The Most Notable Assassins in U.S. History

Sirhan Sirhan, 1968
On June 5, 1968, when Sen. Robert F. Kennedy went to greet supporters following his victory in California's Democratic presidential primary, Sirhan Sirhan emerged from the crowd and fatally shot Kennedy three times at close range. (A fourth bullet passed through Kennedy's jacket.) Sirhan, a Jordanian immigrant, said he targeted Kennedy because the senator had supported Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Sirhan was given the death penalty, a sentence later commuted to life in prison when California abolished the practice in 1972. Sirhan has been denied parole more than 12 times and continues to serve time in a California prison.

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