Man who held RFK at end still inspired

Romero felt guilty about candidate’s pause before fatal shooting

LOS ANGELES — Juan Romero was a teenage Mexican immigrant working as a hotel busboy 50 years ago when he was thrust into one of the seminal moments of the decade.

Romero had just stopped to shake Robert F. Kennedy’s hand on the night of Kennedy’s victory in the California presidential primary on June 5, 1968, when a gunman shot the New York senator in the head. Romero held a wounded Kennedy as he lay on the cold floor of the Ambassador Hotel kitchen.

For almost a half-century, Romero often asked, What if Kennedy hadn’t stopped for that brief moment to shake my hand? The torment ate at Romero so much that he fled Los Angeles and resettled in seclusion in Wyoming.

Nearly 50 years after that tragic early morning, the 67-year-old Romero doesn’t bear the same guilt, thanks in part to the support of RFK fans who say the former busboy was an example of the type of people Kennedy sought to help in making racial equality and civil rights a cornerstone of his life’s work.

Romero recently made himself available for the Netflix documentary “Bobby Kennedy for President,” StoryCorps and others to talk about the hope RFK inspired.

“I still have the fire burning inside of me,” Romero told The Associated Press.

Born in the small town of Mazatan, Mexico, Romero moved to Baja California until his family received permission to bring him to the United States as a 10-year-old.

When Robert Kennedy announced he would run for president, Romero got caught up in the excitement.

Then came the day Romero met Kennedy. The day before the California primary, Kennedy and his aides ordered room service at the Ambassador Hotel. Romero came into the room with other busboys. He saw Kennedy toward the back, and Kennedy waved Romero to come forward.

“All I remember was that I kept staring at him with my mouth open,” Romero said.

In the Embassy Room, Kennedy thanked supporters. After Kennedy’s victory speech, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta tried to usher Kennedy to another room where mariachis were waiting to play. Kennedy walked downstairs and decided to go through a hotel kitchen and meet with reporters waiting on the other side.

In the kitchen, Kennedy saw Romero. Romero stuck out his hand, and Kennedy stopped to shake it. During that pause, a man ran toward Kennedy and opened fire. Several men, including Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson and Los Angeles Rams football player Roosevelt Grier, jumped on the gunman.

Romero ran to Kennedy. News photographers captured pictures of Romero next to the bloodied Kennedy — images that would be seen all over the world.

The Associated Press Juan Romero, 67, at his home in Modesto, Calif., holds a photo of himself and the dying Sen. Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was taken by the Los Angeles Times’ Boris Yaro on June 5, 1968.