# Why was Oswald a suspect so soon after the shooting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2014, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661 "2014-10-18T06:03:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/21 "2014-10-19T04:48:53Z")
It was because he was a freaking amateur. He deserved to get caught. Talk about a man without a plan. In his entire existence he did one thing, and _only_ one thing, well, to the detriment of everyone else. Good riddance. If I ever stop at Rose Hill Park cemetery, I’ll be sure to piss on his grave (and post the YouTube). Hell, I may even take a dump (IMHO). ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/22 "2014-10-19T09:01:05Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > An All Points Bulletin was put on Oswald and he stupidly killed Officer JD Tippit when he was stopped by him on the street. Had Oswald gone to ground or immediately left the Dallas area instead of wandering around like the moron that he was, it may have been days or weeks until he was discovered. But Tippitt stopped him specifically because he fit the description of the Kennedy suspect. He was in the process of fleeing when Tipitt stopped him. Yes, it was a crappy plan (“Kill the president. Flee on foot through a large city. Hope for the best.”). But killing Tippitt wasn’t the flaw once he was stopped, was it? ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/23 "2014-10-19T13:11:07Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > Did anyone see him with a rifle? Yes - [Howard Brennan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Brennan). The description he gave was what was then issued by the police. That Oswald was missing wasn’t established until later, around the time, as it turned out, that he was killing Tippet. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/24 "2014-10-19T16:14:45Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > I agree, the shooting of Tippit was a clincher as far as I’m concerned. Well, it’s by far the most extreme data point. But nearly EVERYTHING Oswald did from 12:31 on screamed guilt, and almost nothing he did or said was the reaction of an innocent person. Pretty OJ-like, in fact. > [@Stratocaster](#): > > But killing Tippitt wasn’t the flaw once he was stopped, was it? He shot JFK, left the casings and the rifle (with his prints), left quickly, went home, changed clothes, got his pistol, shot a cop in front of multiple witnesses and tried to “hide” within a few miles of the first crime and blocks of the second. In other words, find something in his post-12:30 actions that WASN’T a flaw. He had no plan to escape and was improvising, minute by minute, and extremely poorly. > [@APB](#): > > That Oswald was missing wasn’t established until later, around the time, as it turned out, that he was killing Tippet. I’d have to browse a bit for exact times, but the whole timeline is a matter of a few hours, in a tremendously confused time. He was identified and targeted in admirably quick time and even if he had a plan to flee, would have likely been caught within the day. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/25 "2014-10-19T17:38:59Z")
> [@APB](#): > > Yes - [Howard Brennan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Brennan). The description he gave was what was then issued by the police. [This](http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dpdtapes/) cite provides a transcript of the police radio at the time; the description of the suspect was broadcast about 15 minutes after the shooting. As noted above, it came from an eyewitness who saw him shoot the rifle. So, there’s the answer to the OP’s question: an eyewitness gave an accurate description of Oswald to the police after other observers had pointed to the School Book depository as the source of the shots. This was before it was determined that Oswald was missing (they aren’t even sure if the suspect has left the building) or the discovery of the sniper’s nest (note that the initial description says that he could be armed with a rifle). ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/26 "2014-10-19T17:56:30Z")
I have the reference at hand, but it’s really heavy and on a high shelf and I’m lazy today. 🙂 Is there a timeline between that first general description and the APB for Oswald, and which was Tippit likely working from? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/27 "2014-10-19T18:25:06Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Is there a timeline between that first general description and the APB for Oswald, and which was Tippit likely working from? Take a look at my link. That first description IS the APB that Tippit was working from. Once they have a description, the dispatcher repeats it several times. Meanwhile, cops are spreading out to check anything remotely suspicious (i.e. a group of kids fighting, a drunk, a car with a rifle in the back). Tippit, like all of the others, was probably frantically looking around, hoping to come across the perp. When he saw someone even vaguely matching the description, he must have stopped his car and wanted to ask some questions. Oswald, obviously panicked, shot him (this about 30 minutes after the initial description). If Oswald had been cool about it, he might have been able to talk through the encounter and increase his odds of escape. Then again, he probably couldn’t have answered why he was walking down a residential street in such a rush without any place to be. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/28 "2014-10-19T19:09:58Z")
Okay. I was thinking there were two APBs, but I think the one naming Oswald was issued after the Tippit shooting (from the interviews at the Book Depository). In any case, the timeline of significant events is very, very short. About the only way it could have been shorter is if Oswald had been stopped trying to leave the Depository. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/29 "2014-10-19T20:02:16Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Okay. I was thinking there were two APBs, but I think the one naming Oswald was issued after the Tippit shooting (from the interviews at the Book Depository). In any case, the timeline of significant events is very, very short. About the only way it could have been shorter is if Oswald had been stopped trying to leave the Depository. The suspect description after Tippit’s shooting doesn’t “name” Oswald, and it does differ slightly from the initial description of the assassin. From: “Attention Elm and Houston is reported to be an unknown white male, all squads. Attention all squads. The suspect in the shooting at approximately thirty, slender build, height five feet ten inches, weight one hundred sixty-five pounds, reported to be armed with what is thought to be a 30 caliber rifle. Attention all squads. The suspect from Elm and Houston is reported to be an unknown white male about thirty, slender build, five feet ten inches tall, one hundred sixty-five pounds, armed with what is thought to be a 30-30 rifle. No further description at this time, or information.” To: “We have a description on this suspect over here on Jefferson. Last seen about 300 block of East Jefferson. He’s a white male, about thirty, five eight, (siren) black hair, slender, wearing white jacket, a white shirt and dark slacks.” And later: “Might can give you some additional information. I got an eye-ball witness to the get-away man. That suspect in this shooting is a white male, twenty-seven, five feet eleven, a hundred sixty-five, black wavy hair, fair complected, wearing a light grey Eisenhower-type jacket, dark trousers and a white shirt, and (. . . ?). Last seen running on the north side of the street from Patton, on Jefferson, on East Jefferson. And he was apparently armed with a 32 dark-finish automatic pistol which he had in his right hand.” They found the discarded jacket a short while later as they tried to tail the suspect. Eventually, the dispatcher reports a message that the suspect is believed in the movie theater (based, IIRC, on a call from the shoe salesman next door who saw someone sneak in without paying.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/30 "2014-10-19T20:15:31Z")
That’s interesting. AFAIK, Oswald changed clothes at his apartment when he retrieved his pistol, so it’s odd he would be in the same, identifiable clothes. I need to do some reading to 'fresh up the old conspiracy engine. 🙂 ETA: Of course, this was not an era when most men had much variation in their wardrobes… ---
**Author:** ![Dizzlaxia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Dizzlaxia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzlaxia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/31 "2014-10-19T20:45:22Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_York](#): > > I thought there was a APB out on him within a few minutes. Did anyone see him with a rifle? His girlfreind was shot with a gun through a door that he confessed to and no one else was in that facinity ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/32 "2014-10-19T21:00:17Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That’s interesting. AFAIK, Oswald changed clothes at his apartment when he retrieved his pistol, so it’s odd he would be in the same, identifiable clothes. > > I need to do some reading to 'fresh up the old conspiracy engine. 🙂 He did change clothes. The two descriptions of the suspect which include a reference to what he was wearing are both from after the Tippit shooting, which occurred after he left his apartment. The initial description (which came from when he was seen in the Book Depository) doesn’t include a reference to what he was wearing. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/33 "2014-10-20T17:21:24Z")
Many years ago, CBS reran the tapes they had of the coverage at the time. If I remember correctly, they had a crew at the police station who recorded the suspects being brought in. First was a guy who loudly proclaimed his innocence, and only later was Oswald brought in. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/34 "2014-10-20T18:14:33Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > If Oswald had stayed in the building, maybe he could have been cleared enough to blow town before being tied to the rifle. Once police realized that his name had the same number of letters as “John Wilkes Booth,” they would have put two and two together. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/35 "2014-10-20T18:27:40Z")
> [@Dizzlaxia](#): > > His girlfreind was shot with a gun through a door that he confessed to and no one else was in that facinity This person registered just to post this nugget of information. I wonder what it means? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/36 "2014-10-20T18:43:12Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > This person registered just to post this nugget of information. I wonder what it means? That Oswald was a double amputee. So much for THAT secret. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/37 "2014-10-20T18:45:49Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That Oswald was a double amputee. So much for THAT secret. See, I got bogged down trying to envision Oswald confessing to a door. Thanks for clearing that up. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/38 "2014-10-20T18:46:04Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > This person registered just to post this nugget of information. I wonder what it means? Some things man was not meant to know, but let’s take a crack at it anyway. [QUOTE=Dizzlaxia] His girlfreind was shot with a gun through a door that he confessed to and no one else was in that facinity [/QUOTE] Oswald didn’t have a girlfriend, he had a wife. His wife was never shot and Oswald didn’t confess to anything. If you mean the vicinity of the JFK shooting, there were several other people in the Texas School Book Depository. If you meant the shooting of Officer Tippitt, the Warren Commission identified twelve witnesses who saw Oswald shoot Tippett and run into the theater without paying. > [@](#): > > Domingo Benavides saw Tippit standing by the left door of his parked police car, and a man standing on the right side of the car. He then heard shots and saw Tippit fall to the ground. Benavides stopped his pickup truck on the opposite side of the street from Tippit’s car. He observed the shooter fleeing the scene and removing spent cartridge cases from his gun as he left. Benavides waited in his truck until the gunman disappeared before assisting Tippit. He then reported the shooting to police headquarters, using the radio in Tippit’s car.[23] Helen Markham witnessed the shooting and then saw a man with a gun in his hand leave the scene.[24] Markham identified Lee Harvey Oswald as Tippit’s killer in a police lineup she viewed that evening.[25] Barbara Davis and her sister-in-law Virginia Davis heard the shots and saw a man crossing their lawn, shaking his revolver, as if he were emptying it of cartridge cases. Later, the women found two cartridge cases near the crime scene and handed the cases over to police. That evening, Barbara Davis and Virginia Davis were taken to a lineup and both Davises picked out Oswald as the man whom they had seen.[26] > > Taxicab driver William Scoggins testified that he saw Tippit’s police car pull up alongside a man on the sidewalk as he sat in his taxicab nearby. Scoggins heard three or four shots and then saw Tippit fall to the ground. As Scoggins crouched behind his cab, the man passed within twelve feet of him, pistol in hand, muttering what sounded to him like, “poor dumb cop” or “poor damn cop.”[27] The next day, Scoggins viewed a police lineup and identified Oswald as the man whom he had seen with the pistol.[28] But “Scoggins admitted he did not actually witness the shooting and his view of the fleeing killer was obscured because he ducked down behind his cab as the man came by.”[29] > > The Commission also named several other witnesses[30] who were not at the scene of the murder, but who identified Oswald running between the murder scene and the Texas Theater, where Oswald was subsequently arrested.[31] Four cartridge cases were found at the scene by eyewitnesses. It was the unanimous testimony of expert witnesses before the Warren Commission that these spent cartridge cases were fired from the revolver in Oswald’s possession to the exclusion of all other weapons.[32] > > Upon his arrest and during subsequent questionings by police, Lee Harvey Oswald denied any involvement in Tippit’s murder. [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Tippit). But apart from that… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/39 "2014-10-20T19:00:40Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > See, I got bogged down trying to envision Oswald confessing to a door. Thanks for clearing that up. What, and “facinity” just went right by you, like “fnord”? The Illuminati pwn you. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661/40 "2014-10-20T19:12:44Z")
I guess if I was Oswald I would have found a car to steal right after the shooting. One wonders what his plan was- what did he plan to do when the movie was over? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-oswald-a-suspect-so-soon-after-the-shooting/701661.md?page=3)