What timeline and movements tied Oswald to both the Tippit shooting and the JFK assassination?
Executive summary
Lee Harvey Oswald is tied to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by a multi-part evidentiary chain placing him on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository at the time shots struck the presidential motorcade and linking the Mannlicher–Carcano rifle found among his possessions to wounds suffered by Kennedy and Governor Connally [1] [2]. Within roughly 45 minutes of the Dallas shooting Oswald is also tied to the murder of Patrolman J.D. Tippit by eyewitness identifications and the pistol found in his possession when he was arrested in the Texas Theatre [3] [2].
1. The Dealey Plaza shooting: where and when the shots were fired
Contemporary timelines and official inquiries place the three shots that struck the presidential party at about 12:30–12:31 p.m. CST on November 22, 1963, and conclude those shots came from a sixth‑floor window of the Texas School Book Depository, where Oswald was employed that morning [4] [1]. The Warren Commission and later summaries cite physical evidence — Oswald’s ownership of the Mannlicher–Carcano rifle, fibers and palmprints linking that rifle and the sixth‑floor shipping cartons, and the famous Zapruder film recording the sequence of shots — as the core of the case that the fatal shots originated from that location [1] [2].
2. Oswald’s immediate movements after the shooting, per the official record
According to official accounts, after the motorcade passed Oswald was seen on the sixth floor about 35 minutes before the shooting and was later observed leaving the Depository building; he carried a long package into work that morning and was seen by co‑workers during the day, all details the Warren Commission used to place him in the building and to account for the rifle among his possessions [1] [5]. Investigators record that Oswald left his job after the assassination, took a bus and taxi to his rooming house, and was later encountered on a Dallas street — movements that fit within the narrow window between the Dealey Plaza shooting and the Tippit killing [6] [2].
3. The Tippit shooting: time, place, witnesses and the pistol
Roughly 45 minutes after Kennedy was shot, Dallas Patrolman J.D. Tippit was killed in Oak Cliff at about 1:15 p.m.; multiple witnesses later identified the gunman as the man who matched the description being broadcast over police radio, and investigators tied the four spent cartridge cases at the scene to the .38 revolver found on Oswald shortly after his arrest [4] [2] [3]. The Warren Commission and later the House Select Committee treated Tippit’s murder as a pivotal link — what a Warren attorney called the “Rosetta Stone” — because Oswald was found shortly thereafter in possession of the weapon associated with Tippit’s killing [7] [1].
4. Arrest in the Texas Theatre and formal charges
Oswald was seized in the Texas Theatre about 30–35 minutes after the Tippit shooting after witnesses reported a suspicious man entering without paying; police found him shortly afterward and recovered the revolver that ballistic testing later linked to Tippit’s murder, leading to formal charges for Tippit’s killing and subsequent arraignment on the Kennedy murder charge [4] [2] [7]. Official timelines show Oswald’s arrest and interrogation unfolded through the night and into November 23, when he was formally arraigned on both counts [8] [6].
5. Forensic ties between the two crimes and investigative conclusions
Investigators linked Oswald to the JFK shooting through possession and purchase records for the Mannlicher–Carcano rifle, his palmprint on the rifle barrel and boxes from the sixth floor, photographic evidence, and fiber matches; the Select Committee and Warren Commission panels reported ballistic matches between cartridge cases at Tippit’s scene and the revolver found on Oswald, forming the chief forensic pillars connecting him to both murders [1] [2]. Those panels concluded Oswald acted alone in the assassination and that the same man was responsible for Tippit’s death, though later inquiries and critics have contested aspects of evidence and interpretation [5] [2].
6. Uncertainties, alternative readings and institutional caveats
Official findings remain contested: the House Select Committee on Assassinations later said there was a “high probability” of a conspiracy based on acoustic evidence, and researchers continue to debate timelines, witness reliability, and gaps in paperwork and radio logs — matters the sources note rather than resolve [9] [8]. Reporting and archival summaries used here document the movements, forensic links and arrest sequence that tie Oswald to both shootings, but they also acknowledge unresolved questions and the persistence of alternative scenarios that challenge aspects of the official narrative [1] [9].