Yitzhak Rabin was shot from "zero distance," with the gunman's pistol touching the prime minister's jacket, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The finding contradicts confessed assassin Yigal Amir's reenactment of the crime for police, in which he fired at his target from about 2 feet away.The Yediot Ahronot daily, citing police experts, said Amir fired a first bullet at Rabin from "zero distance." A second bullet hit a bodyguard in the arm. A third bullet struck Rabin in the lower body, from a distance of about a foot, the daily said.
The two bullets that struck the prime minister were hollow point bullets, which have a hole drilled into their tip.
Hollow point bullets fragment after impact and cause greater harm than regular, conical projectiles.
Amir's brother, Hagai, has been charged with preparing the bullets and giving them to the gunman.
The Maariv daily said Thursday that Hagai filled the bullets with a mixture of explosives and mercury to increase their deadliness.
Maariv quoted an unidentified ballistics expert as saying that, considering the close range and type of bullet used, it was doubtful a bulletproof vest could have saved Rabin.
Meanwhile, Rabin's granddaughter, who touched people with her moving eulogy of the slain prime minister, denied reports that she has signed a lucrative contract to write her memoirs.