JIM JONES CONFIDANT SHOOTS HIMSELF AT NEWS BRIEFING END

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400260058-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: March 14, 1979
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Rele F %IM.c IAORD 315R00040026 58-0
Article appeared 14 March 1979
on page, A-5
Around the Nation
. 4-1 00 1
Jim Jones Confidant
.;Shoots Himself at
ews Briefing End
MODESTO, Calif.-A.onetime confidant of the Rev.
- Jim Jones shot himself in the head last night at the
'bend of a news conference where he proclaimed: 'The
,Peoples Temple did not die in vain."
Michael Prokes, 32. was taken, to Doctors Hospital;"
'in "critical condition. He was pronounced dead at
10:33 p.m.
Prokes, a resident of Modesto, called a news confer-
Fence at a motel: He ranted against the: U.S. govern-
ment, and accused the CIA of conducting a "witch
"hunt" against the cult.
He then calmly walked into the bathroom, pulled a-
pistol from his pocket and shot himself in. the head,
reporters said.
Prokes survived the murder-suicide ritual in No.
vember when Jones and some 900 of his followers died
at a compound in the steaming jungles of Guyana. He
wt found with two others carrying several million
dollars. They said they had been instructed to bring,
the money to the. Soviet: embassy. -
Approved For Release 2005/01/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000400260058-0