JFK assassination ‘magic bullet’ theory cast into doubt as ex-Secret service agent reveals new details

13 September 2023, 08:31

A former Secret Service agent who was metres away from John F Kennedy when he was assassinated in 1963 has cast doubt on the official findings.

Paul Landis, 88, who saw the assassination play out at close range, says in his upcoming memoir that he took a bullet from the car after Mr Kennedy was shot - and left it on his stretcher at hospital.

The unexpected development has been described as ‘the most significant news in the assassination since 1963.’

Mr Kennedy was shot in the head and neck while driving in a convertible through Dealy Plaza in Dallas.

Texas Governor John Connally Jr was hit in the back by one of the shots.

The official version of events in the Warren Commission report found that a single bullet hit Mr Kennedy, travelled through his body, and wounded Mr Connally - hitting both men in several places, which explains how one gunman carried out the attack.

This is known as the ‘single bullet’ or ‘magic bullet’ theory.

The commission partly relied on the fact that a bullet was later found on Mr Connally’s hospital stretcher. No-one knew where the bullet came from, but the commission later stated it became dislodged while doctors were treating the Governor.

Mr Landis’s disclosure is the first testimony of how the bullet came to be there - but casts doubt over the ‘magic bullet’ theory.

He said he picked up a near pristine bullet from the back seat of the limo, just behind where Mr Kennedy had been sitting, then took it to hospital - where he placed it on the president’s stretcher so it could be examined.

Mr Landis told the New York Times he believes the bullet may have fallen from the president’s stretcher, where he left it, to Connally’s when they were side-by-side in hospital.

“There was nobody there to secure the scene, and that was a big, big bother to me,” Mr Landis told the Times. “All the agents that were there were focused on the president.”

Mr Landis was not interviewed by the Warren Commission and it is the first time his account has been heard.

Mr Landis has questioned whether the single shooter theory was accurate - after many years of believing Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

“At this point, I’m beginning to doubt myself. Now I begin to wonder,” he said.

The bullet was matched to Oswald’s Mannlicher-Carcano rifle through ballistics testing.

His claims mean the bullet may not have caused Mr Connally’s injuries. Mr Landis said he believes the bullet did not have sufficient velocity to go through Mr Kennedy, let alone continue its improbable trajectory.

The suggestion that a sole gunman was responsible have been repeatedly challenged since the assassination - with multiple conspiracy theories circulating about who may have been involved and who could have been behind the hit.