Mr. BRENNAN. True location.
Representative FORD. True location of where you were sitting November
22d?
Mr. BRENNAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Brennan, I am going to hand you a negative, which has
been marked as Commission Exhibit 479.
(The document referred to was marked Commission Exhibit No. 479 for
identification.)
Mr. BELIN. This appears to be a negative from a moving picture film.
And I will hand you a magnifying glass--the negative has been enlarged.
This negative appears to be a picture of the Presidential motorcade
on the afternoon of November 22d. I ask you to state if you can find
yourself in the crowd in the background in that picture.
Mr. BRENNAN. Yes. I am sitting at the same position as I was in the
picture taken Friday, with the exception, I believe, my hand is resting
on the wall, and Friday my hand, I believe, was resting on my leg.
Mr. BELIN. Well, your legs in this picture, Exhibit 479, I notice, are
not dangling on the front side there, is that correct?
Mr. BRENNAN. No.
Mr. BELIN. What were you wearing on November 22d? What clothes were you
wearing?
Mr. BRENNAN. Gray khaki work clothes, with a dark gray hard helmet.
Mr. BELIN. Your head here appears to be the highest in the group, a
little bit left of center in the upper part of the picture, is that
correct?
Mr. BRENNAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Does this scene depict the scene as you recollect it on that
day, November 22d?
Mr. BRENNAN. It does.
Mr. BELIN. Mr. Brennan, could you please tell the Commission what
happened from the time you sat on that retaining wall, what you saw?
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, I was more or less observing the crowd and the
people in different building windows, including the fire escape across
from the Texas Book Store on the east side of the Texas Book Store,
and also the Texas Book Store Building windows. I observed quite a few
people in different windows. In particular, I saw this one man on the
sixth floor which left the window to my knowledge a couple of times.
Mr. BELIN. Now, you say the window on the sixth floor. What building
are you referring to there?
Mr. BRENNAN. That is the Texas Book Store.
Mr. BELIN. I am going to ask you to circle on Exhibit 477 the
particular window that you said you saw a man leave and come back a
couple of times.
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, I am confused here, the way this shows. But I
believe this is the sixth floor, the way those windows are built there
right at the present. I am confused whether this is the same window.
Mr. BELIN. You mean because some windows are open below it?
Mr. BRENNAN. No. The way the building is built, it seems like this is
more or less a long window with a divider in the middle.
Mr. BELIN. Here is a marking pencil. Will you just mark the window that
you believe you saw the man.
All right.
And do you want to put a letter "A", if you would, by that.
All right, now you have marked on Commission Exhibit 477 a circle with
the letter "A" to show the window that you saw a man in, I believe you
said, at least two times come back and forth.
Mr. BRENNAN. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see any other people in any other windows that you
can recollect?
Mr. BRENNAN. Not on that floor.
There was no other person on that floor that ever came to the window
that I noticed.
There were people on the next floor down, which is the fifth floor,
colored guys. In particular, I only remember two that I identified.
Mr. BELIN. Do you want to mark the window with the circle that you
believe you saw some Negro people on the fifth floor. Could you do that
with this marking pencil on Exhibit 477, please?
Mr. BRENNAN. The two that I identified, I believe, was in this window.
Mr. BELIN. You want to put a "B" on that one?
Now, after you saw the man--well, just tell what else you saw during
that afternoon.
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, as the parade came by, I watched it from a distance
of Elm and Main Street, as it came on to Houston and turned the corner
at Houston and Elm, going down the incline towards the railroad
underpass. And after the President had passed my position, I really
couldn't say how many feet or how far, a short distance I would say, I
heard this crack that I positively thought was a backfire.
Mr. BELIN. You thought it was backfire?
Mr. BRENNAN. Of a motorcycle.
Mr. BELIN. Then what did you observe or hear?
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, then something, just right after this explosion,
made me think that it was a firecracker being thrown from the Texas
Book Store. And I glanced up. And this man that I saw previous was
aiming for his last shot.
Mr. BELIN. This man you saw previous? Which man are you talking about
now?
Mr. BRENNAN. The man in the sixth story window.
Mr. BELIN. Would you describe just exactly what you saw when you saw
him this last time?
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, as it appeared to me he was standing up and resting
against the left window sill, with gun shouldered to his right
shoulder, holding the gun with his left hand and taking positive aim
and fired his last shot. As I calculate a couple of seconds. He drew
the gun back from the window as though he was drawing it back to his
side and maybe paused for another second as though to assure hisself
that he hit his mark, and then he disappeared.
And, at the same moment, I was diving off of that firewall and to the
right for bullet protection of this stone wall that is a little higher
on the Houston side.
Mr. BELIN. Well, let me ask you. What kind of a gun did you see in that
window?
Mr. BRENNAN. I am not an expert on guns. It was, as I could observe,
some type of a high-powered rifle.
Mr. BELIN. Could you tell whether or not it had any kind of a scope on
it?
Mr. BRENNAN. I did not observe a scope.
Mr. BELIN. Could you tell whether or not it had one? Do you know
whether it did or not, or could you observe that it definitely did or
definitely did not, or don't you know?
Mr. BRENNAN. I do not know if it had a scope or not.
Mr. BELIN. I believe you said you thought the man was standing. What do
you believe was the position of the people on the fifth floor that you
saw--standing or sitting?
Mr. BRENNAN. I thought they were standing with their elbows on the
window sill leaning out.
Mr. BELIN. At the time you saw this man on the sixth floor, how much of
the man could you see?
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, I could see--at one time he came to the window and
he sat sideways on the window sill. That was previous to President
Kennedy getting there. And I could see practically his whole body, from
his hips up. But at the time that he was firing the gun, a possibility
from his belt up.
Mr. BELIN. How much of the gun do you believe that you saw?
Mr. BRENNAN. I calculate 70 to 85 percent of the gun.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know what direction the gun was pointing.
Mr. BRENNAN. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. And what direction was the gun pointing when you saw it?
Mr. BRENNAN. At somewhat 30 degrees downward and west by south.
Mr. BELIN. Do you know down what street it was pointing?
Mr. BRENNAN. Yes. Down Elm Street toward the railroad underpasses.
Mr. BELIN. Now, up to the time of the shots, did you observe anything
else that you have not told us about here that you can think of right
now?
Mr. BRENNAN. Well, not of any importance. I don't remember anything
else except----
Mr. BELIN. Let me ask you this. How many shots did you hear?