Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Part of the civil rights movement
Lorraine Motel in 2022. The wreath marks King's approximate location at the time of his assassination.
Location	Lorraine Motel Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.
Coordinates	35°08′04″N 90°03′27″W / 35.1345°N 90.0576°W / 35.1345; -90.0576
Date	April 4, 1968; 56 years ago (1968-04-04) 6:01 p.m. (CST (UTC–6))
Target	Martin Luther King Jr.
Attack type	Sniper assassination
Weapons	Remington 760 Gamemaster .30-06
Victim	Martin Luther King Jr.
Perpetrators	Disputed James Earl Ray according to a criminal case Loyd Jowers and "others, including unspecified governmental agencies" according to a later civil case
Convictions	Ray: First-degree murder
Sentence	99 years imprisonment

This article is part of a series about Martin Luther King Jr.
Biography Sermons and speeches Campaigns Montgomery bus boycott Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom Youth March for Integrated Schools Albany Movement Birmingham campaign Walk to Freedom March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom St. Augustine movement Selma to Montgomery marches Chicago Open Housing Movement March Against Fear Memphis sanitation strike Poor People's Campaign Death and memorial Assassination Funeral American federal holiday passage National memorial National Historical Park
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Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights movement leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7:05 p.m. He was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience.

James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested on June 8, 1968, at London's Heathrow Airport, extradited to the United States and charged with the crime. On March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary.^[1] He later made many attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and to be tried by a jury, but was unsuccessful. Ray died in prison in 1998.^[2]

The King family and others believe that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, the mafia, and Memphis police, as alleged by Loyd Jowers in 1993. They believe that Ray was a scapegoat. In 1999, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jowers for the sum of $10 million. During closing arguments, their attorney asked the jury to award damages of $100, to make the point that "it was not about the money". During the trial, both sides presented evidence alleging a government conspiracy. The accused government agencies could not defend themselves or respond because they were not named as defendants. Based on the evidence, the jury concluded that Jowers and others were "part of a conspiracy to kill King" and awarded the family the symbolic $100 they requested in damages.^[3][4] The allegations and the finding of the Memphis jury were later disputed by the United States Department of Justice in 2000 due to perceived lack of evidence.^[5]

The assassination was one of four major assassinations of the 1960s in the United States, coming several years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and two months before the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968.^[6]