Bio & Incident Details
Age: 39
Tour: 11 years, 4 months
Badge # 848
Military veteran
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 11/22/1963
Weapon: Handgun; .38 caliber
Suspect: Shot and killed
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Officer J. D. Tippit was shot and killed attempting to apprehend the assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
At approximately 1314 hours, 45 minutes after President Kennedy was shot, Officer Tippit stopped the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was on foot and who fit the general description of the assassin that was being broadcast at Tenth and Patton Streets. The suspect walked over to the passenger side of Officer Tippit's patrol car. Officer Tippit and Oswald spoke briefly through an open vent window, then Officer Tippit got out of his car. As Officer Tippit walked toward the front of his patrol car, he was shot three times at point blank range with a .38 caliber revolver. He was then shot in the head by Oswald while laying on the pavement, which proved to be the fatal shot.
A citizen that witnessed the shooting used the police radio in Officer Tippit's patrol car to alert other officers of the shooting.
Oswald was apprehended after he was seen by an alert citizen who witnessed the incident as he was hiding in a movie theater. Oswald was later shot and killed by a citizen while in police custody.
In January 1964, Officer Tippit was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor from the National Police Hall of Fame and also received the Police Medal of Honor, the Police Cross, and the Citizens Traffic Commission Award of Heroism.
Officer Tippit had been employed with the Dallas Police Department for 11 years and had served with the United States Army in World War II where he earned the bronze star. He is survived by his wife, daughter, and two sons, parents, four brothers, two sisters, and his grandmother. He is buried in Laurel Land Memorial Park, in Dallas, Texas.
