Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. — 1968 murder in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S
The murder of Martin Luther King Jr. removed the foremost leader of the American civil rights movement and triggered nationwide riots.
Key Facts
- Date and time
- April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST
- Location
- Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee
- King's age at death
- 39 years
- Convicted assassin
- James Earl Ray, sentenced to 99 years
- Ray arrested
- June 8, 1968, at London Heathrow Airport
- Civil lawsuit damages awarded
- 100 (symbolic) USD
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis supporting a sanitation workers' strike when James Earl Ray, an escaped convict from Missouri State Penitentiary, positioned himself to carry out the attack. The precise motive behind the killing remains disputed, with theories ranging from racial hatred to alleged government conspiracy.
On April 4, 1968, King was fatally shot while standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was transported to St. Joseph's Hospital and pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m., becoming one of four prominent American figures assassinated during the 1960s.
Ray pleaded guilty in 1969 and died in prison in 1998. King's death sparked widespread riots across the United States. In 1999, a Memphis civil jury found that a conspiracy involving Loyd Jowers and others contributed to the assassination, though the U.S. Department of Justice disputed the finding in 2000 for lack of sufficient evidence.