Was Hickey's AR15 in burst mode?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

The Texas Monthly November 1998 magazine -- The Witnesses -- What they saw then -- Who they are now -- By Joe Nick Patoski ------- Rosemary Willis Roach  Amarillo -- Then Fifth grader, Lakewood Elementary School -- Now Works for an Amarillo telecommunications company.  https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-witnesses/
“As the motorcade made the turn from Houston to Elm Street, they’d just gone a few feet when the first shot rang out. I didn’t know what it was, but I was looking for what I heard. And the pigeons immediately ascended off that roof of the school book depository building—that’s what caught my eye. The second shot that I heard came from behind my right shoulder. By that time the limousine had already moved farther down. And the next one, right after that, still came from the right but not from as far back—it was up some. Still behind me, but not as far back as the other one. And the next one that came was from the grassy knoll, and I saw the smoke coming through the trees, into the air, and fragments of his head ascended into the air, and from my vision, focal point, the smoke and the fragments, you know, everything met. I mean, there’s no question in my mind what I saw or what I heard.”

Rosemary's story duznt exaktly line up with Hickey's auto burst. My drawing shows that….
1.  Hickey's autoburst would have (should have) seemed to have come from near the triple underpass or low down on the grassy knoll rather than "from the grassy knoll".  And the autoburst would not have seemed to come from the fence -- however the echo would of course come from the picket fence & concrete wall & concrete shelter -- &, with the AR15 pointing away from Rosemary, it makes sense that she heard the echo moreso than the autoburst itself.
2.  The JFK fragments & the Hickey smoke could not have lined up (as seen by Rosemary).  As can be seen in my drawing, JFK must have been well left of the smoke, especially as the wind would have been pushing the smoke away from JFK. 
3.  And, as can be seen in my drawing, the (a) fragments & the (b) smoke & (c) the direction of the (echo of the) shot should not have lined up with the (d) grassy knoll (Rosemary infers that all 4 lined up).
4.  As the seconds passed, the smoke would have drifted towards Rosemary, hence the cloud of smoke is unlikely to have later appeared to be hovering over or near the trees (she said through the trees) or near the fence.

My drawing shows the JFK limo & Queen Mary at Z313 the time of the headshot.  The smoke from the autoburst would have started at say Z300.  I show a trail of smoke about 25' long.  Its difficult to know how much wind there was at Queen Mary – the triple underpass might have blocked the wind – which would have resulted in a gusty wind, sometimes zero & sometimes strong -- & the windshield would have blocked the  wind, resulting in an additional gust factor.

In the Bell footage we see that, 8 seconds after Z313, SSA Landis has his open jacket severely inverted by the wind, & he takes a long time & long struggle to get his jacket back in place – hence the gusts must have been very strong. Actually, by that time, Queen Mary would have been speeding, hence that "gust" might have been mainly due to speed.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Hickey had to lift the AR15 high enuff to swing it well over O'Donnell's head to Hickey's right to target the TSBD.
Hence the AR15 might well have been lifted to be at Hickey's chin height or higher, ie even if Hickey did not rise up from his half sitting half standing pozzy on the rear seat (but we know from the Bronson B07 that Hickey did rise a half head in B07).

Yes, Hickey accidentally shot JFK. It was rotten luck – he was just doing his job.
Why is O'Donnell gripping the grip on the front seat – this Willis pix was at Z202 – praps O'Donnell was still reacting to Oswald's shot-1 at Z113, back at the overhead signals -- & Oswald's shot-2 has yet to happen (at Z218).
O'Donnell's grip will tighten at Z218 -- & then he will yank the grip clear offa the seat at Z300 when Hickey starts his autoburst.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Rosemary Willis said that the JFK limo had gone just a few feet along Elm St when the first shot rang out – this supports the theory that Oswald's shot-1 ricocheted offa the overhead signal arm at say pseudo Z113.
But, the main thing i wanted to say is that Oswald's shot-1 was pointed as per the orange line in my drawing, & would have hit the tarmac at the orange star if it hadnt hit the signals.
Which as can be seen means that Oswald's Carcano was aimed directly at Rosemary where she stopped running (directly in the horizontal but not in the vertical).  She would have gotten an earful of direct blast & of echo blast.  No wonder that she stopped running.  Just saying.
I noticed that Rosemary was actually standing at about the blue star, not the red star.  But this error duznt much affect my comments in my previous posting.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

I have been saying that the AR15 accidentally fired when Hickey fell forward when Kinney braked.  But, i wish to point out that if Hickey lifted the AR15 high up over O'Donnell's head, ie possibly higher than Hickey's chin, ie to above the level of the red line showing the needed trajekt, then, in the process of lifting the AR15 on that awkward kind of angle/grip, Hickey might have accidentally sqeezed the trigger, in which case the accidental sqeez might not have relied on Hickey falling forward -- Hickey might have fallen forward (as per one witness)(& then fallen backwards as per several witnesses), but that fall might not have been an essential ingredient in the accidental autoburst -- simply lifting the AR15 might have done the trick.  Just saying.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Link to early AR15 & types of selector.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/The-Complete-1958-ArmaLite-AR-15-Prototype-Guide-Version-2-/123-747449/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/The-Complete-ArmaLite-AR-15-Prototype-Guide/123-743191/#

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Here JFK is holding they said an M16 (i am fairly sure that there was no such thing as an M16 in 1963) which is the military version of the AR15 that killed him (in 1963 only the AR15 existed).
I reckon that it is an AR15 601.  1000 were sent to Vietnam for use by the Vietnamese. The M16 version came later.
We know that the Secret Service got their AR15 from the USAF (just the one i think)(the USAF got 8500).
I reckon that the AR15 that JFK is holding is the one that was kept for use by his Secret Service.
I reckon that JFK is holding the AR15 that killed him 7 months later.
That 601 model had a slamfire problem where the AR15 would accidentally fire during loading or cocking or if bumped or something.  The next model the 602 solved that by taking 2gm off the firing pin.

The Secret Service did the correct thing when they retired their new AR15 after only one day's use. That model was murder. Menninger (Mortal Error) said...
"……….It is possible Kennedy himself was responsible for ensuring the new weapon ended up in the hands of his protection detail. It is even conceivable the rifle shown in the president’s hands was the one Hickey carried in Dealey Plaza……"

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

Holland would have seen smoke from the autoburst & might have later remembered it as being in the trees.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

As can be seen in Moorman's polaroid there is no shooter at the fence.
And we know that there was no outshoot on the lhs of JFK's head.