The Tippit Shooting At 1:15-1:16, FACT

[Michael T. Griffith]

[SNIP]
Since we know that Mary Wright, Barbara Davis and L.J. Lewis called the police immediately... and we know that Murray Jackson (the dispatcher) was unaware of the shooting until 1:17, it becomes painfully obvious that Wright, Davis and Lewis phoned in the shooting at a point in time just before the "citizen using the police radio" alerted Jackson. If these three witnesses had phoned in the shooting much earlier, then Jackson would have been already made aware of the shooting by the time Bowley reported it at 1:17 and would have put an all-points bulletin. No all-points bulletin was put out by dispatch until AFTER dispatch (Jackson) was alerted at 1:17 by Bowley using the patrol car radio.

Once a citizen picks up the telephone to call the police to report a shooting, how long does it take for that information to reach the police dispatcher? The citizen picks up the phone and dials zero to reach the operator. The operator answers and the citizen asks to be transferred to the police department to report a shooting. The citizen is transferred to the police department. The person on duty answering the phone at the police station asks the citizen for the information of what occurred and where. The citizen quickly explains that someone has been shot on Tenth Street in Oak Cliff. The phone operator at the police department then writes down the information onto a slip and sends it down a conveyor belt, if you will, straight to the police dispatcher. Once he receives the slip, the dispatcher (in this case, Murray Jackson) puts out the information over the air waves to all patrol cars in Dallas. The entire process from the time Wright, Davis and Lewis make their phone call to the time Jackson receives the information would take 60 to 90 seconds at the most. This means that by the time Bowley alerts Jackson at 1:17 that there was a shooting of an officer on Tenth Street and Jackson was unaware until that moment, combined with how long it would take the information from Mary Wright's phone call to reach Jackson (60 to 90 seconds), and Wright called immediately after hearing the shots, that the shooting occurred at 1:15-1:16.

The bottom line is that Jackson doesn't know Tippit was shot until 1:17, yet Wright, Davis and Lewis called the police immediately after the shots. Translation... Wright, Davis and Lewis called the police around 1:16. If they had called any earlier, then Jackson would have already known about the shooting by the time Bowley reported it to Jackson at 1:17.

Ted Callaway testified that after hearing the five gun shots, he ran out to the sidewalk on Patton. This was a little over a half block south of the shooting scene. Callaway saw a man (who he later identified as Oswald) cutting across Patton as he (Oswald) made his way south on Patton (towards Callaway's position). Callaway hollered out to the man as the man continued south on Patton past Callaway's position. Callaway testified that the man was running and holding a gun. Callaway saw the man head west on Jefferson (the same direction as the theater).

Once the man turned west onto Jefferson, Callaway ran a "good hard run" up to the corner of Tenth and Patton. Callaway, noticing the stopped patrol car, went to the car and saw the officer (Tippit) lying dead in the street. Callaway said the first thing he did was to grab the police car radio and report the shooting. He said he didn't know if anyone had reported it yet, so he decided to report it himself.

To recap, Callaway hears the shots. Runs to the sidewalk. Sees the gunman run south on Patton the entire block from Tenth to Jefferson. Runs the two-thirds of a block up to the shooting scene. Goes over to the police car and the first thing he does is grab the radio and report the shooting to the police dispatcher.

How much time do you believe passed from the time Callaway heard the shots to the time he reported the shooting on the police radio?

Let's say two minutes pass from the time Oswald shoots Tippit to the time Oswald turns the corner from Patton onto Jefferson. This is a little over one block and Oswald was running.

Let's say it takes Callaway one minute when he made the "good hard run" the two-thirds of a block from his location to the patrol car.

If these two time estimates are anywhere close to being correct, then Callaway is at the patrol car roughly three minutes after the shots rang out. Let's add another full minute for error. So we have Callaway at the patrol car using the police radio about four minutes after the shots rang out.

Here's the thing... Callaway's report to the dispatcher while using the patrol car radio took place at 1:19/1:20.

Do the math and work it backwards. At 1:19/1:20, Callaway makes the call. If four minutes have passed (and that's being generous, in my opinion) since the shots rang out, then the shots rang out around 1:15.

T.F. Bowley tells us that he arrived on the scene, parked, walked up to Tippit's body and noticed immediately that there was nothing he could do for the fallen officer. Bowley then took the police radio mic from Domingo Benavides and reported the shooting to dispatcher Murray Jackson. Bowley's report to Jackson took place at 1:17.

All of this matter-of-factly puts the Tippit shooting between 1:15 and 1:16. Oswald indeed had time to arrive at Tenth & Patton by then (even earlier, really).

Humm, well, the previous supposedly definitive analysis of the timing of the Tippit shooting, i.e., Dale Myers' "stop-watch" analysis in his book With Malice, says that Oswald did not have time to walk to 10th and Patton in time to shoot Tippit and theorizes that Oswald got a ride from an unknown person. Myers says Tippit was shot at 1:14:30, but you say he was shot between 1:15 and 1:16.

Is there a reason you failed to mention that T. F. Bowley said he arrived at the Tippit scene at 1:10 and that he knew this because he checked his watch when he got there? That's an important fact to omit, wouldn't you say?

Is there a reason you failed to mention that Helen Markham said she got to the Tippit scene no later than 1:08 and that Tippit had already been shot when she arrived? This is why she was certain Tippit was shot at 1:06 or 1:07. Markham said she always left her apartment at 1:00 to catch her regular 1:12-1:15 bus. She said she glanced at the laundry room clock after she left her apartment and that it read 1:04. She said it took her about two minutes to reach 10th and Patton.

Is there a reason you failed to mention that Domingo Benavides said that he did not try to use the police car's radio until "a few minutes" after Tippit had been shot because he was (quite understandably) afraid for his life?

You guys claim that Benavides waited in his truck for only a matter of seconds and not for a few minutes. But this flies in the face of common sense and ignores what Benavides himself initially said. If you were only 25-50 feet away from a shooting and feared you could be the next target, how long would you wait until coming out into the open? Nobody in their right mind would have come out of hiding so quickly in that situation.

Benavides told the WC he waited in his truck for "a few minutes" after he heard the shots and before he tried to use the police car's radio. Moreover, according to fellow witness Ted Calloway, Benavides told him the day after the shooting that

When I heard that shooting, I fell down into the floorboard of my truck and I stayed there. It scared me to death.

Years later, Benavides changed his story and told CBS he only waited a few seconds, not a few minutes. Predictably, you guys choose to accept Benavides' belated change of story and reject his original statements.

Two witnesses at the Texas Theatre, Butch Borroughs and Jack Davis, independently said that Oswald entered the theater before 1:10, and that he remained in the theater until he was arrested.

You place great emphasis on the police dispatch transcripts, but even Dr. Paul Hoch, one of the most careful scholars in the JFKA research community, acknowledged there is evidence the police dispatch tapes were edited, which renders the transcripts useless for determining when Tippit was shot. BTW, Dr. Hoch doubted the authenticity of the transmissions that supposedly explain why Tippit was in Oak Cliff in the first place, far out of his area.

I discuss Dr. Hoch's research at length in my article "Did Oswald Shoot Tippit?," available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_j_022lJYli3B5Xyw8wLs-0nl6mDLo2t/view.

[John Corbett]

I never cease to be amazed at the mental hoops people are willing to go through to convince themselves Oswald did not kill Tippit. No amount of evidence is ever going to be enough to convince them that Oswald killed JFK and JDT. They will simply deny, deny, deny.

The funny part is they tell us they are on a mission to find the truth.

[Martin Weidmann]

Much is made of the 1:10 time Bowley noted in his statement. As far as I know, his watch was never checked against a standard clock. He reported picking up his daughter from R.L. Thornton Elementary School at 12:55 PM, presumably based on his watch. He reports turning on to 10th St. from Marsalis. If he took Marsalis from the school, it would take about 18 minutes, perhaps longer depending on how many stop lights he hit. His watch being only a minute or two slow would then show close agreement with Myer’s time of 14:30.

It’s also possible Bowley was scheduled to pick up his daughter at 1:00 PM. Arriving a few minutes early based on his slower watch, he found his daughter waiting outside. His daughter was still alive as of a few years ago as her husband mentioned his wife’s connection to the Tippit shooting. I asked him to as his wife about this but he never responded.

 it would take about 18 minutes

No. Years ago I drove the exact route several times in light and heavy traffic and the average time was 13 minutes.

But even if it was 18 minutes, that would still get him to 10th street at 1:13, at a time that the shooting had already taken place.

[Martin Weidmann]

Humm, well, the previous supposedly definitive analysis of the timing of the Tippit shooting, i.e., Dale Myers' "stop-watch" analysis in his book With Malice, says that Oswald did not have time to walk to 10th and Patton in time to shoot Tippit and theorizes that Oswald got a ride from an unknown person. Myers says Tippit was shot at 1:14:30, but you say he was shot between 1:15 and 1:16.

Is there a reason you failed to mention that T. F. Bowley said he arrived at the Tippit scene at 1:10 and that he knew this because he checked his watch when he got there? That's an important fact to omit, wouldn't you say?

Is there a reason you failed to mention that Helen Markham said she got to the Tippit scene no later than 1:08 and that Tippit had already been shot when she arrived? This is why she was certain Tippit was shot at 1:06 or 1:07. Markham said she always left her apartment at 1:00 to catch her regular 1:12-1:15 bus. She said she glanced at the laundry room clock after she left her apartment and that it read 1:04. She said it took her about two minutes to reach 10th and Patton.

Is there a reason you failed to mention that Domingo Benavides said that he did not try to use the police car's radio until "a few minutes" after Tippit had been shot because he was (quite understandably) afraid for his life?

You guys claim that Benavides waited in his truck for only a matter of seconds and not for a few minutes. But this flies in the face of common sense and ignores what Benavides himself initially said. If you were only 25-50 feet away from a shooting and feared you could be the next target, how long would you wait until coming out into the open? Nobody in their right mind would have come out of hiding so quickly in that situation.

Benavides told the WC he waited in his truck for "a few minutes" after he heard the shots and before he tried to use the police car's radio. Moreover, according to fellow witness Ted Calloway, Benavides told him the day after the shooting that

When I heard that shooting, I fell down into the floorboard of my truck and I stayed there. It scared me to death.

Years later, Benavides changed his story and told CBS he only waited a few seconds, not a few minutes. Predictably, you guys choose to accept Benavides' belated change of story and reject his original statements.

Two witnesses at the Texas Theatre, Butch Borroughs and Jack Davis, independently said that Oswald entered the theater before 1:10, and that he remained in the theater until he was arrested.

You place great emphasis on the police dispatch transcripts, but even Dr. Paul Hoch, one of the most careful scholars in the JFKA research community, acknowledged there is evidence the police dispatch tapes were edited, which renders the transcripts useless for determining when Tippit was shot. BTW, Dr. Hoch doubted the authenticity of the transmissions that supposedly explain why Tippit was in Oak Cliff in the first place, far out of his area.

I discuss Dr. Hoch's research at length in my article "Did Oswald Shoot Tippit?," available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_j_022lJYli3B5Xyw8wLs-0nl6mDLo2t/view.

Is there a reason you failed to mention that Helen Markham said she got to the Tippit scene no later than 1:08 and that Tippit had already been shot when she arrived? This is why she was certain Tippit was shot at 1:06 or 1:07.

I don't think this is correct. When Markham arrived at the corner of 10th street and Patton she stopped to let a police car pass by. She then saw the officer call over his killer to the car window and had a conversation with him.
So, Tippit was not killed before Markham's arrival at the scene.

Is there a reason you failed to mention that Domingo Benavides said that he did not try to use the police car's radio until "a few minutes" after Tippit had been shot because he was (quite understandably) afraid for his life?

You guys claim that Benavides waited in his truck for only a matter of seconds and not for a few minutes. But this flies in the face of common sense and ignores what Benavides himself initially said. If you were only 25-50 feet away from a shooting and feared you could be the next target, how long would you wait until coming out into the open? Nobody in their right mind would have come out of hiding so quickly in that situation.

Benavides did indeed say he waited "a few minutes" but that can't be right, for one simple reason. Callaway, who wasn't far from the scene of the shooting, testified that he heard the shots and after watching the suspect come down the street ran to 10th street. The distance he needed to cover would have taken him approx a minute. So, if Benavides did indeed stay in his car for a few minutes, Callaway would have arrived at the scene before Benavides was able to get to the police car to use the radio.

[Lance Payette]

Is it relevant that we have about ten clocks in our house, at least half of which are digital, and my wife and I go practically nuts trying to keep them within 10 minutes of each other for three weeks at a stretch? (To be honest, we've simply given up. Knowing that it's "roughly ten o'clock" is good enough.) Or that I have three watches, two of which are digital and one of which is connected to GPS, that likewise never agree? It's interesting to me, but perhaps to no one else, how often these "JFKA mysteries" seem to have folksy little real-world explanations. I've mentioned previously that the location of my house is an uncanny approximation of Dealey Plaza, and I can't tell you how many times I've been sure that sounds were coming from the "Grassy Knoll" when they in fact were coming from the "TSBD."

[Martin Weidmann]

Is it relevant that we have about ten clocks in our house, at least half of which are digital, and my wife and I go practically nuts trying to keep them within 10 minutes of each other for three weeks at a stretch? (To be honest, we've simply given up. Knowing that it's "roughly ten o'clock" is good enough.) Or that I have three watches, two of which are digital and one of which is connected to GPS, that likewise never agree? It's interesting to me, but perhaps to no one else, how often these "JFKA mysteries" seem to have folksy little real-world explanations. I've mentioned previously that the location of my house is an uncanny approximation of Dealey Plaza, and I can't tell you how many times I've been sure that sounds were coming from the "Grassy Knoll" when they in fact were coming from the "TSBD."

Is it relevant that we have about ten clocks in our house, at least half of which are digital, and my wife and I go practically nuts trying to keep them within 10 minutes of each other for three weeks at a stretch?

Agreed, but let's apply this to the clocks in 1963. The LNs constantly claim that it was impossible for time stamps called out by the DPD operators to be six minutes of.

J.C. Bowles, who was in charge of the DPD dispatchers, said that a master clock on the telephone room's wall was connected to the City Hall system and reported "official time" (whatever that means). In the dispatcher's office there were numerous other clocks that were not synchronized. He also stated that the Simplex clocks frequently indicated an incorrect time, which wasn't a big problem as the main purpose was to stamp the day, date and time on incoming calls. I understand this to mean that, under normal circumstances, nobody would care if an incoming call at 10:10 (real time) would be time stamped at 10:12. Bowles continued to say that clocks could be "a minute or so" out of synchronization and that the normal procedure was to make the needed adjustments, although this was no readily done during busy periods. And finally, Bowles stated that radio operators were using digital clocks that were not synchronized with any time standard and that a dispatched could delay calling a time stamp when there was heavy radio communication. His words were: "the time "actual" and time "broadcast" could easily be a minute or so apart.

With all this in mind, if we are doubtful about the times given by Markham and Bowley, shouldn't we also question the accuracy of the DPD radio time stamps?

[Lance Payette]

With all this in mind, if we are doubtful about the times given by Markham and Bowley, shouldn't we also question the accuracy of the DPD radio time stamps?

Well, sure. The whole "time thing" seems to me like a quest for certainty that just isn't possible.