Union leader wounded during RFK slaying
Tried to prove Sirhan Sirhan was not killer
•Paulschrade, 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.
Schrade died at his longtime 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 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 convicted of Kennedy’s murder. His brotherin-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.
Schrade later became convinced that the wrong man had been imprisoned and that a second attacker who was never identified was the real killer but that fact was hushed up by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Schrade spent much of his time perusing official files and documents and touching base with others who doubted the official conclusions about the killing. The LAPD reinvestigated the slaying in the 1970s but again concluded that Sirhan acted alone.
“I know what kept Paul alive was his driving goal to have the investigation ... reopened,” Weil said.
“This was his sole reason for continuing. He was determined. He was driven,” Weil said. “He said to me just last week when he came home from the hospital: “I’ve got to get back to my desk. I have work to do.’ “
In 2016, Schrade faced Sirhan face-to-face during his 15th parole hearing for the first time since Schrade testified at Sirhan’s 1969 trial. Schrade’s voice broke with emotion.
“I forgive you for shooting me,” Schrade told Sirhan at the hearing.