RFK Assassination

U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated around midnight on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Shortly after finishing a victory speech to supporters following his win in the California Democratic primary, Kennedy was shot three times by a gunman in the crowd.

Fast Facts

1. Date: June 5, 1968
2. Time: Approximately 12:16 a.m.
3. Location: Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
4. Kennedy was a Democratic presidential candidate at the time
5. Sirhan Sirhan was charged with the murder and convicted of aggravated murder in the first degree
6. Sirhan was sentenced to death
7. Sirhan's sentence was commuted to life in prison

The Assassin

Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan was arrested and charged with the murder of Robert F. Kennedy. According to Sirhan's diary, the motivation for the assassination was Kennedy's support of Israel during the Six-Day war and his general pro-Israeli stance. While conflicting evidence at the time of the assassination cast doubt as to whether or not Sirhan was actually the killer, his confession made it easy for prosecutors to try him for the murder. Sirhan was convicted of aggravated murder in the first degree for murder and was initially sentenced to death. His sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 and he has been in prison since.

Conspiracy Theory

A report by leading forensics experts has cast serious doubt as to whether Sirhan was actually Kennedy's killer. They noted that the trajectory of the bullets suggests that the shooter was in back of Kennedy rather than in front of him, as Sirhan was. This has led many people to believe that Sirhan was not alone in the assassination attempt.

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