Martin Luther King, Jr Cause of Death: How did Martin Luther King, Jr Die?

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. He was in the city to support a sanitation workers’ strike and was staying at the Lorraine Motel when he was shot and killed.

The event took place at approximately 6:01 p.m. King was standing on the balcony of his second-floor room when he was shot by a single bullet that entered his right cheek and travelled through his neck. He was pronounced dead at St. Joseph’s Hospital at 7:05 p.m.

The shooter was identified as James Earl Ray, a convicted felon who had a history of racist attitudes and had escaped from prison.

Ray had been staying at a boarding house across the street from the Lorraine Motel and had used a rifle to shoot King from a distance.

He fled the scene immediately after the shooting and was later arrested in London, England while trying to leave the country using a false passport.

Ray pleaded guilty to King’s assassination and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. However, he later recanted his guilty plea and claimed that he was not the shooter.

Some, including members of King’s family, believe that there was a conspiracy to assassinate King and that Ray was not the true perpetrator. However, most of the evidence points to James Earl Ray as the lone assassin.