What is the timeline of Oswald's encounter with Dallas police at the Texas Theatre on November 22 1963?
Executive summary
Lee Harvey Oswald entered the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff on the afternoon of November 22, 1963, was identified by theater staff and patrons, a call went to Dallas police who converged on the building, and Oswald was taken into custody after a short struggle in the theater — an arrest documented in Dallas police reports and recounted by contemporaneous witnesses and later histories [1] [2] [3]. Contemporary schedules and museum archives confirm the theater was showing the film “War Is Hell” that day, and the arrest quickly became central to the city’s rapidly unfolding investigation into both President Kennedy’s assassination and the killing of Officer J. D. Tippit [4] [5] [6].
1. Arrival at the Texas Theatre and who saw him
Multiple eyewitness accounts and theater records place Oswald entering the Texas Theatre shortly after the Tippit shooting; theater manager Warren “Butch” Burroughs later recalled Oswald came in between about 1:00 and 1:07 p.m., and other witnesses say he slipped in without buying a ticket during the afternoon showing of “War Is Hell” [7] [4]. Several patrons and employees grew suspicious and reported a man matching descriptions connected to the Tippit murder, triggering calls to police; local histories summarize that someone notified theater staff and police within minutes of Oswald’s arrival [3] [8].
2. The call to police and the rapid police response
According to contemporary press and later timelines, an employee (often identified as Mrs. Postal in published timelines) informed Dallas police that a suspicious man was inside the theater, and patrol cars, detectives and sheriffs rapidly assembled and headed to the Texas Theatre when they believed Tippit’s killer might be inside [9] [10]. Police intelligence and arrest documentation filed the same weekend record officers responding to the theater and proceeding to locate and detain the suspect in the auditorium [2] [1].
3. The encounter inside the auditorium and the arrest
Multiple sources describe a brief physical confrontation in the theater: when officers entered the balcony area where Oswald was seated he reportedly resisted and was subdued after a short struggle before being handcuffed and led out [3] [11]. Police arrest paperwork and the Dallas department’s internal intelligence memorandum detail that Oswald was apprehended inside the auditorium on November 22 and subsequently identified in official reports as the suspect in both the Kennedy and Tippit killings [1] [2].
4. Evidence noted at the scene and immediate documentation
Photographs and police archival material include images of the shirt Oswald wore and the revolver found on him at the time of arrest; museum and archive collections preserve these items as exhibits tied to the Texas Theatre arrest and later investigations [5] [1]. Those documents were used in the Warren Commission and later agency files, and the arrest report entered Oswald into custody as the man suspected in both murders [1] [6].
5. Conflicting details, later retellings, and limits of the record
Contemporary and later retellings vary on precise minutes and dialogue — popular timelines give specific timestamps (for example, some reportage lists police notification around 1:40 p.m. and arrest about 1:55 p.m.), while eyewitness statements and managerial recollections offer somewhat earlier arrival windows and imprecise “within minutes” language [9] [7] [3]. Official Dallas police arrest forms and intelligence reports confirm the date and location but do not resolve every second-by-second discrepancy in public narratives, and available sources here do not provide a single authoritative digital second-by-second transcript [2] [1].
6. Immediate aftermath: custody and investigative follow-up
After being taken from the theater, Oswald was processed by Dallas homicide detectives and interrogated that evening; the arrest at the Texas Theatre became the hinge that moved Oswald from a local suspect to the central figure in federal and commission inquiries into the Kennedy assassination, as reflected in police archives and national archives referenced by museum collections [1] [6]. Subsequent histories and museum archives preserve photos and paperwork from those first hours that corroborate the basic sequence: arrival, identification, police intervention, brief struggle, arrest, and transfer into official custody [5] [2].