Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy | |
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Boris Yaro's photograph of Robert F. Kennedy lying wounded on the floor immediately after the shooting. Kneeling beside him is 17-year-old Juan Romero, who was shaking Kennedy's hand when Sirhan Sirhan fired the shots.
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Location |
Ambassador Hotel Los Angeles, California, US |
Coordinates | 34°03′35″N 118°17′50″W / 34.0597°N 118.2971°WCoordinates: 34°03′35″N 118°17′50″W / 34.0597°N 118.2971°W |
Date | June 5, 1968 12:15 a.m. (Pacific Time Zone) |
Attack type
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political assassination, shooting |
Weapons | .22 caliber Iver-Johnson |
Non-fatal injuries
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5 |
Victim | Robert F. Kennedy |
Perpetrator | Sirhan Sirhan |
The assassination of Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California, during the campaign season for the 1968 presidential election.
After winning the California and South Dakota primary elections for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, Kennedy was fatally shot while exiting through the hotel kitchen immediately after leaving the podium in the Ambassador Hotel and died in the Good Samaritan Hospital twenty-six hours later. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian/Jordanian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder and is serving a life sentence for the crime. The shooting was recorded on audio tape by a freelance newspaper reporter, and the aftermath was captured on film.
Kennedy's body lay in repose at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York for two days before a funeral Mass was held on June 8. His body was interred near his brother John at Arlington National Cemetery. His death prompted the protection of presidential candidates by the United States Secret Service. Hubert Humphrey later went on to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency, but ultimately lost the election to Republican Richard Nixon.