Three evenly spaced shots, or "bang . . . . . . . . bang - bang"?

[Tom Graves]

Most earwitnesses heard three shots.

This does not preclude near-simultaneous shots heard by most witnesses as one shot, or the use of a silencer, meaning there were more than three shots.

Most witnesses place the second and third shots as close together.

Secret Service man Kellerman, in the JFK limo, said the the last two shots came in a "flurry" and Gov JBC, before the WC and the HSCA, said the shots arrived in the cab of the limo as if from an "automatic" rifle.

I thought JBC had meant a "semi-automatic," when he testified by the WC, but he repeated his word "automatic" before the HSCA. So JBC says the shots were fired so rapidly he suspected an automatic rifle.

Kellerman, Weitzman and JBC were all knowledgable about weapons and gunfire.

If witnesses didn't "register" the first (missing everything) shot at hypothetical Z-124 (half-a-second before Zapruder resumed filming at Z-133), but did "register" the second shot at approximately Z-222 and also heard the Z-313 shot and its shot-like echo, then it's understandable that they would mistakenly say the shots were "bang . . . . .  bang-bang."

[Benjamin Cole]

In his first statement, and most contemporaneous, Amos Euins said he thought the 11/22 shots had been fired so quickly he suspected an automatic rifle.

[Tom Graves]

In his first statement, and most contemporaneous, Amos Euins said he thought the 11/22 shots had been fired so quickly he suspected an automatic rifle.

Wowie zowie!

Case Closed!

(LOL)

[John Corbett]

In his first statement, and most contemporaneous, Amos Euins said he thought the 11/22 shots had been fired so quickly he suspected an automatic rifle.

JBC also said he thought the shots were so close together that he thought it might be an automatic rifle. If it were actually an automatic rifle, you wouldn't hear individual shots. Most automatic weapons fire at a rate of 10 rounds per second or faster. People often erroneously use the term automatic when speaking of semi-automatic weapons. When the trigger is pressed on a full-auto weapon, it will fire continuously until the trigger is released or the ammo is exhausted. A semi-auto uses the gasses from one shot to eject the empty shell and chamber the next round, just as a full auto does but it requires a second squeeze of the trigger to fire the next round. A semi-auto fires one and only one round for each squeeze of the trigger. A semi-auto can fire much more rapidly than a bolt action rifle or a lever gun and I'm sure JBC was referring to a semi-auto when he said he thought the shooter was firing an automatic weapon. As it turns out, he was wrong anyway.