The reason why Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald: What happened to him after?
It may have been more than 61 years since JFK’s assassination, but doubts still surround the killer of the president’s assassin.
More than sixty one years ago, on Nov. 24, 1963, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, believed to be the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, two days after the president was killed.
Ruby, who was part of a crowd that had gathered to watch Oswald’s transfer from the Dallas City Jail to the county jail, stepped forward and killed him with a single gunshot as he was being escorted through the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters.
The entire incident was captured on live television, as news organizations were broadcasting Oswald’s transfer.
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John F. Kennedy's assassinator, Lee Harvey Oswald, being fatally shot by Jack Ruby pic.twitter.com/Z7C1sxFlrT
— History Photographed (@HistoryInPics) May 10, 2014
Why did Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald?
Ruby’s motives for killing Oswald remain shrouded in mystery. According to the Warren Commission, which was tasked with investigating Kennedy’s assassination, Ruby acted independently when he carried out Oswald’s murder. The commission also dismissed suspicions and theories that he carried out the killing as part of a conspiracy.
The investigating body said it did not analyze Ruby’s possible motives for what he did because there were pending legal proceedings against him. The report did say that the bar owner had a volatile temper and was easily moved to violence.
24 November 1963. Nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, was charged with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. When asked why he killed Oswald, Ruby said: “I wanted to be a hero.” All he did, was to start the conspiracy theory industry that has surrounded the JFK assassination ever since. pic.twitter.com/iJ5jtS7qSz
— Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) November 24, 2023
What happened to Jack Ruby?
Ruby was immediately apprehended after shooting Oswald. He was charged with murder, and his trial began in 1964. His defense team argued that he was suffering from “psychomotor epilepsy,” which led to impulsive behavior.
Despite this defense, Ruby was found guilty of murdering Oswald on March 14, 1964, and was sentenced to death by electric chair.
5. Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963 pic.twitter.com/zVlEG7fPEl
— History On Internet (@history_thngs) December 5, 2024
While awaiting a new trial after his initial conviction was overturned on appeal, Ruby died on January 3, 1967 in a Dallas hospital from a pulmonary embolism related to lung cancer.
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Ruby’s death further fueled conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy, as some speculated about the potential motives he might have revealed for killing Oswald had he gone to trial again.
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