I’m not going to argue this point but I read a very interesting book years ago on the subject. The author was asked to review the Warren Report. He started from scratch by looking at the entry/exit wounds. He thought one of the shots came from street level and was a different caliber because the entry wound was at the base of the skull and a smaller caliber than Oswald’s. But had nothing to go on until he came across a photo of the Secret Service car following the President showing one of the agents holding an AR-15. He speculates that one of the agents (which he names in the book) reacted first to the shooting and stood up in the car. When the cars lurched forward to rush the President away he would have been thrown backwards and the natural reaction would be to move his arms forward for balance (thus accidentally firing the gun). There is some doubtthat there are enough fragments to account for 3 bullets.
What’s interesting in his claims is that the AR-15 uses a thin-jacketed bullet and according to him would have fragmented instead of staying intact. this would have created something of a shotgun effect. What might have proved his theory would be the fragments in Kennedy’s brain.
The agent in question waited for the statute of limitations to expire before suing the author and the publisher which I find remarkable. I would have thought it was like winning the lottery if someone was slandered so badly. He did get some money from the publisher but it was not much.
but as has been pointed out before, there is one person we know for a fact who was shooting at JFK.
Waiting until the last minute to file a civil suit is actually not uncommon. The fact that Hickey filed it too late could also have been from a number of issues: his lawyer stated that he was critically ill.
As to why waiting to the last minute is uncommon, IANAL. All I know is that not very long ago I was talking with a lawyer who is in the same hobby as me and he mentioned that someone had died on property where said hobby was taking place. In PA the statute is 2 years and at the time it had been 1 year since the death. His comment to me was that it was fairly common practice to wait until just the last minute to file a case. I don’t know if it is just a unnerving tactic (people lawyer up right after the incident but let things loose as time goes by), simply maximizing time needed to build your case, or whatever.
What I found interesting about this game is that it seemed an easier shot as the limo was approaching rather than after it turned the corner. It seems he made his job harder for himself by waiting. Mind you, he got the intended result.
They also found the location where Oswald had fired off thousands of rounds practicing with the rifle. The number I recall is something like 10,000 rounds, but I’m working off of memory. But any number of thousands would be enough for him to be very skilled in firing off rounds quickly.
Once he was comfortable operating the bolt, and, crucially, doing so without taking his eye away from the scope, then he had most of the skills needed for the assassination. His military training would have provided the rest: trigger and breath control, for instance.