Ballistic

Commission Exhibit 399 ("stretcher bullet")

A nearly intact 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano round recovered at Parkland Memorial Hospital on November 22, 1963.

Evidence ID: CE-399

Research context

How Commission Exhibit 399 ("stretcher bullet") is grounded

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Archival records

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Description

What this item anchors

A nearly intact 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano round recovered at Parkland Memorial Hospital on November 22, 1963. The bullet became the subject of the Commission's single-bullet analysis: ballistics matched the Carcano rifle (CE-139) found on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Its relative lack of deformation has been the single most-contested physical item in the case, examined again by the HSCA forensic panel in 1978.

Provenance

Chain of custody

Ordered transfers of the item through the investigative record, where the archival sources agree.

  1. 1
    November 22, 1963
    Darrell Tomlinson (Parkland)

    Discovered on a stretcher in the hospital corridor and handed to hospital security chief O. P. Wright.

  2. 2
    November 22, 1963
    O. P. Wright (Parkland)

    Handed the bullet to Secret Service Special Agent Richard E. Johnsen.

  3. 3
    November 22, 1963
    SA Richard Johnsen (USSS)

    Delivered to SS Chief James Rowley in Washington.

  4. 4
    November 22, 1963
    FBI

    Received from Secret Service; submitted to FBI Laboratory for ballistics comparison.

Commission Exhibit 399 ("stretcher bullet") · JFK Research Center