Sirhan Sirhan and the murder of RFK

On this day in 1969 Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating Robert F Kennedy.

At about 12:15 am PDT June 5, 1968 he fired a .22 Iver-Johnson Cadet revolver at the senator and surrounding crowd in the Ambassador Hotel at Los Angeles. Mr Kennedy had just finished addressing supporters in the main ballroom of the hotel.

Sirhan Sirhan subsequently struggled with and was subdued by members of the crowd which included George Plimpton, Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill, Rosey Grier, and Rafer Johnson.

Mr Kennedy sustained gunshot wounds in the head and twice in the back. A fourth bullet passed through his jacket.

He succumbed to his injuries about 26 hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital. Five others attending the event were also shot, but recovered from their injuries.

I was in the eighth grade at Horace O'Bryant Jr High School at Key West, Florida when all of this transpired. I recall how touchy my math teacher, Mrs Traywick was at the mention or misunderstanding of any statements made regarding the incident.

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan aka Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān was born March 19, 1944. He is a Palestinian Christian militant born in Jerusalem to an Arab Christian family and was convicted of murder. He is presently serving a life sentence at the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.