BUSBOY WHO CAME TO RFK’S AID DIES AT 68

The hotel busboy who cradled a dying Robert F. Kennedy in his arms after the New York senator was shot in Los Angeles, has died. He was 68.

Juan Romero died Monday of a heart attack, longtime family friend Rigo Chacon said Thursday.

Romero was a teenager in June 1968 when Kennedy was shot in the head while walking through the Ambassador Hotel kitchen.

Romero held the mortally wounded Kennedy, struggling to keep the senator’s head from hitting the floor. He placed Rosary beads in Kennedy’s hand. “Is everybody OK?” Kennedy asked. Yes, Romero said. “Everything will be OK,” Kennedy said before losing consciousness.

The moment, captured on film, became an iconic image that haunted Romero for most of his life because Kennedy had stopped to shake his hand moments before he was shot.

JUD ESTY-KENDALL / STORYCORPS VIA AP Juan Romero holds a Los Angeles Times photograph that shows him with Sen. Robert F. Kennedy moments after Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968. Romero died Monday at age 68.