Newspaper photographer who got Oswald image dies

From Chron.com

DALLAS — Bill Winfrey, a former newspaper photographer who captured one of the iconic images of Lee Harvey Oswald after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, has died. He was 75. Winfrey died Jan. 15 at East Texas Medical Center in Athens from complications of heart disease and diabetes. A self-taught photographer, Winfrey was on the staff of The Dallas Morning News when Kennedy was killed Nov. 22, 1963. He rushed to the hospital where Kennedy was treated before following a trail of action to the Oak Cliff area of the city, where the hunt for the assassin was on. Winfrey saw Oswald being put in a police car, did a U-turn in the middle of the street and “beat the police to the police station,” he said at a 1993 conference of journalists who covered the assassination. Winfrey was in position to get a picture of a handcuffed Oswald raising his fist as he was led out of an elevator. Historians say the photo was illustrative of Oswald’s defiant attitude during his 45 hours in custody. Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days after the assassination, and Winfrey covered Ruby’s trial. Winfrey earned a spot on the Morning News staff by getting pictures of a deadly funnel cloud as it ripped through Oak Cliff on April 2, 1957. His wife, Jean Winfrey, said he was 15 when he started working for the newspaper in the mailroom in 1948. In the 1960s, Winfrey left the newspaper to start a commercial photography studio. His wife said he closed it during an economic downturn. She said he later worked as a locksmith in East Texas.