Richard Randolph Carr

Richard Randolph Carr

Richard Randolph Carr was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on 29th April, 1922. He found work as a mechanic before enlisting in the United States Army on 2nd October 1942. During the Second World War he served in North Africa and took part in the fighting at Anzio where his battalion was annihilated (only 13 men survived). However, research by Duke Lane suggests that Carr might have lied about his war service.

After the war Carr worked as a steel construction worker in Dallas. On 22nd November, 1963, Carr was working on the seventh floor of the new courthouse building on the corner of Houston Street in Dealey Plaza. Just before President John F. Kennedy was shot Carr saw a heavy-set man with horn-rimmed glasses and a tan sport jacket on the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository.

After the shooting Carr saw the man emerge from the building. Carr followed the man and later told the FBI: "This man, walking very fast, proceeded on Houston Street south to Commerce Street to Record Street. The man got into a 1961 or 1962 gray Rambler station wagon which was parked just north of Commerce Street on Record Street." This evidence corroborated those claims made by Roger Craig. Both Carr and Craig described the driver of the car as being dark-skinned.

Carr's story was not believed by the authorities. The Warren Commission did not call him as a witness nor was he mentioned in any of their published evidence. A FBI agent told him that: "If you didn't see Lee Harvey Oswald in the School Book Depository with a rifle, you didn't see it." Later, several members of the Dallas Police Department raided his house in the middle of the night. They claimed that they were looking for stolen goods but he was not charged with any offence.

Carr also received threatening phone calls telling him to leave Texas. He moved to Montana. Later he found dynamite taped to his car ignition. Just before he testified in the New Orleans trial of Clay Shaw a gunman attempted to kill him. Another attempt on his life took place in Atlanta. This time he was stabbed but he managed to kill one of the two men who attacked him.

Richard Randolph Carr died in Norton, West Virginia, on 4th August 1996.

Primary Sources

(1) Michael Kurtz, Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination From a Historians Perspective (1982)

Richard Randolph Carr watched the motorcade from Houston and Commerce streets. Shortly before the shooting, he saw a man wearing a brown sport coat in an upper floor of the Book Depository building. A couple of minutes after the shooting, Carr saw this same man walking very fast heading south on Houston Street. After going around the block, the man entered a grey or green Rambler station wagon. Marvin Robinson was driving his car west on Elm Street about fifteen minutes after the shooting. He saw a man come down the grassy incline and enter a Rambler station wagon, which then drove away.

Mrs. James Forrest was standing in a group of people who had gathered on the incline near the Grassy Knoll. As she was standing, she saw a man suddenly run from the rear of the Depository building, down the incline, and then enter a Rambler station wagon. The man she saw running down and entering the station wagon strongly resembled Lee Harvey Oswald. "If it wasn't Oswald," Mrs. Forrest has declared, "it was his identical twin." The testimony of Walther, Worrel, Carr, Robinson, and Forrest all provide strong substantiation for Roger Craig's story...

Despite this impressive corroboration for Craig's testimony, the Warren Commission chose to reject it. Instead, it accepted the unsubstantiated and contradictory testimony of taxi driver William Whaley. There is no corroboration for Whaley's story. Whaley did tell the commission that when Oswald entered his cab, an elderly lady tried to enter it from the opposite side. Oswald volunteered to let her have the cab, but the lady refused because another taxi was waiting just behind Whaley's. There is no indication that the commission attempted to locate the other cab.

(2) Richard Randolph Carr was cross-examined by Jim Garrison on 19th February, 1969.

Q: Would you tell us what happened.

A: At the time the parade came down towards - going to the School Book Depository, Dealey Plaza would have been to my left where I was standing, and at the Fifth Floor of the School Book Depository I noticed a man at the third window, this man was dressed - he had on a light hat, and I saw this man later going down Houston Street, to the corner of Commerce, and then turned toward town on Commerce, and at that time before this happened I heard a single shot which sounded like a small arms, maybe a pistol, and I immediately, immediately there was a slight pause and immediately after that I heard three rifle shots in succession, they seemed to be fired from an automatic rifle...

Q: Were you able to tell from where the first shot was coming?

A: No, sir, not the first one I could not tell the direction it come from.

Q: Were you able to tell from where the three shots came from which followed?

A: Yes, I was.

Q: Where did they come from?

A: They came from the - from where I was standing at the new courthouse, they came from in this direction here, behind this picket fence, and one knocked a bunch of grass up along in this area here (indicating), this area here is flat, looking at it from here, but the actual way it is, it is on a slope up this way and you could tell from the way it knocked it up that the bullet came from this direction (indicating).

Q: Now, when you just touched the ruler to this mockup, what was the area which you were describing as the source of the three shots, can you describe it a little more precisely?

A: Yes, there was a picket fence along in this area here, it does not show it in here, and it seems the shots came from this direction, and underneath that slope there were people.

(3) John Kelin, Fair Play Magazine, In Defense of Roger Craig (November, 1994)

Roger Dean Craig was an important witness to the JFK assassination, and his testimony is highly indicative of conspiracy. By now his story has been told many times by many different writers. But it appears there are those still attempting to smear Roger Craig's name and discount what he reported seeing on November 22, 1963...

In Case Closed, Gerald Posner dismisses Craig's story as a "tale of a getaway car at Dealey Plaza," though he does not provide any information beyond this fleeting reference. Readers who know little of the JFK case beyond Posner's book might be surprised to learn there is strong evidence to corroborate the former Deputy's "tale."

A photograph turned up a few years after the assassination showing the TSBD about ten minutes after the shooting. The Hertz clock on the roof reads 12:40. That photograph shows what appears to be a Rambler station wagon in the traffic on Elm - lending support Craig's story.

Much stronger, however, is Commission Document 5, which according to author Henry Hurt "was omitted from the twenty-six volumes of Warren Commission exhibits. It finally was discovered years later in documents housed in the National Archives."

Hurt's account of Commission Document 5: "Soon after the shooting, Marvin C. Robinson was driving west along Elm Street in heavy traffic. According to an FBI report dated the next day, just as Robinson crossed the Elm and Houston intersection, he saw a "light-colored Nash station wagon" stop in front of the Book Depository. A white man walked down the grassy incline from the building, got into the Nash, and the car moved off in the direction of Oak Cliff. Robinson was unable to provide any additional information."

There are also the statements of Richard Randolph Carr, a steelworker who also said he saw a Rambler in Dealey Plaza. Carr was on an upper floor of a building that was under construction on November 22. From his position he could see into the sixth floor of the TSBD, where just before the motorcade arrived he saw a stocky man wearing a hat, sportcoat, and glasses. When the shooting stopped Carr descended to ground level, where he again saw the man in the sportcoat. Carr said he followed him for about a block and saw him get into a Nash Rambler driven by a dark-complected man.

Posner also attempts to discredit Craig's testimony of seeing Oswald in Captain Fritz' office after his arrest. Once again a photograph that surfaced a few years later seems to support Craig. It shows the Deputy at police headquarters, where he said he was, as Oswald was being interrogated in Fritz's office. Posner relegates the issue to a footnote, stating, "The picture does not show Craig in the inner office where Oswald was kept, but instead in a separate outer office." This is an extremely weak argument, for that photograph without question places Craig in the vicinity of Oswald - just like he said he was. Like any photo, it shows us one split second in time. It is unlikely Craig sat around twiddling his thumbs. It is entirely possible that Craig was in the inner office, where he said he was, either sometime before or sometime after this photograph was taken.

Furthermore, it must be remembered that none of the interrogation of Oswald was tape recorded, or even written down by a stenographer. Considering the enormity of what had occurred and the enormity of its implications, and also considering the importance of whatever could be learned from Oswald, this is incomprehensible - unless what Oswald had to say was so explosive it was suppressed. I would speculate that if that were the case, Captain Fritz might have more reason to lie than Roger Craig.

(4) Staff Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations (March 1979)

Richard Randolph Carr stated to the FBI on January 4, 1964, that he saw a man looking out of a window on the top floor of the depository a few minutes before Carr heard shots. (99) He described the man as white, wearing a hat, tan sport coat and glasses. (100) He said that at the time of the motorcade, he was standing on about the sixth floor of the new courthouse which was under construction at Houston and Commerce Streets.(101) Carr said that from that spot he could only see the top floor and roof of the depository building.(102) It was from that location that he observed the man in the depository window. (103) Carr said that after the shots he was going toward the direction of the triple underpass; when he got to the intersection of Houston and Commerce Streets, he saw a man whom he believed to be the same individual he had seen in the window of the depository. (104)

Carr was not called to testify before the Warren Commission. He did testify on February 19, 1969 in the Parish County Criminal District Court in New Orleans in State of Louisiana v. Clay L. Shaw, a case involving charges of conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy. According to the transcript of his testimony, Carr stated that he saw the man in the fifth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. (105) He said he later saw the man going down Houston Street; turning at Commerce Street. (106) Carr also described the hat worn by the man as felt and said his glasses were heavy-rimmed with heavy ear pieces. (107) He had on a tie and a tan sport coat. (108) As the man ran, he was continually looking over his shoulder as though he was being followed. (109)

During his testimony at the Clay Shaw trial, Carr also reported seeing men in Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination who were not mentioned in the report of his FBI interview in January 1964. Carr was asked during the Shaw trial if he noticed any movement after the shots which seemed "unusual." (110) Carr then said that he saw a Rambler station wagon with a rack on top parked on the wrong side of the street, heading north and facing in the direction of the railroad tracks, next to the depository. (111)

Carr said that immediately after the shots he saw three men emerge from behind the depository and enter the station wagon. (112) He gave a description of one of them: he was "real dark-complected" and appeared to be Spanish or Cuban; he drove the car away, going north on Houston Street. (113)

During the Shaw trial testimony, Carr said he had reported this information to law enforcement officers and that someone had told him not to repeat this information. (114) At that point, defense counsel objected to hearsay by carr, and no further details were elicited about the reported coercion of Carr, other than his statement that he did what the FBI told him to do, "I shut my mouth." (115)

Committee investigators did not locate Richard Carr to discuss this information with him.

99. The committee also attempted to pin down information about cars which were parked in the area of the depository at the time of the Presidential motorcade for any further identification of cars reported fleeing from Dealey Plaza.

100. Earle V. Brown was a Dallas Police Department patrolman at the time of the assassination who was assigned to stay on the railroad overpass over the Stemmons Freeway and to prevent any unauthorized persons from standing on the overpass at the time of the motorcade. In his testimony before the Warren Commission, Brown stated that he and Officer James Lomax had been ordered after the assassination to return to the area of the depository and list the license number of all cars parked in the vicinity. Brown was not asked during his testimony whether any further investigation resulted from the list of the license number or what had happened to the list.

101. Brown was interviewed by the committee in Dallas on October 26, 1978. At that time, he recalled the assignment to get the license plate numbers about an hour after the assassination. He said that about four to five officers were involved. He believed he turned the list in to Sergeant Howard, who was his supervisor. He gave no further details concerning the list or the cars parked near the Texas School Book Depository.

102. During the interview with the committee, Brown also added that soon after the Presidential motorcade passed, after the last shot was heard, Brown saw a man run down the stairs on the west side of the depository and then turn north away from the front of the building. Brown estimated that this occurred approximately 15 minutes after the shots. He said he was not able to follow the path taken by the man because of an obstructed view.

103. Brown described the man to the committee as young, of medium size, fair complexion, and not having dark hair. He said the man was dressed in light blue work pants and a shirt which was similar. He did not see anything in the man's hands.

104. Brown was shown a picture of Dealey Plaza and the depository during the committee's interview. At that time, he noted that his view of the west door world have been obscured by an add-on shed section of the building. Investigation by the committee indicated that the section was added to the building prior to 1956. There is a door there at the west side of the building, but the door is hidden by uncut bushes and trees; no determination was made of the age of the bushes trees. The doorway does face the trestle on which Brown was standing at the time of the assassination; the estimated distance to the trestle is approximately 500 yards.

105. Brown told the investigators that he had not mentioned seeing the man leaving the building when he testified before the Warren commission because he had not been asked by the Commission counsel, and also because he was not able to identify the man as Lee Harvey Oswald, although the man was about Oswald's size. Brown said he thought he had mentioned the incident to his wife and to his partner at the time, Officer Lomax.

106. Brown also mentioned that he had experienced an extrasensory perception premonition before the assassination about the President being shot by a rifle barrel protruding from a window in a brick wall.

107. The committee interviewed James Lomax in Dallas on October 27, 1978. Lomax had never been interviewed by any law enforcement officers of the Warren commission about events in Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination. During his interview, Lomax gave no information about the assignment to list the license numbers of cars in the area of the depository after the assassination. Lomax had no other information to report about persons fleeing from the depository or dealey Plaza. When asked by committee investigators about Earle Brown's report of a man leaving the depository, lomax stated that Brown never mentioned it to him and that he did not observe the reported incident.

108. The committee was unable to locate a list by the Dallas Police Department of cars parked near the depository or any other reports relating to cars leaving the area.

109. In view of the acoustics analysis that points to more than three shots being fired at the Presidential motorcade, the committee undertook to examine evidence that other bullets did in fact stride in the plaza at the time of the fatal shots. the most useful analysis of this evidence would have, of course, included a trajectory analysis to determine the path of those "bullets" and, most significantly, the point from which they were fired, in order to determine the presence of other assassins. Nevertheless, based on the reports of those witnesses made soon after the assassination, insufficient data remained to conduct such a trajectory analysis. The experts engaged by the committee to determine the path of missiles in Dealey Plaza have explained that the minimal data required would include the path of the missile, as well as its point of impact. In none of the information collected on the presence of other missiles in Dealey Plaza was that information complete. The committee, therefore, attempted to set the information out as completely as possible, even though it was not possible to conclude on the basis of the scant information remaining what those reports meant in reference to the presence of other gunmen in Dealey Plaza.

110. In an FBI interview on November 24, 1963, Mrs. Virgie Baker (nee Rackley) reported that at the time she heard the first shot, she looked in the direction of the triple underpass and saw what she presumed to be a bullet bouncing off the pavement. Mrs. Baker was located immediately across the street from the depository when she heard the shots. She thought they came from the direction the triple underpass. In the FBI report, no further details or information were given by Mrs. baker about the location or direction of the object she believed to be a bullet.

111. Mrs. Baker testified before the Warren Commission of July 112, 1964. At that time, she stated that the object she believed to be a bullet hit the pavement in the street at the point of the Stemmons Freeway sigh on Elm Street.She said it hit in the middle of the lane on the other side of the street, which would have been the left-hand lane going in the direction of the triple underpass. At first Mrs. Baker said the bullet hit behind the President's car. Then she said she could not remember whether it hit to either side or behind the President's car. Mrs. Baker said she was sure she saw the object hit before she heard the second shot.

112. Committee investigators were unable to locate Mrs. Bader.

113. In a sheriff's department notarized statement dated November 22, 1963, Royce Skelton stated that he also saw a bullet hit the pavement in the left or middle lane, to the rear of the President's car. Skelton gave this account of the sequence of events: We saw the motorcade come around the corner and I heard something which I thought was fireworks. I saw something hit the pavement at the left rear of the car, then the car got in the right hand lane and I heard two more shots. I heard a woman said "Oh no" or something and grab a man inside the car. I then heard another shot and saw the bullet hit the pavement. The pavement was knocked to the south away from the car.

114. In his Warren Commission testimony on April 8, 1964, Skelton said that he saw smoke rise from the pavement when the bullet hit. Skelton said also that the sound of the gunfire came from the area of the President's car. Skelton said he was located on the overpass directly over Elm Street at the time of the motorcade. He said the sound of the shots definitely did not come from where he was. Skelton also offered that the smoke he saw rising from the cement when the bullet hit "spread" in a direction away from the depository; he said the "spray" of flying cement went toward the west. On the photograph designated Skelton exhibit No. 1, Skelton marked where on the street he saw the bullet and in which direction he saw the "spray."

115. Committee investigators were unable to locate Royce Skelton.