Fifty years ago today, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a parade in Dallas, Texas. In remembrance of the fateful day, history teacher Mark Healy took time out of his classes to discuss the events surrounding the shooting.

“If you look back at the events in American history, this was a traumatic event for the American people to deal with,” Healy said, “It happened 50 years ago and people are still talking about it today. I thought it was worth spending some time talking about it in my classes.”

“We reenacted the assassination, the path of the magic bullet, the possibility of there being more than one gunman, and the probability of Lee Harvey Oswald probably acting alone. […] It’s something I normally do to get people interested in U.S. history, but because it was the [fiftieth] anniversary, I decided to do it today,” Healy said.

Healy uses students to reenact the assassination and the way that Kennedy was killed. He also discusses the conspiracy theories that have arisen from the assassination, as well as the many odd similarities between the assassinations of Kennedy and Lincoln.

“There were so many creepy coincidences between Kennedy’s assassination and Lincoln’s assassination. It was surprising,” sophomore Mary Hallet Culbreth said.

“Even though the assassination seems so clear cut, there are so many details that are inconsistent and that’s what creates so many of the conspiracy theories. I just think it’s cool that little details can fuel those conspiracy theories for years and years,” junior Rachel Cavoto said.