Bobby Kennedy is Assassinated in Los Angeles

photo Boris Yaro (c) L.A. Times

Shortly after midnight, on June 5th, 1968, Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot three times while walking through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

Moments after leaving the podium, where is primary victory in California was being celebrated, he was laying in pools of his own blood and quickly rush to the hospital.  After undergoing emergency surgeries, Kennedy died in the early morning hours of June 6th.

At the time of the shooting, Kennedy was greeting and shaking hands with kitchen staff.  According to eyewitness Paul Schrade (who was shot in the head during the attack), bright lights for cameras suddenly turned on at the moment when the shooting started.

“The TV lights went on. I got hit. I didn’t know I was hit. I was shaking violently, and I fell. Then Bob fell. I saw flashes and heard crackling. The crackling actually was all the other bullets being fired.”

Schrade and others believe that Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted for the shooting and is serving a life sentence behind bars, fired several shots while approaching Kennedy from the front, including the shot that bounced off his own skull, but that he did not fire the shots that killed Bobby Kennedy.   This allegation was also supported by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who has recently called for a reopening of the investigation into his father's death.

Sources:

"Who killed Bobby Kennedy? His son RFK Jr. doesn’t believe it was Sirhan Sirhan," by Tom Jackman, Washington Post (May 26th 2018)

Remembering 1968: Robert F. Kennedy, and a generation's loss.  Story produced by Jay Kernis.  CBS News.