The Walker shooting

Marina Oswald told the FBI in December 1963 that her husband came home late on 10 April and told her he had shot at General Walker. She testified: “He only told me he had shot at General Walker.” He said he was very sorry he had missed. When she asked why, he compared it to killing Hitler before the war. [1][2]

Inside a Russian book that Ruth Paine turned over on 2 December was an undated note in Russian, confirmed as Oswald’s handwriting, telling Marina what to do if he were caught. It includes: “If I am alive and taken prisoner, the city jail is located at the end of the bridge.” [1][2]

Among Oswald’s possessions were photographs of Walker’s house and the alley behind it, which the Commission dated to March. Marina repeated her account to the House committee in 1978. [1][3]

The bullet was badly mutilated. The FBI’s expert, Robert Frazier, could not reach a conclusion; he said it “could have been fired” from Oswald’s rifle. An Illinois state examiner, Joseph Nicol, found “a fair probability” it had. [1]

The House committee’s firearms panel found the bullet’s characteristics similar to those of Oswald’s rifle, and neutron activation analysis indicated it was probably a Mannlicher-Carcano bullet. The committee wrote that the evidence “strongly suggested that Oswald attempted to murder General Walker.” For the limits of that bullet-lead method, see the bullet-lead file. [2]

A 14-year-old neighbor said he saw two men drive away in separate cars right after the shot, and a friend of Walker’s had seen two men peering in windows two nights before. Nobody saw the shooter. The case went unsolved until Marina spoke on 3 December 1963. [1]

Oswald did not drive. Critics argue that if the boy was right, someone helped him. The Commission found no evidence of an accomplice and noted that Oswald told Marina he had hidden the rifle in some bushes or in the ground and come home on the bus. [1][2]