Sirhan & the Second Gunman
California governor closes can of worms - let's open it!
Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of killing Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 and has served 53 years in jail. Despite a positive ruling on his 16th parole review, Sirhan will remain in prison, thanks to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I have concluded that he is unsuitable for parole because he poses a current threat to public safety,” Newsom wrote in a nine-page statement released Jan. 13. “After decades in prison, Mr. Sirhan has failed to address the deficiencies that led him to assassinate Senator Kennedy.”
Newsom said he’s concerned about Sirhan’s “refusal to accept responsibility for his crimes,” citing memory lapses, minimizing his participation in the shooting and outright denying his guilt.
Sirhan has insisted many times over the past 53 years that he can’t recall the events just after midnight on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
“Senator Kennedy was the hope of the world, and I injured — and I harmed all of them,” Sirhan said cryptically at his August parole board hearing. “It pains me to experience that, the knowledge for such a horrible deed, if I did in fact do that. I’m still responsible for being there and probably causing this whole incident, through my own gun or other guns.”
The Second Gunman
Two of Kennedy's surviving sons, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Kennedy, supported Sirhan's latest bid for parole. Bobby Jr. believes his father was shot by a second gunman. Paul Schrade, a union official who had been standing right next to RFK in the hotel pantry, also favored the parole and insists that Sirhan did not act alone.
Early news reports indicated Sirhan might have had accomplices. Several witnesses reported seeing him with a young woman in a polka-dot dress, who was seen shouting, “We shot Kennedy!” immediately after the shooting.
Despite finding the key to a car of a hotel employee in Sirhan’s possession, Los Angeles police insisted there was no evidence of a conspiracy.
At Sirhan’s trial, Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi testified that the fatal shot was fired behind Kennedy’s right ear at a point-blank distance of 1-1/2 inches. Witnesses described Sirhan lunging at Kennedy from the front.
Bobby Jr., who was 14 at the time of his father’s death, believes the second gunman was Thane Eugene Cesar, a rent-a-cop hired at the Ambassador Hotel that fateful summer. Cesar was, in fact, behind Kennedy and stated he had drawn his gun.
One of my upcoming Truthsmack Tuesdays will be devoted to a journalistic inquiry into Sirhan and the evidence for a second gunman. Click here for a list of upcoming Tuesday sessions - let's open the can of worms Newsom is hoping to close!
