James Earl Ray was the American assassin who murdered Afro-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray had been a petty con man, a gas station and store robber. He had served a prison term, once in Illinois and twice in Missouri, and was given a conditional sentence in Los Angeles. Ray fled the Missouri State Prison on April 23, 1967. A year later, in Memphis, on April 4, 1968, Ray fired at King.
How did King get killed?
On April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. supported black workers striking for sanitation, better wages, and better working conditions in a fully staffed church in Memphis, Tennessee.
On Thursday, April 4, 1968, a large white Cadillac was parked outside the Lorraine motel. It was the car Rev. Martin Luther King was driving around in, as he traveled the Southern States, addressed people in cities, promoting the cause of non-violence and civil rights. At 6:05 P.M., when King went out to the balcony to take a breath of fresh air after having eaten his dinner, James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old escaped fugitive, shot King through a nearby rooming house window. King fell on the ground, fatally injured. A few minutes later, he was dead.
Who is Martin Luther King?
Martin Luther King, Jr., originally named Michael King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. He was a Baptist pastor and social activist who ran the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until he was killed in 1968. His leadership has been critical to the success of the movement in ending the legal segregation of African-American people in the south and elsewhere in the United States. King achieved national notoriety as the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which promoted non-violent tactics, such as the Mass March on Washington (1963), to gain civil rights. He became the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1964.
What happened to the Killer, James Earl Ray?
After shooting King, Ray ran away to Toronto, obtained a Canadian passport from a travel agency, flew to London, and then to Lisbon, where he obtained his second Canadian passport and returned to London. On 8 June, he was arrested by the London police at Heathrow Airport while getting ready to board for Brussels. The FBI identified him as the prime suspect almost immediately after the murder. Returning to Memphis, Ray pleaded guilty, lost his trial, and received a 99-year prison sentence. Months later, he retracted, but he didn't succeed. Finally, in June 1977, Ray escaped the prison at Brushy Mountain and spent 54 hours on the run before being recaptured in a massive chase.
Ray died on April 23, 1998, at the age of 70, of complications associated with kidney disease and liver failure at the Columbia Nashville Memorial Hospital.
FAQs
Q. Where was Martin Luther King killed?
A. Martin Luther King was killed on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, at the Lorraine motel.
Q. How old was Ray when he shot down Martin Luther King?
A. James Earl Ray was 40 years old when he murdered King.
Q. How old was Martin Luther King when he was murdered?
A. Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he was killed.
