Ernest Brandt was one of the closest witnesses to the assassination. In the picture below he is the man in the dark suit with the dark hat. To his left is John Templin, the man he went to watch the parade with.
Brandt has always insisted that the first shot occurred just after the Presidential limo had passed his position. The following passage is taken from a letter Brandt sent to Dave Reitzes (
https://groups.google.com/g/alt.assassination.jfk/c/ea06nf0Ktgg)
"I will attempt to clarify & explain CAREFULLY what I saw & what the "Z" film
tells me. I would like to state that I have always attempted to be VERY CAREFUL
& EXACT when communicating details about my experience to others, so I will TRY
to be precise in this letter also! But we must realize that EXACTNESS is not
always possible. For instance, I have stated many times that I was ABOUT 15
feet from JFK when the FIRST shot was fired. But I have NEVER been able to
actually measure the distance due to the CONSTANT stream of vehicles on that
part of Elm Street, so my "15 feet" is only an estimate of that distance!! But
it is a close guess. Also the "one o'clock" estimate of JFK's location at the
moment of the FIRST shot is likewise a "guess." But again, I think "reasonably"
accurate.
...It is very obvious, to me at least, that JFK has been hit
when he emerges from BEHIND the sign in frame #225 with his hands rising to his
face/mouth area -- because that is EXACTLY what I saw -- except JFK was
SLIGHTLY PAST me so I saw his arm-raising action from his RIGHT-REAR..."
This, again, is a strong indication that the first shot was the one that caused JFK to reach for his throat. This is confirmed by John Templin, the man stood to Brandt's left. This excerpt from an interview with him was taken from Pat Speer's website (
http://www.patspeer.com/more-pieces-in-the-plaza):
"Well, as the limo drew even with us, well, the president was waving and, of course, grinning. He had just a great big smile on his face, and he drew even with us, and I thought, “Well, this ‘ole country boy finally saw a president.” You know, it’s not like you see a president every day. And especially a kid from the country like I was, it was a big deal for me.
And just about, I would say, thirty feet past us, we heard what I personally thought was a motorcycle backfire, and I... the president kind of threw his shoulders up a little bit and kind of laid his head back on the back of the seat, and I thought, well, he’s just playing and playing the crowd and acting silly, you know. Being human, not knowing that he had been hit.
But the second shot was probably another forty to fifty foot further down, and it blew the right side of his head off, as near as I could tell. I was close enough that I could see that. I could see his hair depart from his head actually." (my emphasis)