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May 17, 2008 11:53 pm US/Eastern
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Rewriting RFK's Assassination
UNDATED (CBS4) ―
It was a night that changed history. Americans heard this news report, "Robert Kennedy has just been shot."
Senator Robert Kennedy died from the shots fired in the kitchen of a Los Angeles hotel.
Sirhan Sirhan was tried and convicted of the assassination, but always reiterated his innocence."I did not commit the crime," Sirhan said.
Now, forensic scientist Phil Von Praag is attempting to rewrite history with a startling revelation.
"I believe Sirhan was definitely not the only gunman," admits Von Praag. Praag's belief is based on a new computer analysis of six seconds of sound.
It's the only known recording of the assassination taken by a radio reporter. The screams were the only sounds anyone could discern for years.
But now by plotting it on a computer, filtering out the noise and slowing the speed, Von Praag has come to a new conclusion.
"There had to have been two guns," said Von Praag.
That's because he's identified 13 shots on the recording and plotted them all on his computer screen. And in two instances he's identified the shots just milliseconds apart.
"That tells us that there had to have been a second gun firing in that pantry because it's impossible for anyone to shoot an iver johnson that rapidly," said Von Praag. An Iver Johnson cadet was the gun Sirhan used. It only holds 8 bullets. The other shots, according to his audio analysis, came from an H&R 922.
Praag believes it was fired by a mystery gunman.
Von Praag has teamed with forensic expert Bob Joling on a book about their findings. Joling has studied the assassination for more than 30 years. The new analysis backs up his beliefs that Sirhan fired shots but not the fatal ones.
"He did commit a crime, but did not assassinate Robert Kennedy. He was in no position to fire his gun to inflict the fatal wounds to kill Kennedy from behind," said Joling.
So who is this mysterious gunman that fired the shots?
Conspiracy theorists have talked about a security guard. But that's something these scientists can't answer.
Both Von Praag and Joling are hoping their new findings will encourage authorities to reopen the case.
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