By nearly all accounts, Sirhan had been in front of Kennedy and had never gotten closer than several feet. This meant that the shot must have come from behind Kennedy and that the muzzle of the gun must have been within an inch or so of Kennedy's head when it was fired. Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi conducted the autopsy on Robert Kennedy's body and discovered that not only had Kennedy died from the shot that entered just below and behind his right ear but that there were scorch marks around the entry wound.
"I kneeled down to him and I could see his lips moving, so I put my ear next to his lips and I heard him say, 'Is everybody OK?' I said, 'Yes, everybody's OK.' I put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable." Romero spoke to Stor圜orps earlier this year and recounted the events of that night - a night that would haunt him for decades. A friend, Rigo Chacon, told the Los Angeles Times that Romero had died following a heart attack he suffered a few days earlier. A remarkable photograph captured the scene: young Romero, an immigrant from Mexico, cradling the glassy-eyed Kennedy, member of an American political dynasty. He had met the candidate the day before, bringing him room service at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.Īs Kennedy briefly paused to shake the hand of the 17-year-old, a man named Sirhan Sirhan gunned down Kennedy in front of Romero. Robert Kennedy moments after his victory in the California presidential primary.
On June 5, 1968, hotel busboy Juan Romero raced to congratulate Sen.