18 Facts About Jim Leavelle

James Robert Leavelle was a Dallas Police Department homicide detective who, on November 24,1963, was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby.

James R Leavelle was born and raised in Red River County, Texas.

Around the same time, Jim Leavelle left on a medical discharge to take a civilian supply job with the Army Air Force in Southern California.

Jim Leavelle began a career as a homicide detective in the Dallas Police Department in April 1950 and retired in April 1975.

Jim Leavelle gave interviews in which he said he saw Ruby emerge with the gun and that he had jerked Oswald by his trousers to pull him behind him when the shot was fired.

Jim Leavelle noted Graves wrestling with Ruby and that Ruby was "still trying to snap the pistol".

Jim Leavelle said he tried to talk to Oswald on the floor of the jail office but that Oswald never answered him.

Jim Leavelle said he had known Ruby before and "had recognized him" as he emerged from the crowd.

Jim Leavelle took a statement from Texas School Book Depository employee Victoria Adams on February 17,1964.

Adams had only moved into an apartment the day before Jim Leavelle knocked on her door, and she had not yet notified anyone with a change of address.

On March 25,1964, Jim Leavelle provided testimony to Warren Commission assistant counsel Leon Hubert.

Jim Leavelle testified that the first time he had ever sat in on an interrogation with Oswald was on November 24,1963.

The tan suit that Jim Leavelle wore on November 24,1963, is on display at the Sixth Floor Museum.

Jim Leavelle supported the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone and rejected conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination.

Jim Leavelle said that he joked with Oswald before the transfer, saying "Lee, if anybody shoots at you, I hope they're as good a shot as you are," meaning that the person would hit Oswald instead of Leavelle.

In December 1992, while demonstrating at his home in Garland, Texas, how L C Graves grabbed Ruby's gun in an attempt to stop him from firing, Leavelle accidentally shot researcher and photographer Bob Porter in the arm, using the same model gun Ruby had used.

In November 2011, Jim Leavelle lost an eye after a serious fall, after which he wore a glass eye.

Jim Leavelle died from a heart attack following hip surgery on August 29,2019, aged 99.