Why did Oswald go to the movies?

[Bill Chapman]

Because unlike the majority of Americans, who were huddled around televisions and radios to learn of the President's fate, he decided it was more important to see a Mickey Mouse short and a war movie. Totally normal behavior if you think about it.

Seems he was more interested in tennis shoes...

[Gary Craig]

A 34 inch long broken down Carcano doesn't fit in a 27 inch long bag.

Of course they could have been off by 7 inches.

It could have been twenty inches.

[Bill Chapman]

If he had plans to get away he would have brought his pistol with him and would not have needed to go back to the rooming house.

Where was he going with his pistol?

To meet his fate

[John Iacoletti]

That's not at all what Frazier and Randle said.  Your spin of what they really said would be valid if they had actually been shown the alleged murder weapon and were then asked to compare it to the bag they saw Lee carrying that morning.  Since they were not shown the rifle, you're comment above is meaningless (and untrue).

My comment is perfectly true, and you're the one trying to spin it.  Both of them estimated the length of the bag to be a size that was too short to hold the alleged murder weapon.  Furthermore, they both said that the CE142 did not look like the bag they saw.

[Bill Chapman]

How can you be sure that Oswald even knew that the president was shot?

He double-checked

 

[Tim Nickerson]

The bus driver confused Milton Jones for Oswald. 

The bus driver identified Oswald in the line-up on Nov 22 as the man on his bus who was grinning about the President being shot. McWatters also identified the bus transfer that Oswald had on him as being one that he had punched. McWatters signed an affidavit attesting to both.

[Gary Craig]

The bus driver identified Oswald in the line-up on Nov 22 as the man on his bus who was grinning about the President being shot. McWatters also identified the bus transfer that Oswald had on him as being one that he had punched. McWatters signed an affidavit attesting to both.

He recanted his ID of Ozzie.

[Joe Elliott]

He went to the movies because he  had  no plans and was aimlessly walking around and the movie theater was there and cops were around.  I know even come LNs disagree with me but I don't think there is any chance that Oswald thought he was getting out of the TSBD and didn't plan on what do do if he did. He had no plans and no place to go.

If he had plans to get away he would have brought his pistol with him and would not have needed to go back to the rooming house. How did he know the cops were not going to bust him at the rooming house? I don't think there is any way someone could shoot a President in front of all of those people and cops and think they are going to just walk out of that building. Plus if he had any real plans he would have kept more money.

I think this is exactly right. Except I don?t know any LNers who would disagree with you and say Oswald did have a plan for after the shooting. I think he did not expect to escape capture. He did not have any chance of shooting his way out of Dealey Plaza, so he did not bring a gun.

I don?t think he realized how hard it is to locate the source of a high gun shot. There is a tendency for people to assume the sound is coming from the same elevation they are at. Most people don?t look up when trying to locate the source of a sound. Owls can locate sounds in 3-D but we are better at locating sounds in 2-D, when the source is at the same elevation as us.

So I think Oswald was just putting distance between him and the boarding house, probably thinking about what to do next. Possibly try to catch a bus. Or maybe hop on a freight train. Who knows. He might not have decided yet when he was spotted by Officer Tippit, looking suspicious in some manner.