What were Lee Harvey Oswald's movements in Dallas on November 22 1963 after 12:30 PM?
Executive summary
Lee Harvey Oswald is broadly reported to have fired the shots that struck President Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository at about 12:30 p.m.; within the hour he left the Depository, traveled across Dallas by bus and on foot toward a Greyhound terminal, hired a taxi, shot and killed Patrolman J. D. Tippit, and was arrested later that afternoon hiding in the Texas Theatre — events recorded by contemporaneous police reports, press coverage and later official inquiries [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. From the sixth floor to the street: the immediate aftermath of 12:30 p.m.
According to contemporary accounts and the Warren Commission’s reconstruction, the shots in Dealey Plaza occurred at about 12:30 p.m., and the Commission found evidence linking Oswald to a rifle and the sixth‑floor window of the Depository; roughly within 35 minutes the Commission placed Oswald on the sixth floor before the assassination and then described his movement offsite after the shooting [1] [2].
2. Bus, transfer and a short walk toward Greyhound
Multiple sources report that after the motorcade shots Oswald left the Depository area, took a city bus and — at about 12:44 p.m. in the commonly cited timeline — asked for a transfer, alighted, crossed in front of the bus and walked roughly three‑and‑a‑half blocks toward the Greyhound bus station in downtown Dallas [1] [3] [5].
3. Taxi, Tippit, and an escalating manhunt
Oswald is reported to have entered a taxi at the Greyhound station around 12:47 p.m., driven by William Whaley, whereupon he traveled through Oak Cliff; within about 45 minutes of the assassination Patrolman J. D. Tippit stopped a man who matched Oswald’s description and was fatally shot — an act that spurred the manhunt that culminated in Oswald’s capture [3] [6] [7].
4. Arrest at the Texas Theatre and custody in Dallas Police headquarters
After Tippit’s shooting, witnesses and police tracked a suspect to the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff where Oswald was apprehended later that afternoon; photographs and police records show him later at Dallas Police headquarters under escort, a conspicuous public custody that preceded his transfer and the televised hallway appearances before Jack Ruby killed him two days later [4] [8] [9].
5. Official findings and contested details
The Warren Commission concluded Oswald acted alone and tied physical evidence — palmprints, fibers and the paper bag associated with the rifle — to him and the Depository; later inquiries, including the House Select Committee on Assassinations, questioned aspects of the audio and suggested a “high probability” of more than one shooter based on a disputed police radio tape, while critics and alternative timelines contest timing and gaps in testimony, arguing inconsistencies in witness timing, transit speeds and security lapses [2] [7] [10].
6. Limits of the record and the persistent questions
The publicly available primary sources and major secondary summaries establish the broad outline — shooting at 12:30 p.m., departure from the Depository, bus and walk to Greyhound, taxi ride, Tippit shooting, theatre arrest and police custody — but disagreements remain over exact minute‑by‑minute timing, some witness recollections and later interpretive overlays; existing sources document the core movements but acknowledge disputed fragments that sustain ongoing debate [1] [2] [3] [10].