07 (which is equivalent to Z312)(the time of the headshot) Hickey was indeed at that frame half erect (height = blue ellipse).
And, we can't see (too blurry) whether Hickey was ever higher than the blue ellipse – he might have been (his auto burst must have started a say half second before Z313, ie at say Z304 or earlier).
The AR15 was laying somewhere on the floor – Hickey grabbed it & lifted it up with difficulty in the small space between his feet & the back of O'Donnell's jump seat – probly pointed down a bit – then he lifted it above O'Donnell's head & swung it around from pointing left to pointing right – while shimmying to Hickey's right so that he could get his legs out of the cramped space behind O'Donnel's seat (there was 3" of air between the front of Hickey's seat & the back of the top of O'Donnell's seat)(it was impossible to stand unless Hickey bent forward at say 45 deg while jamming his crutch forcefully into the back of O'Donnell's head)(so, Hickey had to shimmy to the center of Queen Mary).
Hickey would have intended to swing around to the rear towards the TSBD – but he didn’t get that far – Kinney braked Queen Mary & Hickey lurched forward onto O'Donnell (there was one witness) -- & Hickey accidentally squeezed the trigger (he should not have put his finger on the trigger until he had a definite target)(this was Hickey's first day with the AR15)(the AR15 was on SAFETY & cocked & loaded)(according to SSA Floyd Boring & according to SSA Kellerman)(Hickey flicked the selector back past SEMI all the way to AUTO while he was lifting it).
The first shot of the accidental auto burst (of at least 4 shots) went over the windshield of the JFK limo – this or a later shot resulted in Tague's bloody left cheek. The AR15 swung downwards as Hickey fell – an AR15 usually naturally swings up during a burst, but the up was trumped by the down.
The 2nd last shot of the burst passed over the windshield of Queen Mary & under the divider/rollbar of the JFK limo, & made a huge dent in the chrome trim above & just right of the rear vision mirror – it must have been a hollow-point koz a sharp nosed slug would have made a hole.
The last shot of the burst hit JFK in the head, & the remnant slug veered 6 deg & cracked the windshield – the remnant slug must have then bounced out onto the street without hitting anyone.
Hickey then fell backward back onto the 2 leather cases – his standard half sitting half standing pozzy (a few witnesses)(& as seen in the Bronson footage).
While lifting & swinging he could have had the AR15 under his armpit (as u insist) -- or more likely the AR15 was out in front of him & a little higher than his armpit (my reckoning) – bearing in mind that he had to lift the AR15 well up over O'Donnell's head to swing around (so, no, the AR15 was not in Hickey's armpit)(it was out front, & high up).
Re your linked footage – the shooter duznt ever place his AR15 anywhere near his armpit – this duznt help your argument – why did u include that link?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

The Texas Monthly November 1998 magazine -- The Witnesses -- What they saw then -- Who they are now -- By Joe Nick Patoski ------- Rosemary Willis Roach  Amarillo -- Then Fifth grader, Lakewood Elementary School -- Now Works for an Amarillo telecommunications company.  https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-witnesses/
“As the motorcade made the turn from Houston to Elm Street, they’d just gone a few feet when the first shot rang out. I didn’t know what it was, but I was looking for what I heard. And the pigeons immediately ascended off that roof of the school book depository building—that’s what caught my eye. The second shot that I heard came from behind my right shoulder. By that time the limousine had already moved farther down. And the next one, right after that, still came from the right but not from as far back—it was up some. Still behind me, but not as far back as the other one. And the next one that came was from the grassy knoll, and I saw the smoke coming through the trees, into the air, and fragments of his head ascended into the air, and from my vision, focal point, the smoke and the fragments, you know, everything met. I mean, there’s no question in my mind what I saw or what I heard.”

Rosemary's story duznt exaktly line up with Hickey's auto burst. My drawing shows that….
1.  Hickey's autoburst would have (should have) seemed to have come from near the triple underpass or low down on the grassy knoll rather than "from the grassy knoll".  And the autoburst would not have seemed to come from the fence -- however the echo would of course come from the picket fence & concrete wall & concrete shelter -- &, with the AR15 pointing away from Rosemary, it makes sense that she heard the echo moreso than the autoburst itself.
2.  The JFK fragments & the Hickey smoke could not have lined up (as seen by Rosemary).  As can be seen in my drawing, JFK must have been well left of the smoke, especially as the wind would have been pushing the smoke away from JFK. 
3.  And, as can be seen in my drawing, the (a) fragments & the (b) smoke & (c) the direction of the (echo of the) shot should not have lined up with the (d) grassy knoll (Rosemary infers that all 4 lined up).
4.  As the seconds passed, the smoke would have drifted towards Rosemary, hence the cloud of smoke is unlikely to have later appeared to be hovering over or near the trees (she said through the trees) or near the fence.

My drawing shows the JFK limo & Queen Mary at Z313 the time of the headshot.  The smoke from the autoburst would have started at say Z300.  I show a trail of smoke about 25' long.  Its difficult to know how much wind there was at Queen Mary – the triple underpass might have blocked the wind – which would have resulted in a gusty wind, sometimes zero & sometimes strong -- & the windshield would have blocked the  wind, resulting in an additional gust factor.

In the Bell footage we see that, 8 seconds after Z313, SSA Landis has his open jacket severely inverted by the wind, & he takes a long time & long struggle to get his jacket back in place – hence the gusts must have been very strong. Actually, by that time, Queen Mary would have been speeding, hence that "gust" might have been mainly due to speed.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Hickey had to lift the AR15 high enuff to swing it well over O'Donnell's head to Hickey's right to target the TSBD.
Hence the AR15 might well have been lifted to be at Hickey's chin height or higher, ie even if Hickey did not rise up from his half sitting half standing pozzy on the rear seat (but we know from the Bronson B07 that Hickey did rise a half head in B07).

Yes, Hickey accidentally shot JFK. It was rotten luck – he was just doing his job.
Why is O'Donnell gripping the grip on the front seat – this Willis pix was at Z202 – praps O'Donnell was still reacting to Oswald's shot-1 at Z113, back at the overhead signals -- & Oswald's shot-2 has yet to happen (at Z218).
O'Donnell's grip will tighten at Z218 -- & then he will yank the grip clear offa the seat at Z300 when Hickey starts his autoburst.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Rosemary Willis said that the JFK limo had gone just a few feet along Elm St when the first shot rang out – this supports the theory that Oswald's shot-1 ricocheted offa the overhead signal arm at say pseudo Z113.
But, the main thing i wanted to say is that Oswald's shot-1 was pointed as per the orange line in my drawing, & would have hit the tarmac at the orange star if it hadnt hit the signals.
Which as can be seen means that Oswald's Carcano was aimed directly at Rosemary where she stopped running (directly in the horizontal but not in the vertical).  She would have gotten an earful of direct blast & of echo blast.  No wonder that she stopped running.  Just saying.
I noticed that Rosemary was actually standing at about the blue star, not the red star.  But this error duznt much affect my comments in my previous posting.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

I have been saying that the AR15 accidentally fired when Hickey fell forward when Kinney braked.  But, i wish to point out that if Hickey lifted the AR15 high up over O'Donnell's head, ie possibly higher than Hickey's chin, ie to above the level of the red line showing the needed trajekt, then, in the process of lifting the AR15 on that awkward kind of angle/grip, Hickey might have accidentally sqeezed the trigger, in which case the accidental sqeez might not have relied on Hickey falling forward -- Hickey might have fallen forward (as per one witness)(& then fallen backwards as per several witnesses), but that fall might not have been an essential ingredient in the accidental autoburst -- simply lifting the AR15 might have done the trick.  Just saying.