THE MURDER OF J.D. TIPPIT By John Armstrong It may seem hard to imagine why anyone would plan to murder a uniformed Dallas policeman in broad daylight in front of numerous eyewitnesses, but it was simply the final act in the long drama in which LEE Oswald framed HARVEY Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy. Tippit had to be eliminated, because he knew both LEE Oswald and HARVEY Oswald. As LEE Oswald shot and killed Officer Tippit, circa 1:06 PM, HARVEY Oswald was sitting in the lower section of the Texas Theater, moving from seat to seat looking for his contact. After killing Tippit, LEE Oswald left the scene and began walking toward the Texas Theater. He likely met up with Capt. Westbrook near the alley and the Abundant Life Church behind the Texaco station, and was likely driven to the theater by Westbrook in order to avoid possible arrest while walking to the theater. At first it may seem bizzare to think that LEE Oswald, after murdering Tippit, would be driven in a police car to the theater. However, after careful consideration it appears that driving LEE to the theater may have been the only practical solution. Minutes after Tippit was killed the police were looking for the suspect, who was last seen walking west on Jefferson Blvd. If LEE Oswald had been stopped and arrested by police anywhere between 10th and Patton and the theater, the whole carefully planned operation to blame HARVEY Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy and Officer Tippit would have been compromised. HARVEY Oswald, sitting quietly in the theater, could not be blamed for killing Tippit nor blamed for killing President Kennedy. Therefore, it was absolutely imperative that LEE Oswald arrive quickly and safely at the Texas Theater, and who could take LEE Oswald to the theater without fear of being arrested by the police? Captain Westbrook, who I believe drove from the parking lot behind the Texaco station, through the alleyway (between Jefferson Blvd. and 10th St.), and dropped off LEE Oswald in the alley behind the theater. LEE walked thru the narrow walkway from the alley to Jefferson Blvd, quietly bought a theater ticket from Julia Postal, and hurried up the stairs to the balcony. Not a single person saw LEE Oswald, wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants, walking toward or entering the Texas Theater. En route to the theater I believe that LEE Oswald removed his jacket and then left his jacket, wallet, and .38 revolver with Westbrook. In less than an hour these items would be used by Westbrook to identify the suspect as HARVEY Oswald, the man who shot and killed Tippit. Within 30 minutes Westbrook planted and then "found" the jacket given to him by LEE Oswald in the parking lot behind the Texaco station. A few minutes later Westbrook was at 10th & Patton, showing fellow police officers the wallet given to him by LEE Oswald which contained identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and A. Hidell, which linked HARVEY Oswald to the Manlicher carcano rifle and the assassination of President Kennedy. A half hour later, at police headquarters, Westbrook switched LEE Oswald's .38 revolver (the murder weapon) with the .38 revolver taken from HARVEY Oswald at the theater that was brought to the personnel office (Westbrook's office) by officer Gerry Hill. Capt. Westbrook was instrumental in framing HARVEY Oswald as the man who murdered Officer Tippit. Around 1:13 PM LEE Oswald, following orders and avoiding attention, purchased a theater ticket from Julia Postal and quietly walked up to the balcony in the theater, where he could observe HARVEY in the lower section. LEE Oswald was to remain in the theater until the police arrived and either shot or arrested HARVEY Oswald. If HARVEY did leave the theater, LEE was probably instructed to follow HARVEY outside. At this time, circa 1:13 PM, it is important to remember that both LEE (white t- shirt) and HARVEY (long sleeve dark brown shirt) had purchased theater tickets and were sitting quietly in the theater--and there was no reason for anyone to be alarmed and call the police !! Twenty minutes later Johnny Brewer claimed to have seen a very nervous "Lee Harvey Oswald," wearing a dark brown shirt, duck into the entrance of his shoe store as police cars drove past and then claimed to have seen Oswald sneak into the theater. But Brewer did not see either LEE nor HARVEY sneak into the theater, because both men were already in the theater. I believe it was Tommy Rowe, who also worked in the shoe store, that told Brewer he saw a man, wearing a long sleeve brown shirt, duck into the entrance of the shoe store and then sneak into the theater. What is going on ?? I believe that Brewer, assuming that Tommy Rowe was telling the truth, hurried to the theater and asked Julia Postal (cashier) if she had sold a ticket to a man who had hurried or snuck into the theater. Postal called the police while Brewer went inside the theater and told Butch Burroughs about the suspicious man. Burroughs said that he had not seen this "suspicious" man, and assumed the man went directly to the balcony. Julia Postal called the police, but she was not the only person to call the police. According to researcher Leo Sauvage (who interviewed Dallas Assistant District Attorney Jim Bowie), "there were over a half-dozen anonymous phone calls made to the Dallas Police advising that a suspicious man had gone into the Texas Theater." I'll bet one of these phone calls was made by Tommy Rowe, a very close friend of Jack Ruby's. As Brewer was looking for the suspicious man in the theater, Capt. Westbrook was at 10th & Patton showing fellow police officers the wallet given to him by LEE Oswald that contained identification for Lee Harvey Oswald and Alex Hidell. A few minutes later, after receiving a "half dozen anonymous phone calls," the police dispatcher announced that a suspect had entered the Texas Theater and was hiding in the balcony. Soon, over a dozen Dallas cops arrived at the theater while HARVEY was still on the main floor. Police were looking for a suspect wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants (LEE Oswald), but HARVEY had been sitting in the lower section since 1:01-1:07 PM wearing a long sleeve dark brown shirt. Inside the darkened theater it was Tommy Rowe (not Johnny Brewer), who told police the man in the long sleeve brown shirt was their suspect. But how would Tommy Rowe (or Brewer) know the color and style of HARVEY Oswald's shirt when he had never seen this man enter the theater? Perhaps from his good friend, Jack Ruby. From the balcony LEE was insulated a bit as HARVEY was arrested, but after hearing the commotion below began to leave the balcony area and walk down the stairway. As Deputy Sheriff Bill Courson was running up the stairs he passed by a young man and later said "he was reasonably satisfied in his own mind the man he saw was Lee Harvey Oswald." Seconds later LEE Oswald was stopped by police Lt. Cunningham and Detective J.B. Toney, who began to question him, perhaps because his clothing matched the most recent police description of the suspect wearing a white t-shirt and dark pants. As Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walthers rushed up the stairs, he saw these officers as they were questioning the young man. Capt. Westbrook, in charge of personnel, was the highest ranking police officer at 10th & Patton and at the Texas Theater. Seconds after HARVEY Oswald was arrested Capt. Westbrook, who surely knew that LEE Oswald was upstairs in the balcony, told police officers to "cover his face--HARVEY Oswald's face--and get him out of here." As HARVEY Oswald was taken out the front of the theater, Capt. Westbrook walked toward the back of the theater to the fire door exit by the alley. A few minutes later LEE Oswald was arrested in the balcony and brought downstairs. Theater concessionaire Butch Burroughs saw a man who "looked almost like Oswald, like he was his brother or something" taken out the back of the theater in handcuffs "three or four minutes" after HARVEY Oswald was taken out the front of the theater. Bernard Haire, the owner of Bernie's Hobby House, two doors east of the theater, saw police take this man out the back of the theater and place him in a police car. Mr. Haire thought he had witnessed the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald in the alley behind the Texas Theater. But the man seen by Mr. Haire was LEE Oswald, and not HARVEY Oswald, who had been taken out the front of the theater and driven directly to police headquarters. The identity of the police officer(s) who placed LEE Oswald in the police car in the alley and drove away remain unknown. But within minutes a high ranking police officer, certainly not a patrolman, released LEE Oswald. Who was this high ranking police officer who had the authority to release LEE Oswald, instead of taking him to police headquarters? Likely Capt. Westbrook. The arrest of HARVEY Oswald, and framing him as the "patsy," for the assassination of President Kennedy and the murder of Officer Tippit was now complete. Following are the details.... The Pre-arranged murder of Officer J.D. Tippit As the evidence that follows will show, the murder of Dallas Police officer J.D.