Credit: Dale K. Myers | Life Magazine

TIMETABLE OF EVENTS

Friday, November 22, 1963


6:15 a.m. J.D. Tippit leaves home for work.
6:20 a.m. J.D. stops at the home of his brother-in-law, Jack Christopher.
7:00 a.m.

J.D. reports for duty at the Oak Cliff Substation, Dallas Police Department.
7:30 a.m.

J.D. leaves the Oak Cliff Substation and heads south to his assigned district, number 78, located five miles from downtown Dallas.
9:56 a.m. J.D. checks out on an investigation at 2800 E. Illinois.
10:17 a.m. J.D. clears back in service at 2800 E. Illinois.
10:30 a.m. J.D. and Bill Anglin take a coffee break at the Rebel Drive-In.
10:40 a.m. J.D. stops briefly at the home of Edith Davidson.
10:45 a.m. J.D. clears back in service.
11:30 a.m. J.D. arrives home for lunch.
11:39 a.m. President Kennedy arrives at Love Field, Dallas, Texas.
11:51 a.m. J.D. returns to duty.
11:55 a.m. The Kennedy motorcade departs Love Field.
12:17 p.m. J.D. checks out on an investigation at 4100 Bonnieview at Kiest.
12:21 p.m. J.D. clears back in service.
12:23 p.m.

The motorcade turns onto Main Street and passes Titche-Goettinger's department store where Linda Christopher and friends are standing.
12:29 p.m.

The motorcade enters Dealey Plaza, turning from Main onto Houston Street.
12:30 p.m. President Kennedy is assassinated.
12:31 p.m.

Dallas police dispatcher, Channel 2, is informed of the shooting in Dealey Plaza. Parkland Hospital is advised to stand by.
12:33:30 p.m. Oswald leaves the Texas School Book Depository, headed east.
12:34 p.m.

United Press International reports that "three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade today in downtown Dallas."
12:35 p.m.

Channel 2 dispatcher is told that shots came from the Texas School Book Depository.
12:36 p.m. The presidential limousine arrives at Parkland Hospital.
Sergeant Harkness tells Channel 2 dispatcher he is preparing to "seal off the building."
12:39 p.m. Oswald boards Cecil McWatter's westbound bus.
12:40 p.m.

Channel 1 dispatcher reports shooting in the downtown area involving the President.
CBS Television's As the World Turns is interrupted by news anchor Walter Cronkite who reports, "Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."
12:42 p.m.

Channel 1 dispatcher orders all "downtown area" squads to Dealey Plaza, code 3 (lights and sirens).
12:43 p.m. Oswald departs bus, headed south.
12:44 p.m.

Inspector Sawyer gives Channel 2 dispatcher a description of the Kennedy suspect.
12:45 p.m.

Channel 2 dispatcher Gerald Henslee simultaneously broadcasts a description of the Kennedy suspect over Channels 1 & 2.
12:46 p.m.


Channel 1 dispatcher Murray Jackson orders Tippit and R.C. Nelson into the central Oak Cliff area. Tippit reports he's at Kiest and Bonnieview; Nelson at Marsalis and R.L. Thornton, headed downtown.
Oswald gets in William Whaley's cab at the Greyhound bus station and asks to be taken to the 500 block of North Beckley in Oak Cliff.
12:51:30 p.m.


Oswald departs Whaley's cab in the 700 block of North Beckley - two blocks short of his "destination." Oswald starts south, then turns north toward his rented room as Whaley drives off.
12:54:43 p.m.


Channel 1 dispatcher Murray Jackson contacts Tippit, who reports at Lancaster and Eighth in central Oak Cliff. Jackson tells him to "be at large for any emergency that comes in."
12:56:30 p.m.


Tippit arrives at the Gloco gas station at the south end of the Houston Street Viaduct. Witnesses say that Tippit sat in his car watching traffic coming out of downtown.
12:57:15 p.m. Oswald arrives at 1026 North Beckley and hurries to his rented room.
12:58 p.m.


Dallas police discover three shells and a shield of cartons near the southeast corner window of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.
12:59:30 p.m.

Oswald leaves his room zipping up a jacket and is seen moments later at curbside, near a northbound bus stop.
1:00 p.m.

Doctors at Parkland Hospital pronounce President John F. Kennedy dead.
1:03:14 p.m.

Channel 1 dispatcher Murray Jackson contacts Tippit to get his location but gets no response.
1:06:30 p.m.

Tippit leaves the Gloco gas station and heads south on Lancaster at a "high rate of speed."
1:08:23 p.m.


Channel 1 dispatcher Murray Jackson repeats the description of the Kennedy suspect: "white male, 30, slender build, 5 foot 10, 165 pounds."
1:11:00 p.m.



Top Ten Record shop owner J.W. Stark and clerk Louis Cortinas claim that Tippit came into the store on West Jefferson and made a phone call at this time. Getting no answer, Tippit reportedly left heading north to Sunset, then east.
Helen Markham leaves her residence to catch a bus at Patton and Jefferson.
1:13:00 p.m. Jimmy Burt and William Smith talk in the front yard of 505 East Tenth. Burt spots a man, believed to be Oswald, across the street walking west.
1:14:00 p.m.


Helen Markham reaches the corner of Tenth and Patton and waits for traffic to pass, including Tippit's squad car headed east. She sees Tippit stop alongside Oswald, who is walking east.
1:14:20 p.m.



Jack Tatum, driving west on Tenth, passes Tippit's squad car. Oswald, standing on the passenger side of Tippit's car, is leaning down talking to Tippit through the open vent window with both hands in his zipper jacket.
1:14:30 p.m.


Oswald pulls a gun from under his jacket and shoots Tippit four times. He escapes headed south on Patton toward Jefferson, as Barbara and Virginia Davis watch.
1:14:55 p.m.

Ted Callaway hollers, "What the hell is going on?" at the fleeing Oswald as he escapes south on Patton.
1:15:40 p.m.


Warren Reynolds, L.J. Lewis, Harold Russell, and B.M. Patterson watch as Oswald flees west on Jefferson. Reynolds and Patterson follow him.
1:16:00 p.m.

Domingo Benavides attempts to use Tippit's police radio to contact the dispatcher but is unsuccessful.
1:16:20 p.m.

Oswald ducks behind Ballew's Texaco Service station at Crawford and Jefferson and ditches his jacket under a parked car.
1:17:41 p.m.

T.F. Bowley reports the shooting to police using Tippit's squad car radio.
1:18:59 p.m.

An ambulance arrives at the Tippit shooting scene. Several citizens help attendants load Tippit's body. They depart within a minute.
1:19:30 p.m.

Reserve police officer Kenneth H. Croy arrives at the scene, the first officer to do so.
1:20:00 p.m.

Ted Callaway grabs Tippit's revolver, commandeers eyewitness William Scoggins' cab, and the two drive off in search of Oswald.
1:22 p.m.



Dallas police find a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle in the northwest corner of the sixth floor of the Depository. The rifle is later linked to Oswald, who bought it in March, 1963, from a mail-order house under the name 'A.J. Hidell.'
1:22:38 p.m.

Officer Roy Walker broadcasts the first description of the Tippit suspect.
1:23:00 p.m. The ambulance carrying Tippit's body arrives at Methodist Hospital.
1:24:30 p.m.

Police search two old furniture stores in the 400 block of East Jefferson looking for Tippit's killer.
1:25:42 p.m.


Officer J.T. Griffin broadcasts the discovery of a jacket, believed to be the killer's, in the parking lot behind the Texaco Service station at Crawford and Jefferson.
1:30:30 p.m.

Channel 1 dispatcher Murray Jackson reports that Tippit is DOA at Methodist Hospital.
1:33 p.m.




White House press secretary Malcolm Kilduff makes the official announcement, "President John F. Kennedy died at approximately one o'clock Central Standard Time today here in Dallas. He died of a gunshot wound in the brain. I have no other details regarding the assassination of the President."
1:35:31 p.m.


Officer C.T. Walker sees a man fitting the description of the Tippit suspect run into the Jefferson Branch library. Numerous squads surround the library.
1:36:00 p.m.

Shoe store manager Johnny Brewer spots Oswald acting suspicious in front of his store, six blocks west of the shooting scene.
1:36:30 p.m.

Brewer is drawn to the sidewalk as a police car speeds past and sees Oswald slip into the Texas Theater up the street.
1:37:28 p.m.


Brewer walks up the street and alerts Texas Theater ticket-taker Julia Postal to the suspicious man. Brewer enters the theater to make sure the man is still there.
1:38 p.m.

CBS Television news anchor Walter Cronkite announces the president's death.
1:38:40 p.m.

Police learn that the man who ran into the library was Adrian Hamby, a college student.
1:39:46 p.m.

Police recover two of four shells dropped by Oswald at the shooting scene. The shells are later matched to Oswald's revolver.
1:42:00 p.m.

Brewer returns to the front of the theater. He is certain the man is still inside. Julia Postal calls police.
1:45:43 p.m.

Channel 1 dispatcher broadcasts a report of a suspect who "just went into the Texas Theater."
1:47:20 p.m.

Numerous police squads arrive at the front and back doors of the Texas Theater.
1:49:00 p.m.


Johnny Brewer, guarding the back door of the Texas Theater, lets officers in and points out Oswald sitting on the lower floor, third row from the back.
1:51:00 p.m. Oswald is arrested after a struggle.
1:52:00 p.m.

Oswald is put into an unmarked car in front of the theater and taken to city hall.
1:52:30 p.m.

Sergeant Gerald Hill informs the Channel 1 dispatcher of Oswald's arrest.
2:00 p.m.

A third shell is found at the shooting scene by Barbara Davis and turned over to police.
2:02 p.m.

Oswald arrives at the Homicide and Robbery Office on the third floor of city hall.
2:05 p.m. Detective Jim Leavelle questions Oswald.
2:20 p.m. Captain Will Fritz arrives and takes over the interrogation of Oswald.
2:38 p.m.

Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States aboard Air Force One.
2:47 p.m.

Air Force One departs Love Field with the body of President Kennedy and heads for Washington, D.C.
3:15 p.m.

An autopsy is begun on the body of J.D. Tippit to retrieve bullets for ballistic comparison.
4:35 p.m.

Police conduct the first lineup at city hall. Helen Markham identifies Oswald as Tippit's killer.
6:30 p.m.



Police conduct the second lineup at city hall. Ted Callaway, Sam Guinyard, identify Oswald as Tippit's killer. Bus driver Cecil McWatters identifies Oswald as the man who got on his bus shortly after the assassination.
Virginia Davis finds a fourth shell at the Tippit shooting scene and turns it over to police.
7:00 p.m. The autopsy on Tippit's body is completed.
7:05 p.m. Police files charges against Oswald in the murder of J.D. Tippit.
7:10 p.m. Oswald is informed of the charge.
7:55 p.m.

Police conduct the third lineup at city hall. Barbara and Virginia Davis identify Oswald as the man they saw fleeing the Tippit murder scene.
11:26 p.m.

Papers are filed charging Oswald with the JFK assassination. Oswald is not informed.
11:50 p.m.
Interrogation ends.


Saturday, November 23, 1963


12:10 a.m.
Oswald faces the press, makes a brief statement, and is taken to jail.
12:35 a.m.

Oswald is taken to the 4th floor ID Bureau, fingerprinted, and photographed.
1:10 a.m. Oswald is returned to his cell.
1:30 a.m. Oswald is taken back to the ID Bureau.
1:35 a.m. Oswald is arraigned for JFK's assassination and returned to jail.
1:45 a.m. Oswald is returned to jail.
10:25 a.m. Interrogation of Oswald resumes.
11:33 a.m. Interrogation of Oswald ends.
12:35 p.m. Interrogation of Oswald resumes.
1:10 p.m. Interrogation of Oswald ends.
2:15 p.m.



Police conduct the fifth lineup at city hall. Cab driver William Whaley identifies Oswald as the man he drove to 700 North Beckley. Cab driver William Scoggins identifies Oswald as the man he saw flee the Tippit murder scene.
6:00 p.m. Interrogation of Oswald resumes.
7:15 p.m. Interrogation of Oswald ends.


Sunday, November 24, 1963


9:30 a.m. Interrogation of Oswald resumes.
11:15 a.m. Interrogation of Oswald ends.
11:21 a.m. Oswald is shot by Jack Ruby while being transferred to the county jail.
1:05 p.m. Oswald dies at Parkland Hospital.


Monday, November 25, 1963


2:00 p.m.


Funeral services for J.D. Tippit are conducted at Beckley Hills Baptist Church. A fifteen-man motorcycle escort leads the way to Laurel Land Memorial Park where Tippit is buried in the Memorial Court of Honor.


Next: Review maps of the crime scene...

Sources

  1. Dallas Police Department, Radio Recordings, Channels 1 & 2, November 22, 1963
  2. Dallas Police Department, Mark Out Records, Unit 78, November 22, 1963; HSCA RIF 180-10083-10035
  3. Hearings Before the President�s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 26 Volumes and Report, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1964
  4. Hearings Before the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, 95th Congress, Second Session, Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 12 Volumes and Report, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1978
  5. Myers, Dale K., With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of J.D. Tippit, Oak Cliff Press: Milford, MI, 2013
  6. National Broadcasting Company, Seventy Hours and Thirty Minutes, Random House, New York, NY, 1966
  7. Tippit family interviews, 1999, Dale K. Myers Collection
  8. United Press International, Four Days: The Historical Record of the Death of President Kennedy, American Heritage, New York, NY, 1964