What most media don’t tell you about the release of Sirhan Sirhan

Terrorist Sirhan Sirhan shot Senator Robert F. Kennedy at point-blank range while he was campaigning for president.  The notorious assassin was never supposed to be released and had been originally recommended for execution.

Governor Gavin Newsom is about to sign his release. Perhaps Sirhan Sirhan will be deported to Jordan.

The media keeps reporting that two of the Kennedy sons called for the notorious killer of the sitting US senator be released. That’s what the media wants you to hear. What most of the media don’t tell you is most of the family wants him to remain in prison.

Douglas Kennedy, one of Kennedy’s sons, attended the hearing on Friday and urged the commissioners to release Mr. Sirhan, a Jordanian citizen who would likely be deported if they did not think he was a threat.

“I do have some love for you,” he told Mr. Sirhan at one point, who nodded and lowered his head, according to the NY Times.

That’s not satire. It is what he said to the man who killed his father, who was a well-respected, extremely popular leader and the father of 11 children.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with Mr. Sirhan in 2017 and said in a letter to the board that the Sheriff’s Department’s letter did not speak for him and that he thought Mr. Sirhan should be released. His son Robert F. Kennedy III attended the hearing but did not address the board.

A majority of Kennedy’s children issued a statement late on Friday opposing Mr. Sirhan’s release, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had submitted a letter to the board that it said was on behalf of the Kennedy family

In Friday’s statement, six of Kennedy’s nine surviving children said they were “devastated” by the recommendation that Mr. Sirhan will be released.

They had largely avoided engaging in the parole process because of how traumatic their father’s death had been, they said, but felt compelled to denounce the recommendation, which they said caused “enormous additional pain.”

The siblings urged the full parole board or Mr. Newsom to reverse the decision. “It is a recommendation we intend to challenge every step of the way,” they said.

RFK’s Last Words

Juan Romero was only 17 years old when Bobby Kennedy visited the hotel where he worked and the Senator was touring the kitchen when the young man asked for a handshake.

“I remember extending my hand as far as I could, and then I remember him shaking my hand,” Juan told NPR’s Morning Edition. “And as he let go, somebody shot him.

“I kneeled down to him and I could see his lips moving, so I put my ear next to his lips and I heard him say, ‘Is everybody OK?’ I said, ‘Yes, everybody’s OK.’ I put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable.

“I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers,” Juan continued. “I remember I had a rosary in my shirt pocket and I took it out, thinking that he would need it a lot more than me.

“I wrapped it around his right hand and then they wheeled him away.”

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