Which eyewitnesses testified that Lee Harvey Oswald was seen near the Tippit murder scene and what did each witness say?
Executive summary
Multiple sources report that several eyewitnesses placed a man later identified as Lee Harvey Oswald at or near the Tippit murder scene on November 22, 1963; key named witnesses include Helen Markham, William (or "Bill") Scoggins, Domingo Benavides and others who either saw the shooting or saw a fleeing gunman [1] [2] [3]. Coverage of exactly what each witness said varies across documents: Helen Markham gave the most detailed account of the confrontation and later identified Oswald in a lineup [4] [2], while Scoggins and other witnesses reported seeing the gunman run past with a pistol and later identified Oswald [3] [1] [5]. Available sources do not list verbatim testimony for every witness in one place; readers should note differences in emphasis across the Warren Commission, contemporary press, and later critics [6] [1] [7].
1. Helen Markham — the detailed onlooker who described the confrontation
Helen Markham is repeatedly cited as the principal eyewitness who described what happened between Officer J.D. Tippit and the man who approached his car: she said Tippit stopped and spoke to the man, that the man put his hands on the car and then shot Tippit, and she later identified Lee Harvey Oswald in a police lineup [4] [2]. The Warren Commission relied heavily on her account in reconstructing the sequence at 10th and Patton streets [4]. Some later accounts and critics note contradictions or suggest her identification may have been influenced by publicity, but the commission and many subsequent summaries treat her testimony as central [4] [1].
2. William (“Bill”) Scoggins — the cab driver who saw a running gunman
William Scoggins, a cab driver who was in the area, reported hearing shots, seeing Tippit fall, and seeing a young man carrying a pistol walk or run past his cab; Scoggins later identified Oswald in a police lineup as the man he saw traversing a lawn near the scene [3] [1]. Photographic archives and museum captions identify Scoggins in images of the crowd at the Tippit scene and emphasize his role as one of the witnesses who saw the killer flee [5].
3. Domingo Benavides — radio call and limited identification
Domingo Benavides is recorded as the citizen who tried to use Tippit’s police radio microphone to report the shooting and who was close to the scene; some summaries say Benavides later indicated he did not think he could identify the shooter [8] [4]. Sources show Benavides was among those who told police about the shooting and helped trigger the alert, but they also record his uncertainty about making a positive identification [4] [8].
4. Other witnesses who saw or heard the shooting, and those who saw a fleeing man
Authors and researchers count two witnesses who actually saw the shooting and several more who heard shots and reported seeing a man flee with a gun; many of those witnesses — including bystanders who later aided at the scene — contributed to the radio broadcast description that police circulated [7] [3]. The Warren Commission listed several people who placed Oswald running between the Tippit scene and the Texas Theatre, and it used a combination of these eyewitness statements along with physical evidence to conclude Oswald was the killer [6] [1].
5. Points of agreement and points of dispute in the records
Official accounts (the Warren Commission and later summaries) present multiple eyewitness identifications that support the conclusion Oswald shot Tippit, and they also cite physical evidence such as cartridge cases and the revolver found with Oswald [6] [1]. Critics and alternative accounts argue the eyewitness testimony was contradictory or flawed — for example, that at least one witness (Acquilla Clemons) claimed to have seen two men, and that timing disputes raise questions about whether Oswald could have been at the scene in time [9] [10] [7]. These disagreements are explicit in the sources: some sources stress the Commission’s reliance on eyewitnesses and ballistic matches [6] [1], while others emphasize perceived contradictions and gaps in witness handling [7] [9].
6. Limitations in the available reporting and what’s not found here
The present set of sources does not supply full verbatim transcripts for every witness, nor does it consolidate each individual’s complete Warren Commission testimony in a single place — researchers must consult the Commission exhibit volumes or primary archives for exact wording and cross-examination details (available sources do not mention full verbatim testimony for every witness in these links) [6]. Also, while photographic and museum records identify key eyewitnesses and their roles, they do not resolve all timing and identification disputes documented by later critics [5] [7].
Conclusion: contemporary official reports present Helen Markham, William Scoggins, Domingo Benavides and others as eyewitnesses who placed a man identified as Oswald at or fleeing the Tippit scene, with Markham providing the most detailed account and Scoggins among those who later identified Oswald in a lineup; alternative accounts stress contradictions, additional witnesses (e.g., Acquilla Clemons), and timing questions that the sources record but do not settle [4] [3] [9] [7] [6].