Kennedy scored major victories when he won both the California and South Dakota primaries on June 4. He addressed his supporters shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in a ballroom at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.^[287] Leaving the ballroom, he went through the hotel kitchen after being told it was a shortcut to a press room.^[288] He did this despite being advised by his bodyguard—former FBI agent Bill Barry—to avoid the kitchen. In a crowded kitchen passageway, Kennedy turned to his left and shook hands with hotel busboy Juan Romero just as Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian,^[289] opened fire with a .22-caliber revolver. Kennedy was hit three times, and five other people were wounded.^[290]

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