06 OCT 2026History
What time was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated? 4 April 1968, 18:01 CST
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot at approximately 18:01 Central Standard Time on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, or 00:01 UTC on 5 April.
Short answer: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot at approximately 18:01 Central Standard Time on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. That was 00:01 UTC on 5 April 1968. He was pronounced dead at 19:05 CST.
The shooting and the time of death are different
The most useful answer separates two documented moments. The shot was fired shortly after 18:00, with investigative records commonly placing it at approximately 18:01. Dr. King was taken to St. Joseph Hospital and pronounced dead at 19:05.
Searches for the time he was assassinated may refer to either event. In ordinary historical usage, 18:01 is the time of the shooting. The later 19:05 timestamp is the formal pronouncement of death.
Memphis was on Central Standard Time, UTC−6, on that date. Adding six hours moves 18:01 across midnight, producing 00:01 UTC on 5 April. The local and UTC dates are therefore different.
What happened at the Lorraine Motel
Dr. King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. On the evening of 4 April, he stepped onto the second-floor balcony outside room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. A single shot mortally wounded him.
People near him immediately called for help and pointed toward the area from which they believed the shot had come. He was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital. The official finding cited by the National Archives describes the shooting as occurring shortly after 18:00 and the pronouncement of death at 19:05.
The Lorraine Motel is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum. Its preservation places the assassination within the longer history of the civil rights movement rather than treating it as an isolated crime.
Local time and UTC
- Shot: approximately 18:01 CST, 4 April 1968
- UTC: approximately 00:01 UTC, 5 April 1968
- Pronounced dead: 19:05 CST, or 01:05 UTC
- Place: Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee
The UTC date change is easy to miss. A page that states “4 April, 00:01 UTC” would be six hours early and historically wrong. At the moment it was early evening in Memphis, midnight had already passed in UTC.
How exact is 18:01?
The National Archives summary says “shortly after 6 p.m.” More detailed investigative material places the shot at approximately 18:01. The word “approximately” should remain attached to the minute because the record does not justify a universal second-level timestamp.
That does not make the time vague. It means the evidence supports the minute more strongly than any particular second.
Why the distinction matters
Confusing the shooting with the pronouncement of death creates a difference of more than an hour. Similar errors appear in records of other assassinations and disasters when a later legal or medical timestamp is used to label the event itself.
A precise historical answer should name the action: Dr. King was shot at approximately 18:01 CST and pronounced dead at 19:05 CST.