Martin Luther King Jr.

===Police observation during the assassination===

A fire station was located across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the boarding house in which James Earl Ray was staying. Police officers were stationed in the fire station to keep King under surveillance.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Polk|first1=Jim|title=Black In America&nbsp;– Behind the Scenes: 'Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination'|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/13/bts.king.assasssination/|access-date=April 14, 2016|work=CNN|date=December 29, 2008}}</ref> Agents were watching King at the time he was shot.<ref>{{cite book|last =McKnight |first =Gerald |page =[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813333847/page/76 76] |title =The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI, and the Poor People's Crusade |year =1998 |isbn =0-8133-3384-9 |publisher =Westview Press |url =https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813333847/page/76 }}
</ref> Immediately following the shooting, officers rushed to the motel. Marrell McCollough, an undercover police officer, was the first person to administer first aid to King.<ref>{{cite book |title=Martin Luther King Jr.: The FBI Files |pages=40–42 |publisher= Filiquarian Publishing |isbn= 978-1-59986-253-8 |year=2007}} See also: {{cite news |url= http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/conspiracy.theories/ |title= King conspiracy theories still thrive 40 years later |last= Polk |first= James |publisher= CNN |date= April 7, 2008 |access-date= June 16, 2008 }} and {{cite web |url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr./Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Part_1_of_2/view |title=King's FBI file Part 1 of 2 |format=PDF |publisher=FBI |access-date=January 16, 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and {{cite web |url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr./Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Part_2_of_2/view |title=King's FBI file Part 2 of 2 |format=PDF |publisher=FBI |access-date=January 16, 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The antagonism between King and the FBI, the lack of an [[all points bulletin]] to find the killer, and the police presence nearby led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.<ref>{{cite book | pages= [https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851/page/n425 408]–409 |title= Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia | url= https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851 | url-access= limited |last=Knight |first=Peter |isbn=1-57607-812-4 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003}}</ref>