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May 5, 2008 11:57 pm US/Pacific
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2 Men Say Murder Of RFK Shouldn't Be Case Closed
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Robert Kennedy: "Thanks to all. Now it's on to Chicago...and let's win there!" It was a night that changed history.
Robert Kennedy has just been shot!
Senator Robert Kennedy...shot and killed.
Just please stay back. Just a doctor.
Convicted killer Sirhan Sirhan insists: "I did not commit the crime."
Tried and convicted.
But now a forensic scientist..."You can hear a number of the shot sounds..."
In a high-tech crime lab in Tucson..."Equalization filtering here..."
Is attempting to re-write history.
"Do you believe Sirhan Sirhan was the only gunman?" we asked.
I believe Sirhan was definitely NOT the only gunman.
Phil Van Praag's startling revelation is based on a new computer analysis of this six seconds of sound.
It's the only known recording of the assassination. Taken by a reporter. Listen again.
The screams are just about the only thing anyone has been able to discern for years. But now, by plotting it on a computer...
This high amplitude area is the beginning of the screams. Filtering out the noice and slowing the speed...
Van Praag has come to a new conclusion.
"There had to have been two guns."
That's because he's identified 13 shots on the recording and plotted them all on his computer screen.
This is shot 7 and 8.
And in two instances he's identified the shots just milliseconds apart.
That tells us that there had to have been a second gunman firing in that pantry because it's impossible for anyone to shoot an Iver Johnson that rapidly.
An Iver Johnson Cadet, similar to this one was the gun Sirhan used. It only holds 8 bullets.
The other shots, according to his audio analysis, came from an H&R 922...like this one. Fired, he says, by a mystery gunman.
Do you believe this case should be re-opened?
"In my opinion," says Van Praag, "Yes."
Van Praag has teamed with forensic expert Bob Joling on book about their findings. Joling has studied the assassination for more than 30 years. The new analysis backs up his belief that Sirhan fired shots...but not the fatal ones.
You're saying Sirhan didn't commit the crime?
"He did not commit the murder of Robert Kennedy. He did commit a crime. But he did not assassinate Robert Kennedy."
"He was in no position to fire his gun to inflict the fatal wounds to kill Kennedy from behind."
He says the mysterious second gunman actually fired those shots.
So...who was he? Conspiracy theorists have talked about a security guard. But that's something these scientists can't answer.
"It would be nice if my equipment can spew out a name. But it doesn't work that way."
There have already been at least two investigations into Kennedy's assassination. But both forensic scientists hope there will be another one. To get to the bottom of it. But a spokesperson for LA County Dictrict Attorney Steve Cooley says he hasn't read the book...and he doesn't plan on reading it anytime soon.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)