Union leader shot in the head at Senator Robert F Kennedy assassination dies aged 97
- Paul Schrade was among five people who were wounded but survived the June 1968 shooting of the younger brother of slain President John F Kennedy
- Schrade rose through the ranks of the United Automobile Workers Union and was deeply involved in civil rights causes, including efforts to unionise farmworkers
Paul Schrade, a labour union leader who was shot in the head during the assassination of Robert F Kennedy and spent decades convinced that Sirhan Sirhan wasn’t the killer, died Wednesday of natural causes.
He was 97 and died at his long-time Los Angeles home, said his brother-in-law, Martin Weil.
Schrade was among five people who were wounded but survived the June 1968 shooting at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy, a senator and the younger brother of slain President John F Kennedy, had just won the 1968 Democratic presidential primary in California.
“I got hit by the first shot,” Schrade had told the Los Angeles Times. “I was right behind Bobby. It was meant for him and got me. I thought I had been electrocuted. I was shaking violently on the floor and saw flashes.”
Sirhan was tackled, arrested and later convicted of Kennedy’s murder. His brother-in-law said Schrade wasn’t a friend of Sirhan but did forgive him.
Sirhan testified at his trial that he had been drinking and didn’t remember the shooting.
