Vicki Adams: The Lost Interview

[Mitch Todd]

That's a lot of words. Too bad that most of them have hardly any significance. So, I'll only deal with the parts that are somewhat relevant.

Again, the WC transcripts aren't particularly good, and ought not be relied upon as a correct, detailed record.

Not sure if you are correct or not, but it's duly noted that you feel that the transcripts the WC relied on were in fact unreliable. Makes one wonder what else the WC used that was unreliable!

You realize that the TSBD was equipped with a very large clock on the roof, right? There is a photo of the building with the Hertz clock showing "12:40" and the red gates opened. Any claim that the building was locked down at 12:36 is demolished this photo and Mooney's testimony about it.

Not that it really matters much, as Styles re-entered the building through the front entrance, but why don't you just show the photo?

"Covered" only means that someone is watching something, whether it be building, part of a building, or whatever else. It doesn't mean "locked down," or "stop anyone from exiting or entering."

That's just your opinion. You don't know if Sawyer shared that opinion. I refer to what I said about Sawyer in my previous post;

The short answer is that Sawyer's testimony shows that DPD officers were not keeping people from entering or leaving the building until some point after Sawyer returned from the fourth floor, and that did not happen earlier than 12:39, though it may have happened a few minutes later. There were officers all around the building. To the best of my recollection, there was no officer actually stationed on the front door, at the front door. There was some on the sidewalk in front of the front door, and also, as far as I know, had no instructions been issued to anyone to let anybody in or out.

Actually, no it doesn't show that. See above. Sawyer's "to the best of my recollection" doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in what he is saying. When Sawyer returned from the 4th floor (which may have happened anywhere between 12:37 en 12:39) he was told that the building had been sealed off.

When Sawyer gave the instructions not to let anybody in or out, he was doing so because he didn't think that had been done.

Mr. BELIN. When was the order given to cover the front entrance of the building?
Mr. SAWYER. Well, they had it covered when I got there. There were officers all around the front. The only thing I don't think had been done by the time I got there, was the instructions not to let anybody in or out.

Obviously, the mere fact that Sawyer thought those instructions had not yet been given, doesn't mean that that was automatically correct.

MW: That's a lot of words. Too bad that most of them have hardly any significance. So, I'll only deal with the parts that are somewhat relevant.

No, you just couldn't deal with what I'd said, and apparently don't want to admit that I was right about Harkness' transmission.


MT: Again, the WC transcripts aren't particularly good, and ought not be relied upon as a correct, detailed record.

MW: Not sure if you are correct or not, but it's duly noted that you feel that the transcripts the WC relied on were in fact unreliable. Makes one wonder what else the WC used that was unreliable!

So you want to rely on some details within the transcripts, but don't care to know what the recordings actually show. Nice.


MW: Actually, no it doesn't show that. See above. Sawyer's "to the best of my recollection" doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in what he is saying. When Sawyer returned from the 4th floor (which may have happened anywhere between 12:37 en 12:39) he was told that the building had been sealed off.

When Sawyer gave the instructions not to let anybody in or out, he was doing so because he didn't think that had been done.


You left out something:

Mr. BELIN. So yours would have been the first instructions to stop traffic from coming in and out of the front door, am I correct in that?
Mr. SAWYER. That's right.

I've already explained in this thread why Sawyer didn't arrive until after Harkness' 12:36 transmission, and thus would not have returned from the 4th floor before 12:39.

Of the officers in Dealey plaza at the time, most of them are in the railroad yards checking cars or holding the crowd back. Denham stayed at Houston and Main, Lewis remained at Houston and Commerce directing traffic. Allen is seen in the Bond photos running for the picket fence. JM and Ed Smith both leave their posts at Elm and Houston to go to the RR yards. Neither comes back quickly. JM Smith remembered that he returned to the front of the TSBD 15-20 minutes after the shooting. Ed Smith kept checking cars all the way up the lot. King stayed in the edge of the RR yard doing crowd control. White, on the overpass, said got trapped on the West side of the tracks by a train. At 12:36, the only officer who can be said to have been near the door of the Depository is Barnett, who is actually standing off of the corner of the building so he can watch the front and East sides simultaneously. And there really isn't anyone else available, unless JM Smith comes back much much earlier than he thought. The officers required to "lock down" the building simply weren't available to do so. Which is why Harkness asks the dispatcher for assistance at 12:41, and Sawyer asks for more a few minutes later.

[Martin Weidmann]

MW: That's a lot of words. Too bad that most of them have hardly any significance. So, I'll only deal with the parts that are somewhat relevant.

No, you just couldn't deal with what I'd said, and apparently don't want to admit that I was right about Harkness' transmission.

If you say so.

MT: Again, the WC transcripts aren't particularly good, and ought not be relied upon as a correct, detailed record.

MW: Not sure if you are correct or not, but it's duly noted that you feel that the transcripts the WC relied on were in fact unreliable. Makes one wonder what else the WC used that was unreliable!

So you want to rely on some details within the transcripts, but don't care to know what the recordings actually show. Nice.

What do the recordings actually show that isn't in the transcripts abd who said that I want to rely on details in the transcripts? I'm only working with the imperfect record that is available.

But, if you prefer, I'll gladly go by what the recordings actually show, provided of course that the recordings are in fact authenticated.

MW: Actually, no it doesn't show that. See above. Sawyer's "to the best of my recollection" doesn't inspire a great deal of confidence in what he is saying. When Sawyer returned from the 4th floor (which may have happened anywhere between 12:37 en 12:39) he was told that the building had been sealed off.

When Sawyer gave the instructions not to let anybody in or out, he was doing so because he didn't think that had been done.


You left out something:

Mr. BELIN. So yours would have been the first instructions to stop traffic from coming in and out of the front door, am I correct in that?
Mr. SAWYER. That's right.

Hilarious. Sawyer confirmed in his testimony that he didn't think instructions had been given. If he didn't know that, how in the world would he know that his instructions were the first ones? Even more so, as, when he returned from the 4th floor, he was told the building had been sealed off.

Mr. BELIN. Now up to the time you did this, had anyone else sealed off the building, that you know of?
Mr. SAWYER. When I arrived, the sergeant told me he had the building sealed off.

You do understand that if the building was indeed sealed off when Sawyer arrived back from the 4th floor (as the sergeant told him), it becomes irrelevant when exactly Sawyer actually arrived back from the 4th floor and/or gave his instructions?

I've already explained in this thread why Sawyer didn't arrive until after Harkness' 12:36 transmission, and thus would not have returned from the 4th floor before 12:39.

Of the officers in Dealey plaza at the time, most of them are in the railroad yards checking cars or holding the crowd back. Denham stayed at Houston and Main, Lewis remained at Houston and Commerce directing traffic. Allen is seen in the Bond photos running for the picket fence. JM and Ed Smith both leave their posts at Elm and Houston to go to the RR yards. Neither comes back quickly. JM Smith remembered that he returned to the front of the TSBD 15-20 minutes after the shooting. Ed Smith kept checking cars all the way up the lot. King stayed in the edge of the RR yard doing crowd control. White, on the overpass, said got trapped on the West side of the tracks by a train. At 12:36, the only officer who can be said to have been near the door of the Depository is Barnett, who is actually standing off of the corner of the building so he can watch the front and East sides simultaneously. And there really isn't anyone else available, unless JM Smith comes back much much earlier than he thought. The officers required to "lock down" the building simply weren't available to do so. Which is why Harkness asks the dispatcher for assistance at 12:41, and Sawyer asks for more a few minutes later.

I've already explained in this thread why Sawyer didn't arrive until after Harkness' 12:36 transmission, and thus would not have returned from the 4th floor before 12:39.

It's just too bad that Sawyer wasn't as sure about the times than you claim to be. 

[Dan O'meara]

This interview is quite an eye-opener and certainly contradicts my own thinking on this aspect of the case.
Unsurprisingly, it hasn't crossed anyone's mind to take Vicki's words at face value - she hit the first floor approximately 60 seconds after the shooting where she saw Lovelady and Shelley stood by the elevators. This would mean Lovelady and Shelley lied in their WC testimonies about their movements after the shooting. It is notable that in their affidavits neither man makes any mention of their trip down the Elm Street extension, hanging around the railroad yard and entering the TSBD building through the little known west door.
This would make Lovelady and Shelley the two white men Baker reports seeing on the first floor on his way to the elevators:

Mr. Baker: On the first floor there were two men. As we came through the main doorway to the elevators, I remember as we tried to get on the elevators I remember two men, one was sitting on this side and another one between 20 or 30 feet away from us looking at us.
Mr. Dulles: Were they white men?
Mr. Baker: Yes, sir.

I'm a bit baffled by the LNer's rabid need to have Adams wait on the fourth floor for a few minutes before she races downstairs to find out what was going on. The available evidence (Stroud document, Dilliard photo) supports Adams' constant assertion that she raced downstairs within seconds of the shooting. The idea that the two women clattering down wooden stairs in high heels in an enclosed space could detect whether someone was descending the stairs on another floor has always seemed a bit nonsensical to me.

If we take Vicki's words at face value the question is - what are Lovelady and Shelley up to?

[Dan O'meara]

From Billy Lovelady's affidavit a couple of hours after the assassination:

"When the President came by Bill Shelly and I was standing on the steps in front of the building where I work. After he had passed and was about 50 yards past us I heard three shots.There was a slight pause after the first shot then the next two was right close together...After it was over we went back into the building..."

This is Lovelady's first statement regarding his movements around the time of the shooting. There is absolutely no indication that he left the steps at any time, no mention of making his way down the Elm Street extension with Shelley, no mention of hanging around the railroad yard watching what was going on and no mention of re-entering the TSBD building by the west door. Any reasonable reading of his affidavit has him stood on the steps,he hears the shots, then both he and Shelley go back into the building through the front door (he says "we went back into the building").

This is from Bill Shelley's affidavit:

"I was standing on the front steps at 411 Elm watching the president in the parade.The president's car was about half way from Houston Street to the Triple Underpass when I heard what sounded like three shots...I ran across the street to the corner of the park and ran into a girl crying and she said the President had been shot...I went back to the building and went inside and called my wife..."

Once again, no mention of making his way along the Elm Street extension, no mention of hanging around the railroad yard watching what was going on and no mention of re-entering the TSBD building through the west door. A reasonable reading of his affidavit has Shelley running across the street after the shooting, running into Gloria Calvary, running back to the front steps and re-entering the building through the front door.
Both men go on to relate what they did once inside the building in their affidavits but isn't it strange that both men failed to mention the exact same movements? It's as if they went back inside the TSBD building almost immediately after shots. It's as if they never went along the Elm Street extension and waited around watching the goings-on at the railroad yard.

This is from Pat Speer's website and is from an oral history interview with John Templin:

(7-28-95 Sixth Floor Museum oral history of assassination witness John Templin) (When asked if he'd discussed the assassination with other witnesses) "I also met Bill Shelley. I don’t know if you’ve met Bill or are familiar with Bill Shelly, but he was an employee down here at The Sixth Floor...(When asked if Shelley said he was outside when the shots were fired) "I believe Bill... I believe Bill was maybe on the front steps. Yeah, there were a lot of the employees out there. As best as I recall, that’s where he said he was. Then of course, when it happened, he rushed back inside the building."

He "rushed back inside the building"?
Both Lovelady and Shelley tell exactly the same lie in their WC testimonies - that Baker and Truly were still outside the TSBD steps 3 minutes after the shooting.
Why would they tell this lie? A lie exposed by the Darnell footage.
Because it keeps them away from the elevators seconds after the shooting. That's the only reason I can think of.
But Vicki Adams sees them there.
What are they doing there?
Why rush to the elevators seconds after the shooting then lie about it?

[Dan O'meara]

As we have seen, in his affidavit given on the day of the shooting, Shelley states that he ran across the street, encountered Gloria Calvary, came back to the TSBD building and went back inside.
Lovelady states that he was on the steps, heard the shots and went back inside the building. Later that day Lovelady gives a statement to the FBI:

"He said immediately after hearing the shots he and SHELLY started running towards the Presidential car, but it sped away west on Elm Street under the triple underpass. He and SHELLY then returned to the Texas School Book Depository Building."

So now Lovelady does leave the steps!  Except he's not heading to the railroad yard - he and Shelley immediately race towards where the limo was on Elm Street but it speeds away before they get there.
This is complete horsesh%t on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. The notion of them seeing the limo speeding away is bizarre. Needless to say, Shelley never mentions anything of the sort.
Next we have Shelley's FBI statement given on March 18, '64:

"Immediately following the shooting Billy N Lovelady and I accompanied some uniformed officers to the railroad yards just west of the building and returned through the west side door of the building about ten minutes later."

"Accompanied some uniformed officers"?
More horsesh%t. Lovelady never mentions this and Shelley never mentions it again. Shelley has conveniently forgotten that he raced back inside the building to call his wife and when it comes to his WC testimony he will have conveniently forgotten all about the police officers he accompanied along the Elm Street extension. He has also forgotten his encounter with Gloria. This is the first time the west door is mentioned and a handy time-frame of ten minutes is introduced before they re-entered the TSBD building. If this was the case Adams would never even have made it outside as the building would have been locked down ten minutes after the shooting!
The next day, the 19th, Lovelady is still peddling his nonsense about running to the spot where the limo was:

"I recall that following the shooting, I ran toward the spot where President Kennedy's car had stopped William Shelley and myself stayed in that area for approximately five minutes when we then re-entered the Depository building by the side door located on the west side of the building."


Here we have the two men hanging around the spot where the limo stopped for five minutes before they re-enter the building. If this was the case Adams would never have made it back inside as the building would have been locked down by the time she reached the front door. In fact, there is only one realistic scenario provided where Adams can see Lovelady and Shelley on the first floor near the elevators and still make it back inside in before the building is locked down - if Lovelady and Shelley re-enter the building immediately after the shooting.

As already stated, both men offer up exactly the same lie in their WC testimonies - that it was 3 minutes before Gloria Clavary came up to the steps and that they saw Truly and Baker outside the TSBD building steps after this. Then there are a few more minutes spent moving down towards the railroad tracks, watching what was going on, making their way back into the building and making their way to the elevators. According to their made up timelines it would have been about six minutes after the shooting before Adams saw them on the first floor (something clearly not supported by Adams, Styles, Garner, Baker, Truly, the Stroud document and the Dilliard pic).
This would not be enough time for Adams to have made her way around the back of the building, been stopped by a police officer, have some kind of interaction with him, make her way around the west side of the building to the Elm Street extension, have a conversation with Avery and hear the 12:38pm broadcast involving the second floor.

[Martin Weidmann]

From Billy Lovelady's affidavit a couple of hours after the assassination:

"When the President came by Bill Shelly and I was standing on the steps in front of the building where I work. After he had passed and was about 50 yards past us I heard three shots.There was a slight pause after the first shot then the next two was right close together...After it was over we went back into the building..."

This is Lovelady's first statement regarding his movements around the time of the shooting. There is absolutely no indication that he left the steps at any time, no mention of making his way down the Elm Street extension with Shelley, no mention of hanging around the railroad yard watching what was going on and no mention of re-entering the TSBD building by the west door. Any reasonable reading of his affidavit has him stood on the steps,he hears the shots, then both he and Shelley go back into the building through the front door (he says "we went back into the building").

This is from Bill Shelley's affidavit:

"I was standing on the front steps at 411 Elm watching the president in the parade.The president's car was about half way from Houston Street to the Triple Underpass when I heard what sounded like three shots...I ran across the street to the corner of the park and ran into a girl crying and she said the President had been shot...I went back to the building and went inside and called my wife..."

Once again, no mention of making his way along the Elm Street extension, no mention of hanging around the railroad yard watching what was going on and no mention of re-entering the TSBD building through the west door. A reasonable reading of his affidavit has Shelley running across the street after the shooting, running into Gloria Calvary, running back to the front steps and re-entering the building through the front door.
Both men go on to relate what they did once inside the building in their affidavits but isn't it strange that both men failed to mention the exact same movements? It's as if they went back inside the TSBD building almost immediately after shots. It's as if they never went along the Elm Street extension and waited around watching the goings-on at the railroad yard.

This is from Pat Speer's website and is from an oral history interview with John Templin:

(7-28-95 Sixth Floor Museum oral history of assassination witness John Templin) (When asked if he'd discussed the assassination with other witnesses) "I also met Bill Shelley. I don’t know if you’ve met Bill or are familiar with Bill Shelly, but he was an employee down here at The Sixth Floor...(When asked if Shelley said he was outside when the shots were fired) "I believe Bill... I believe Bill was maybe on the front steps. Yeah, there were a lot of the employees out there. As best as I recall, that’s where he said he was. Then of course, when it happened, he rushed back inside the building."

He "rushed back inside the building"?
Both Lovelady and Shelley tell exactly the same lie in their WC testimonies - that Baker and Truly were still outside the TSBD steps 3 minutes after the shooting.
Why would they tell this lie? A lie exposed by the Darnell footage.
Because it keeps them away from the elevators seconds after the shooting. That's the only reason I can think of.
But Vicki Adams sees them there.
What are they doing there?
Why rush to the elevators seconds after the shooting then lie about it?

As we have seen, in his affidavit given on the day of the shooting, Shelley states that he ran across the street, encountered Gloria Calvary, came back to the TSBD building and went back inside.
Lovelady states that he was on the steps, heard the shots and went back inside the building. Later that day Lovelady gives a statement to the FBI:

"He said immediately after hearing the shots he and SHELLY started running towards the Presidential car, but it sped away west on Elm Street under the triple underpass. He and SHELLY then returned to the Texas School Book Depository Building."

So now Lovelady does leave the steps!  Except he's not heading to the railroad yard - he and Shelley immediately race towards where the limo was on Elm Street but it speeds away before they get there.
This is complete horsesh%t on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. The notion of them seeing the limo speeding away is bizarre. Needless to say, Shelley never mentions anything of the sort.
Next we have Shelley's FBI statement given on March 18, '64:

"Immediately following the shooting Billy N Lovelady and I accompanied some uniformed officers to the railroad yards just west of the building and returned through the west side door of the building about ten minutes later."

"Accompanied some uniformed officers"?
More horsesh%t. Lovelady never mentions this and Shelley never mentions it again. Shelley has conveniently forgotten that he raced back inside the building to call his wife and when it comes to his WC testimony he will have conveniently forgotten all about the police officers he accompanied along the Elm Street extension. He has also forgotten his encounter with Gloria. This is the first time the west door is mentioned and a handy time-frame of ten minutes is introduced before they re-entered the TSBD building. If this was the case Adams would never even have made it outside as the building would have been locked down ten minutes after the shooting!
The next day, the 19th, Lovelady is still peddling his nonsense about running to the spot where the limo was:

"I recall that following the shooting, I ran toward the spot where President Kennedy's car had stopped William Shelley and myself stayed in that area for approximately five minutes when we then re-entered the Depository building by the side door located on the west side of the building."


Here we have the two men hanging around the spot where the limo stopped for five minutes before they re-enter the building. If this was the case Adams would never have made it back inside as the building would have been locked down by the time she reached the front door. In fact, there is only one realistic scenario provided where Adams can see Lovelady and Shelley on the first floor near the elevators and still make it back inside in before the building is locked down - if Lovelady and Shelley re-enter the building immediately after the shooting.

As already stated, both men offer up exactly the same lie in their WC testimonies - that it was 3 minutes before Gloria Clavary came up to the steps and that they saw Truly and Baker outside the TSBD building steps after this. Then there are a few more minutes spent moving down towards the railroad tracks, watching what was going on, making their way back into the building and making their way to the elevators. According to their made up timelines it would have been about six minutes after the shooting before Adams saw them on the first floor (something clearly not supported by Adams, Styles, Garner, Baker, Truly, the Stroud document and the Dilliard pic).

This would not be enough time for Adams to have made her way around the back of the building, been stopped by a police officer, have some kind of interaction with him, make her way around the west side of the building to the Elm Street extension, have a conversation with Avery and hear the 12:38pm broadcast involving the second floor.

As already stated, both men offer up exactly the same lie in their WC testimonies

Interesting and certainly food for thought. Having said that, I'm struggling to understand what possible reason Shelley and Lovelady would have to lie.

Also, if they did lie, why would Lovelady be so hesitant to identify Vickie Adams as the woman he saw?

[Richard Smith]

Forty pages of contrarian gibberish trying to interpret words and recollections after the fact down to seconds.  Words like "immediate" can mean different things to different people.  Particularly when dealing in increments of time down to seconds. No one needs to sort this out to the subjective satisfaction of loons or invent a time machine to demonstrate that Oswald could have made his way from the 6th floor to the 2nd floor unnoticed.  Logic dictates that if the evidence proves Oswald was on the 6th floor at 12:30 when the shots were fired AND that he is on the 2nd floor a couple of minutes later, that means beyond all doubt that he could move between those points without being seen by Adams.  Once a thing has happened, the odds against it happening are no longer relevant no matter how improbable.  It would be like trying to prove that no one can win the lottery because the odds are so long against it while standing in the presence of the person holding the winning ticket.  We know it could happen because it did.  The evidence places Oswald on the 6th floor (his rifle, prints and absence of any alibi) at the moment the shots were fired (i.e. 12:30) and Truly and Baker place him on the 2nd floor a couple of minutes later.  We also know that the stairs are the only way he could have gotten between those two points in that timeframe and that no one saw him do so.  That is the end of the story. 

There is no need to interpret the testimony of anyone on this point.   The circumstances prove it beyond any doubt.  Endless subjective nitpicking of testimony and interpretations of words used by witnesses to support some desired outcome is working backward to the facts.  Here is an example.  If I can prove that Roger Collins was in Paris this morning, and then in NYC this afternoon, the proof of those two facts means beyond any doubt that he took an airplane to get there.  I don't have to separately prove that he did so.   Even if no passenger on a transatlantic flight could remember him being on a plane that day, that does not create doubt.  We know it happened because it is the only way to explain his presence at those two locations within the known timeframe.  Not only is it possible that he took a plane, but the facts and circumstances prove that he HAD to have done so. 

[Dan O'meara]

Let's take Vicki's words at face value - that she raced downstairs seconds after the shooting (as she constantly maintains) and that she passed by Lovelady and Shelley on the first floor:

"And after the third shot, following that, the third shot, I went to the back of the building down the back stairs, and encountered Bill Shelley and Bill Lovelady on the first floor on the way out to the Houston Street dock."


Can we determine how quickly she took off from the fourth floor?
Below is a plan of the fourth floor of the TSBD building. Adams worked in the office of Scott Foresman Co., where she watched the motorcade pass with Sandra Styles, Dorothy Garner and Elsie Dorman. The red box indicates the 5 double sets of windows for that office. The red "A" indicates Adams' location as the Presidential limo passed by. Her colleagues crowded around that double set of windows with Elsie Dorman filming the approaching limo.



Below is a photo taken by Tom Dillard. The red box indicates the same windows. Adams was stood at the open window marked with a red "A".



When we take a closer look at the window we notice that there is no-one stood where there should be four women watching the motorcade. We can see the figure of one woman standing in the window to the left of that. As we know, Adams, Styles and Garner left office after the shooting. It appears they have left by the time this pic was taken.




The question is - how long after the assassination was this photo taken?
This is what Dillard has to say about the picture (quotes taken from Pat Speer's website):

"Bob Jackson, a photographer in my car, said, There's the rifle in that open window. In the three or four seconds it took me to locate the particular open window and make a picture, the rifle had been withdrawn."
"Bob Jackson said, “There’s a guy with a rifle up in that window.” I said, “Where?” I had both cameras around my neck, loaded, focused, cocked…Bob says, “In that window up on that building right there, it’s that top window.” I shot a picture with the wide-angle camera. I said, “Which window?” He said, “It’s the one on the right, second from the top.” By that time, I had the 100mm camera up, shot a picture of that window…."


Clearly this is literally a few seconds after the shooting has occurred as he just missed the rifle being drawn back into the window. On Mark Tyler's Motorcade Mapping website the Dillard pic is taken 11 seconds after the headshot. The limo has barely got out of the Triple Underpass

The Dillard picture is incredibly strong evidence that Adams took off running about 10 seconds after the last shot. This decision was made before the limo even reached the Underpass.

"As the car came back into view I saw that something was wrong and watched as Mrs. Kennedy appeared to be trying to climb out of the car. I saw a Secret Service man jump in and the car began speeding toward the triple underpass. Before it reached that [the triple underpass] I turned to Sandra and I said, 'I want to see what is going on.' We ran to the back of the office and down the stairs."

How long would it take a young women running full tilt in high heels to get down 3 flights of stairs - 30 seconds? 40 seconds?
Let's say her estimate of reaching the first floor one minute after the shooting is conservative, the question remains, what were Lovelady and Shelley doing there?
It must be noted, this mention of Lovelady and Shelley did not first come about during Adams' WC testimony:

 "When the President got in front of us I heard someone call him and he turned. That is when I heard the first shot. I thought it was a firecracker. Then the second shot I saw the Secret Service man run to the back of the President's car. After the third shot I went out the back door. I said, 'I think someone has been shot.' The elevator was not running and there was no one on the stairs. I went down to the first floor. I saw Mr. Shelly and another employee named Bill. The freight elevator had not moved, and I still did not see anyone on the stairs. I ran out the back door of the depository..."
(2-17-64 statement to the Dallas Police Department, box 3 folder 19 file 3 of the Dallas JFK Archive)[Speer]

What is the importance of Shelley and Lovelady lying about their movements after the assassination?
Weren't these just two innocent bystanders watching the parade?
What compelled them to race towards the back of the first floor?