After the shooting of both President John F. Kennedy and a police officer, police arrest a 24-year-old warehouse worker by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald in a local movie theater.
The news of Oswald’s arrest quickly made headlines throughout the world.
It appeared that the man responsible for the death of President Kennedy couldn’t make a clean getaway after all.
Oswald underwent two days of interrogations, continually denying his involvement in the assassination.
So, police scheduled him to be moved to a more secure location. (The basement of the Dallas police department didn’t seem suitable for a high-value prisoner.)
In the process of being transferred, yet another televised shooting shocked the world…
Enter Jack Ruby
Strip club and dance hall owner Jack Ruby pulled out a Colt Cobra chambered in .38 Special on Oswald, shooting him in the stomach as cameras rolled.
Police wrestled Ruby to the ground as he shouted, “You all know me. I’m Jack Ruby.” Ruby was arrested on the spot.
Oswald died shortly after the shooting with massive damage to his spleen, stomach, aorta, diaphragm, kidney, and liver.
Aside from his nightlife dealings, Ruby had several minor connections with organized crime – yet zero known political affiliations.
Ruby later stated his motivation behind the murder was “saving Mrs. Kennedy the discomfiture of coming back to trial.”
On Trial
During his court appearance, Ruby argued that he suffered from “psychomotor epilepsy” – shooting Oswald without even being conscious he was doing so due to his state of grief.
The court didn’t buy Ruby’s defense, however, sentencing him to death by electrocution.
After awaiting his final days imprisoned, the Texas Court of Appeals overturned Ruby’s death sentence – stating he couldn’t have had a fair trial due to publicity.
Therefore, the court scheduled a new trial for him.
Ruby would never see that second trial. He died of a pulmonary embolism in January 1967 at the age of 55.
This is a new style of article for Pew Pew Tactical; if you liked it — let us know in the comments! If you didn’t enjoy it…well phooey. To catch up on previous Pictures from History, click on over to our History Category.
9 Leave a Reply
Thumbs up article as always.
Enjoyed the history recall...Interesting to read...
Please continue these gun related history articles. All are very enjoyable reading.
I liked it. For people interested in guns it's informative and entertaining to learn about the actual firearms associated with famous events in history. (Would have been interesting to know the make/model/calibre of the rifle LHO used for the assassination.) .. Maybe to make that the next article.
Jack Ruby = Jacob Rubenstein
Loved it
Isn’t he one of the guys who shot Kennedy? Just kidding.
The initials are those of various arresting and investigative officers. Supposedly there are 4 of them on gun. The gun was sold at auction in 1991 for $220,000 and resold in 2008 for $200,000.
Thank you for the additional info. It completes an article on a firearm blog.