JFK had a second shooter - bungling guard who fired assault weapon by accident, says new film
President John F Kennedy was the victim of a second shooter in Dallas in 1963 - one of his OWN guards who shot him by accident, says a new film documentary.
George Hickey, a Secret Service agent riding in the car behind Kennedy, was the accidental villain, the film makers say.
The new film "JFK: The Smoking Gun" follows veteran police detective Colin McLaren in a four-year investigation of the assassination and points at Hickey, who died two years ago.
At the Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles at the weekend producers of Reelz Channel's new documentary spelled out the details.
McLaren told the critics that Hickey and other Secret Service agents were out partying the night before Kennedy's fatal motorcade drive through Dallas. Evidence suggests Hickey was not qualified to use the weapon he was holding the morning of the shooting, the Huffington Post reported.
"It was his first time in the follow car, his first time holding the assault weapon he was using," McLaren said.
Producers said the film's theory is that shots rang out, and Hickey grabbed his weapon to return fire. When his car stopped suddenly, Hickey accidentally discharged his weapon -- making him the second shooter.
McLaren said he believes that Hickey's weapon had hollow-point rounds -- different from the ammunition for the weapon used by Lee Harvey Oswald, said to be the lone gunman in the case.
Menninger and McLaren said that based on their review of the forensics they believe that Kennedy was also struck by a hollow-point round.
"We're not saying this was intentional," Menninger said . "This was a tragic accident in the heat of the moment."
"We don't suggest he was in any way involved in a conspiracy," Menninger added.
McLaren's research built on the work of Howard Donahue, who spent 20 years studying the assassination and had his findings documented in Bonar Menninger’s book Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK.
The documentary is set to air on Nov. 3, 2013, according to a press release.