Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The bullet was fired from the bathroom window of a rooming house across the street. James Earl Ray, an escaped convict from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested and convicted for the assassination. He pleaded guilty on March 10, 1969, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. The FBI and the House Committee on Assassinations concluded that Ray fired the single fatal shot from a Remington Model 760 rifle
. Despite Ray's conviction, King's family and others have alleged a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, the mafia, and Memphis police, believing Ray was a scapegoat. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family in 1999 resulted in a jury finding that Loyd Jowers and others were part of a conspiracy to kill King, though this finding was disputed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2000 due to lack of evidence
. In summary, James Earl Ray is officially recognized as the person who shot Martin Luther King Jr.
