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Former Deputy: Finding Oswald Rifle Was Chance

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Nov 17, 2008 5:00 pm US/Central

Former Deputy: Finding Oswald Rifle Was Chance

CBS 11 is looking back at the JFK tragedy in Dallas 45 years ago. This week, we will spotlight people who were there or played a role in the subsequent days.

Former Deputy Tells Story Of Finding Weapon In Texas School Book Depository After JFK Assassination

Reporting
Jay Gormley
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― It seems 70-year-old Gene Boone will always have a hand to shake. That's because he has one incredible story to tell.

"It was chaos … just pandemonium out there," the former Dallas County Sheriff's deputy recalled recently.

Boone was in Dealey Plaza when three shots rang out killing President John F. Kennedy.

Like dozens of the other officers that day, he immediately went searching for the shooter.

It was simply by chance that Boone reached the sixth floor of the then Texas School Book Depository. (The seven-story building is now the Dallas County Administration Building.)

"There were different officers who were taking different floors," he explained. "The officers I was with just happened to come to the sixth floor. "

He said the floor was covered by stacks of boxes, which made it difficult to find the obvious.

"I was just down looking in all the cracks and crevices -- looking for something that didn't belong there," Boone said.

Another officer discovered the window where it was to be reported that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots.

It was Boone, however, who found the key piece of evidence -- completely across the other side of room.

"The crevice was just about this wide," the aging Boone motioned with his hands during an interview weeks before the nation would commemorate the 45 years since Kennedy's assassination.

"It looked like it was stuck hurriedly in the crevice. The weapon was up on its barrel and the stock was in an upright position. I said, "Here's the rifle!' Of course, everybody wanted to come over and take a look."

Officials believe Oswald attempted to hide the rifle among several boxes in the southwest corner of the Sixth Floor before making his escape down this nearby stairwell.

As a significant part of history, Boone knows he will always have a story to tell. And odds are, he'll always have someone to listen.

"You can take information like this and a couple of dollars and get a cup of coffee almost anywherem" he quipped.

The former deputy will speak at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dealey Plaza as part of the museum's "The 45th: Remembering President Kennedy" daytime series. 

Click here to see a complete list of the events, which are all open to the public with museum admission.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

45 Years Later: A Look Back At JFK Assassination

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