The testimony of C. T. Walker was taken at 1:30 p.m., on April 3, 1964,
in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office Building, Bryan and
Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. David W. Belin, assistant counsel
of the President's Commission.
Mr. BELIN. Do you want to stand and raise your right hand and be sworn?
Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give will be
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. WALKER. I do.
Mr. BELIN. What is your name, please?
Mr. WALKER. C. T. Walker.
Mr. BELIN. What is your occupation, Mr. Walker?
Mr. WALKER. Accident investigations at the Dallas Police Department.
Mr. BELIN. How old are you?
Mr. WALKER. I am 31 years old.
Mr. BELIN. Married?
Mr. WALKER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Family?
Mr. WALKER. One child. One girl.
Mr. BELIN. How long have you been with the Dallas Police Department?
Mr. WALKER. Five years in July.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do prior to that?
Mr. WALKER. I worked in Chance Vought Aircraft, in Grand Prairie.
Mr. BELIN. Where were you born?
Mr. WALKER. Stephenville, Tex.--I wasn't born there, I am sorry. I was
born in Slaton, Tex.
Mr. BELIN. Where were you born?
Mr. WALKER. Slaton, Tex.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you go to school?
Mr. WALKER. Stephenville, Tex.
Mr. BELIN. Did you you go to high school there?
Mr. WALKER. I didn't finish high school.
Mr. BELIN. How far did you finish?
Mr. WALKER. Tenth grade.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. WALKER. I went to work at that time for Consolidated Aircraft in
Fort Worth, Tex.
Mr. BELIN. How long did you work for them?
Mr. WALKER. Approximately 2 years.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do?
Mr. WALKER. Aircraft mechanic work.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. WALKER. I worked--I went back to Slaton, Tex., and worked for my
uncle there for 1 year drilling irrigation wells.
Mr. BELIN. After that what did you do?
Mr. WALKER. I came back to Grand Prairie and went to work there and
worked there 5-1/2 years.
Mr. BELIN. Doing what?
Mr. WALKER. Aircraft mechanic and electrical work.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do?
Mr. WALKER. I came to work for the Dallas Police Department.
Mr. BELIN. When was that?
Mr. WALKER. 1959, July the 27th.
Mr. BELIN. And you have been there ever since?
Mr. WALKER. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Were you on duty on November 22, 1963?
Mr. WALKER. Yes; I was.
Mr. BELIN. Will you state where you were on duty around 12 or 12:30 or
so on that day?
Mr. WALKER. I was at Jefferson and Tenth Street at the fire station.
Mr. BELIN. Is that in the Oak Cliff section there?
Mr. WALKER. Yes; it is.
Mr. BELIN. What were you doing there?
Mr. WALKER. I was cruising the area and I had heard on the radio about
the disturbance downtown, so I checked out at the fire station. I
didn't check out. I just stopped and went in and listened to the news
broadcast to find out in more detail what happened.
Mr. BELIN. Were you cruising alone at that time?
Mr. WALKER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Is it general procedure for officers cruising in the daytime
to work alone or in pairs?
Mr. WALKER. Accident investigations, we work alone. That is day and
night.
Mr. BELIN. Day and night?
Mr. WALKER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. What about nonaccident investigation? Do you know offhand?
Mr. WALKER. Radio patrol work, one man during the day. Second and third
platoon, they work two men.
Mr. BELIN. That would be the second platoon would come to work about 4
in the afternoon?
Mr. WALKER. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you know Officer J. D. Tippit?
Mr. WALKER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Ever work with him at all?
Mr. WALKER. I believe I have. I can't recall. I worked at the same
substation he did before I transferred downtown, and I knew him quite
well. I talked to him. He worked at Austin, and I have talked to him
there.
Mr. BELIN. Well, let's leave Officer Tippit for the moment and return
to the fire station. You were there and you say you called in around
shortly after you heard the news?
Mr. WALKER. Yes. I went directly there. I was about a block away or
might have been in the block I don't recall exactly.
Mr. BELIN. You mean a block away from the fire station?
Mr. WALKER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do when you called in?
Mr. WALKER. I didn't call in. I just went in there and looked. They
have a television there, and they broadcast that the President had been
shot.
I had my radio up so I could hear from the door, and I went back out to
my car. They were sending squads downtown, Code 3.
And I don't recall, I don't believe they actually sent me. I just went
on my own because they normally don't send us in this type of call.
Mr. BELIN. So you went on your own where?
Mr. WALKER. I went to the Texas School Book Depository.
Mr. BELIN. That is at Elm and Houston?
Mr. WALKER. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you park your car?
Mr. WALKER. Right in front of the building.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do after you got your car parked?
Mr. WALKER. Went inside the building.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you go inside?
Mr. WALKER. I went right inside the front doors there and the hallway
there and I stayed in there.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do?
Mr. WALKER. Well, there was squads of police upstairs supposedly
searching the building out, and someone said they have enough upstairs,
so I didn't go upstairs.
Mr BELIN. What did you do when you were downstairs?
Mr. WALKER. We were checking persons as they came in the building.
Mr. BELIN. Did you keep people from coming in or going out, or what?
Mr. WALKER. We didn't let anyone in or out except policemen.
Mr. BELIN. About how soon after you saw the telecast do you think you
got down there?
Mr. WALKER. Ten or fifteen minutes.
Mr. BELIN. Was the building sealed off at that time?
Mr. WALKER. Yes; it was.
Mr. BELIN. Did anyone tell you when they got it sealed off, or not?
Mr. WALKER. No; they didn't.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do after that?
Mr. WALKER. I heard that an officer had been killed in Oak Cliff, had
been shot, and I got back in my car and started off. A newsman ran up
to the window and said, "Can I ride with you," and I let him get in the
car and I went to Oak Cliff and 10th Street, and drove by the scene.
In fact, there was two newspapermen, but one got out at the scene where
Officer Tippit was killed.
Mr. BELIN. Was Officer Tippit's car still there?
Mr. WALKER. Yes; it was still there.
Mr. BELIN. Do you have any recollection--did you take a look at the car
or not?
Mr. WALKER. I didn't really look real close.
Mr. BELIN. Did you talk to any witnesses there?
Mr. WALKER. No; I didn't get out.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do then?
Mr. WALKER. I started up cruising the area, and I went up the street
that runs north and south and faces the, runs into the library at
Jefferson and Marsalis, and I saw a white male running east across the
lawn of the library.
I was still approximately three-fourths of the block from Jefferson,
and he was even south of Jefferson.
Mr. BELIN. How far would he have been from you then when you saw him?
Mr. WALKER. He was over a block.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Mr. WALKER. I put out a broadcast on the air that there was a person
fitting the description on the air that was seen running in front of
the library, and I gave the location and said I will be around at the
back. I ran around to the back of the library and other squads then
surrounded the library.
Mr. BELIN. You were not the one that put out the first description of
the suspect they sought?
Mr. WALKER. I didn't. The newspaperman was still with me at that time.
Mr. BELIN. What was the description, if you remember, over the radio as
to what you were looking for?
Mr. WALKER. A white male, slender build, and had on a light-colored
coat or shirt, and that is the best I can recall.
Mr. BELIN. All right.
Mr. WALKER. About 30 years old, I think he said.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you do? Did you go into the library?
Mr. WALKER. As soon as the squads got there, I walked around with the
other squads to the west entrance of the building, and we ordered
everyone out of the building. They all came out with their hands up.
Mr. BELIN. Was this the upstairs?
Mr. WALKER. No; it is the downstairs. You had to go downstairs to get
to it.
Mr. BELIN. Something like a basement?
Mr. WALKER. Yes. It is a semibasement, I would call it. And everyone
came out, and I saw the person that had run in there, and he said that
he had ran there to tell the other people about the shooting. And let's
see, that he worked there, he told me he worked there and everything. I
soon determined he wasn't the one.
Mr. BELIN. Then what happened?
Mr. WALKER. I got back in my car and started cruising the area again.
I went up and down the alleys and streets. And there was one incident
that really didn't have anything to do with it. I guess I was cruising
up the alley with the newspaperman in the car, and I saw a man in long
white sleeves, white shirt, walking across the parking lot there of the
church, and I couldn't see below his legs, and there was a picket fence
there, and when he got about 30 feet from me, I stopped the car, and he
was walking toward me, and I had my gun in my lap at the time, and I
said, "What is your name?" And he just looked at me. And at that time I
didn't know whether he had a rifle or what he had, and he just looked
at me, and he bent over, and I stuck my gun in the window and he raised
up and had a small dog and he said, "What did you say?" And of course
that newspaperman said, "My God, I thought he was going to shoot us."