Who killed Bobby Kennedy? His son RFK Jr. doesn't believe it was Sirhan Sirhan

[Gerald]

LOS ANGELES - Just before Christmas, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulled up to the massive Richard J. Donovan Correctional Center, a California state prison complex in the desert outside San Diego that holds nearly 4,000 inmates. Kennedy was there to visit Sirhan B. Sirhan, the man convicted of killing his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, nearly 50 years ago.

While his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, waited in the car, Robert Kennedy Jr. met with Sirhan for three hours, he revealed to The Washington Post last week. It was the culmination of months of research by Kennedy into the assassination, including speaking with witnesses and reading the autopsy and police reports.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...photo-15621352

The whole is at the same time history.

[vienna]

The RFK assassination has been a long time hot subject here in LA. I was in LA, attending my last year of high school here in LA (I graduated from a San Francisco high school in 1969) at the time of the RFK shooting. I had worked as a volunteer at some of his campaign events here and actually got to see him and shake his hand at a rally, not long before his death, held at the Old Plaza at Olvera Street in Downtown LA. There was a very large crowd of people at the rally and we volunteers were tasked with keeping the crowd off the gazebo/bandstand from where Bobby was to speak. The crowd had started to arrive hours before the scheduled time, so they were more than amped up about seeing him. Bobby finally arrived, sitting on the back deck of a convertible, in rolled-up shirt sleeves and an open collar, looking more like he was just going for a summer's drive than arriving at a political rally. He climbed down from the car and started to walk through the crowd; former NFL great Rosey Grier and Gold Medal Decathlete Rafer Johnson were his only bodyguards, forming a two-man wedge for Bobby as they plowed through the crowd to the gazebo; the LAPD were there, a couple of motorcycle officers had escorted Bobby's cars to the site, but afterward, they, along with a contingent of riot-geared LAPD officers just stood across the street at the far end of the Plaza; the LAPD was very much hostile to RFK and did not hide their sentiments...


I had never seen a crowd of people that size at any other political event and was surprised at how RFK was able to move through the throng, shaking hands with all in reach and smiling all the time, occasionally exchanging greetings with some of the crowd; he seemed well at ease and not fearful of anything and the crowd, while very enthusiastic seemed to respect him and did not overly force them selves on him. We who were at the base of the gazebo were soon pressed up against the base by the crowd as Bobby came closer and had to climb up over the railings of the gazebo to get breathing room; we were walking down thw stairs of the gazebo as Bobby was walking up and he shook our hands and greeted us. Eventually, I made my way to the outer edge of the crowd and watched and listened to RFK speak and observed the crowd; I have never seen anything since, the rapt attention of the crowd and how Bobby was able to seemingly communicate with each crowd member individually, even though he was speaking to the crowd as a whole, very impressive...


On the night RFK was murdered, I had to catch up on some of my school assignments since the end end of the school year and the final examinations were near, so I didn't go to the Ambassador hotel for the Election Night, ut I did watch the events of the night on TV. RFK had won the CA Primary for the DEM nomination for POTUS and had given his victory speech. I was just about to turn off the TV when there was a sudden commotion on the screen and people started shouting that RFK had been shot. I turned up the volume and watched as the situation unfolded. Rosey Grier and Rafer Johnson had tackled Sirhan and held him down. A reporter stated RFK was being taken to what was then called the Central Receiving Hospital, a facility where wounded or injured LEOs or other first responders with grave trauma were treated; the hospital was just a couple of blocks down the street from where I lived. I heard a sudden rush of vehicles and sirens outside my bedroom window an, as I looked down from the second floor, our usually nighttime peaceful street was full of all sorts of vehicles headin ti Central Receiving; I saw one LAPD motorcycle officer roar down the street with a civilian man and woman clinging to each other and the officer on the bike, all three on the one bike; I found out later the man was Pierre Saliger, RFK's campaign manager and the ldywas his wife...


After getting emergency trauma treatment at Central Receiving, RFK was moved to the large Good Samaritan Hospital, another few blocks away. I remember the crowds, around the clock, who stood in anguished vigil outside the hospital until RFK was pronounced dead...


It seems hard to believe it will have been 50 years ago this June...



The article you posted mentions the destruction of some key pieces of physical evidence, the bullet riddled door frames, etc, that were destroyed by the LAPD. The LAPD, at the time of RFK's death was a very reactionary, right-wing oriented organization and had little consideration for RFK and held more tan a little animus. There was also the fact an LAPD off-duty officer was moonlighting as a security guard at the Ambassador on the night in question and was immediately to the rear of RFK as he moved through the Ambassador kitchen. There were witnesses who described the LAPD office drawing a gun as the shooting occurred. The LAPD closed ranks and refused to pursue the possibility the LAPD officer any have fired his weapon in the kitchen; they're attitude was one of 'well, Sirhan has admitted to the killing, so there's no need to investigate further'; as more questions about the role of the officer began to grow, it was about that time the LAPD said the door frames and some other bits of evidence were no longer in the evidence locker and 'may have been "inadvertently" destroyed'...


Thanks for posting the article...















<O>

[u crank]

Great post vienna. It is something to be a witness to history in person. I remember watching it on the news. It upset my Dad a lot. He was a big fan of RFK and the Kennedys mainly because JFK was the first Catholic President. Of course at that time I knew little of the Kennedy history. 1968 was a momentous year in American history. Assassinations seem to happen every few months.

[vienna]

I liked RFK because he was tough and pugnacious; there is little mystery as to why JFK had Bobby deal with the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis instead of someone from the State Department. RFK was also noted for his pursuit of prosecution against organized crime when he was the US Attorney General and he also scared the bejesus out of J. Edgar Hoover, who feared, if RFK became President, he would be ousted as head of the FBI, something even JFK was loath to do; RFK was a great combination of human and humane compassion and pragmatic toughness, something lacking in the years since his death...
















<O>

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by vienna

The RFK assassination has been a long time hot subject here in LA. I was in LA, attending my last year of high school here in LA (I graduated from a San Francisco high school in 1968) at the time of the RFK shooting. I had worked as a volunteer at some of his campaign events here and actually got to see him and shake his hand at a rally, not long before his death, held at the Old Plaza at Olvera Street in Downtown LA. There was a very large crowd of people at the rally and we volunteers were tasked with keeping the crowd off the gazebo/bandstand from where Bobby was to speak. The crowd had started to arrive hours before the scheduled time, so they were more than amped up about seeing him. Bobby finally arrived, sitting on the back deck of a convertible, in rolled-up shirt sleeves and an open collar, looking more like he was just going for a summer's drive than arriving at a political rally. He climbed down from the car and started to walk through the crowd; former NFL great Rosey Grier and Gold Medal Decathlete Rafer Johnson were his only bodyguards, forming a two-man wedge for Bobby as they plowed through the crowd to the gazebo; the LAPD were there, a couple of motorcycle officers had escorted Bobby's cars to the site, but afterward, they, along with a contingent of riot-geared LAPD officers just stood across the street at the far end of the Plaza; the LAPD was very much hostile to RFK and did not hide their sentiments...


I had never seen a crowd of people that size at any other political event and was surprised at how RFK was able to move through the throng, shaking hands with all in reach and smiling all the time, occasionally exchanging greetings with some of the crowd; he seemed well at ease and not fearful of anything and the crowd, while very enthusiastic seemed to respect him and did not overly force them selves on him. We who were at the base of the gazebo were soon pressed up against the base by the crowd as Bobby came closer and had to climb up over the railings of the gazebo to get breathing room; we were walking down thw stairs of the gazebo as Bobby was walking up and he shook our hands and greeted us. Eventually, I made my way to the outer edge of the crowd and watched and listened to RFK speak and observed the crowd; I have never seen anything since, the rapt attention of the crowd and how Bobby was able to seemingly communicate with each crowd member individually, even though he was speaking to the crowd as a whole, very impressive...


On the night RFK was murdered, I had to catch up on some of my school assignments since the end end of the school year and the final examinations were near, so I didn't go to the Ambassador hotel for the Election Night, ut I did watch the events of the night on TV. RFK had won the CA Primary for the DEM nomination for POTUS and had given his victory speech. I was just about to turn off the TV when there was a sudden commotion on the screen and people started shouting that RFK had been shot. I turned up the volume and watched as the situation unfolded. Rosey Grier and Rafer Johnson had tackled Sirhan and held him down. A reporter stated RFK was being taken to what was then called the Central Receiving Hospital, a facility where wounded or injured LEOs or other first responders with grave trauma were treated; the hospital was just a couple of blocks down the street from where I lived. I heard a sudden rush of vehicles and sirens outside my bedroom window an, as I looked down from the second floor, our usually nighttime peaceful street was full of all sorts of vehicles headin ti Central Receiving; I saw one LAPD motorcycle officer roar down the street with a civilian man and woman clinging to each other and the officer on the bike, all three on the one bike; I found out later the man was Pierre Saliger, RFK's campaign manager and the ldywas his wife...


After getting emergency trauma treatment at Central Receiving, RFK was moved to the large Good Samaritan Hospital, another few blocks away. I remember the crowds, around the clock, who stood in anguished vigil outside the hospital until RFK was pronounced dead...


It seems hard to believe it will have been 50 years ago this June...



The article you posted mentions the destruction of some key pieces of physical evidence, the bullet riddled door frames, etc, that were destroyed by the LAPD. The LAPD, at the time of RFK's death was a very reactionary, right-wing oriented organization and had little consideration for RFK and held more tan a little animus. There was also the fact an LAPD off-duty officer was moonlighting as a security guard at the Ambassador on the night in question and was immediately to the rear of RFK as he moved through the Ambassador kitchen. There were witnesses who described the LAPD office drawing a gun as the shooting occurred. The LAPD closed ranks and refused to pursue the possibility the LAPD officer any have fired his weapon in the kitchen; they're attitude was one of 'well, Sirhan has admitted to the killing, so there's no need to investigate further'; as more questions about the role of the officer began to grow, it was about that time the LAPD said the door frames and some other bits of evidence were no longer in the evidence locker and 'may have been "inadvertently" destroyed'...


Thanks for posting the article...















<O>

You are welcome, a very interesting exposition.