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In the book Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK, Bonar Menninger argues that the third shot that hit John F Kennedy was fired by accident by a secret service agent. The book's Wikipedia page summarizes the theory:

Conducting his own investigation, Donahue eventually decided that the bullet that struck Kennedy in the head had in fact been fired by United States Secret Service Special Agent George Warren Hickey Jr. (March 24, 1923 to February 25, 2005) from an AR-15 rifle carried in the car immediately following the President's vehicle.

The series of events is as follows: After the first shot which hit the street was fired, Hickey turns completely around and acquires Oswald on the sixth floor of the school book depository building. His turned head is documented in an AP photograph by James Altgens. Hickey reaches for the AR-15 under the seat, releases the safety and begins to lift the gun. The second shot is fired by Oswald, hitting the president and Texas Governor John Connally.

The president's car and the follow-up car containing Hickey suddenly speed up. This is attested to by Secret Service agent Clint Hill. Agent Hickey, who is unstable because he is standing on the cushion of the seat, rather than the floor of the car, begins to fall back due to the acceleration of the vehicle, pulling the trigger of the AR-15. The gun is pointed toward Kennedy at that instant, and the bullet strikes him squarely in the back of the head.

Was Kennedy shot by his secret service agent?

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Anders
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    Yes, I am aware of [this question](https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/5049/did-lee-harvey-oswald-kill-john-f-kennedy), but I do not think it's a duplicate. This is a much, much more specific question. Also, Bonar does not deny that Oswald also shot the president. – Anders Jul 07 '17 at 22:12
  • Do the answers of that other question not also address this one? – Oddthinking Jul 08 '17 at 03:10
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    @Oddthinking The answers are basically "The conclusion of the Warren investigation is plausible." What I am interested in here is basically if this version is equally plausible, or if it can be easily discredited somehow. – Anders Jul 08 '17 at 07:40
  • No, Anders, my answer was "the evidence matches the Warren conclusions as close to exactly as one could expect" - which is different than concluding it is *possible.* The reason why that is important is because this claim, which makes many leaps and assumptions and has its own set of implausibilities, depends on the Warren Commission conclusions being implausible in order to have any credence. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Shooting_holes_in_theory_that_a_Secret_Service_agent_killed_President_Kennedy.html – PoloHoleSet Jul 10 '17 at 15:08
  • @PoloHoleSet Well, I guess what I am interested in then are this theories "own set of implausibilities", which the article you linked to does a good job of listing. – Anders Jul 11 '17 at 07:21
  • I figured that much, which is why I linked the article. I was not especially familiar with this claim, in and of itself, though my initial thought was "wouldn't someone had seen or heard that shot being discharged?" No worries, though, if this one is deemed "debunked," I'm sure there will be another completely new theory put forward by someone. After all, there's a lot of money to be made pushing alternatives in books. – PoloHoleSet Jul 11 '17 at 13:30
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    Note that this question was recently changed from "*Is there any merit to this claim?*" to "*Was Kennedy shot by his secret service agent?*". The original question was effectively impossible to answer while staying within the rules of this site. (I know, I tried, and failed miserably.) The new question is now definitely impossible to answer. Perhaps it should be deleted? – Ray Butterworth Aug 22 '19 at 03:14
  • Somewhat related: Did the U.S. Army intentionally subject President Calvin Coolidge to chlorine gas? https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/32983/did-the-u-s-army-treat-a-presidents-cold-using-chlorine-gas – Roger Aug 23 '19 at 15:34

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