10 Photos Taken Only Moments Before Tragedy Struck

It can take years to master the many photographic techniques to take stunning, professional photographs, but some famous and historical photos are merely the result of being in the right place at the right time. Many significant moments in history are known by a single image, and this pattern has become more prevalent with the rise of internet sharing and social media. Check out these ten incredible photographs that were taken moments before tragedy struck and captured the calm before the storm.

Malaysian Airlines Flight 17

This flight, known as MH17, was scheduled to fly from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 14, 2014, but never made it after being shot down over eastern Ukraine. Whether it was the Ukrainian government after misidentifying a plane, or pro-Russia forces equipped with weaponry that can bring down a plane, will probably remain unknown. At the time, the region in which the plane was shot down was contested between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists who wanted to have the area under Russian control. Eventually, the Russian military moved in and now occupies an area within Ukrainian territory. This conflict is still ongoing. This photograph shows a mother and daughter on the flight, and this picture was recovered from the wreckage of flight MH17. This photo was presumably taken by the father of the young girl. Unfortunately, all 283 passengers and 15 crew members died when the plane crashed after a 3 to 4-minute fall from the sky.

John Lennon And His Eventual Killer

John Lennon was an English musician who co-founded the most commercially successful and influential band in history, The Beatles. In his late 30s, Lennon became more of an activist and pacifist than an active musician and based himself in Manhattan, New York City. This shocking photograph shows John Lennon's killer having an album signed by the artist earlier in the day. This picture was taken in the same place where Lennon would eventually meet his untimely death just hours later. The killer's name is Mark David Chapman who was born in Texas and remains in prison for the murder. At around 10:50 PM on December 8, 1980, Chapman shot Lennon five times in the center of his back after hanging around outside his apartment complex. The gunshot wounds were very damaging, and Lennon was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

R.Budd Dwyer

Rober Budd Dwyer was the Treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1981 to 1987, and during this time he was caught up in a bribery scandal. The day before his sentencing, Dwyer held a press conference where he was expected to resign from his position by many. After a long, drawn-out speech Dwyer then stopped the press conference to hand out envelopes that contained funeral information, letters from Dwyer to his family, an organ donor card, and other related documents. His final envelope contained something different. The press conference suddenly changed from a routine press affair to an absolute nightmare when Dwyer produced a .357 Magnum revolver and calmly stated, "Please, please leave the room if this will... if this will affect you." This photograph is seemingly showing the exact moment when Dwyer is telling people to leave the area. Dwyer then put the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger, dying just before 11 am. Television cameras were still rolling at this point, and they captured the chaotic scenes that ensued, broadcasting them throughout the state.

John F. Kennedy

On November 22, 1963, in Dealy Plaza, Dallas, United States President John F. Kennedy (JFK) was fatally shot riding in an open top vehicle in a motorcade. The killer was identified as Lee Harvey Oswald who used a school book depository that overlooked the path of the convoy as a sniper nest. This photograph is the last image of JFK before the shooting, and it shows how blissfully unaware the occupants of the vehicle are of the impending assassination. JFK was speaking to Nellie Connally, First Lady of Texas, who was sitting in the front seat and told JFK, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you," and the President replied “"No, you certainly can't.” These were the last words spoken by one of the most beloved U.S. Presidents in history.

The First Outbreak Of Ebola

Ebola has been an identified disease since 1976 when two separate outbreaks occurred in two different villages near the Ebola River which is in Central Africa. No treatment or prevention is available to combat Ebola in third world countries, and many people who come in contact with the disease in these developing countries will die. Official mortality rates for people who contract Ebola are between 25-90%. This photo, taken in 1976 in Zaire, is one of the first pictures of an Ebola victim, Nurse Mayinga N’Seka, who later died from the disease. The country of Zaire is now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The outbreak that claimed N'Seka's life also killed 280 other people in the region. Outbreaks of Ebola still happen today as evidenced by an epidemic of Ebola between 2013 and 2016 in Africa.

Oklahoma City Bombing

On April 19, 1995, a massive truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City killing 168 people and injuring close to 700 others. A plot by white-supremacist militants, the bombing was apparently a response to the Ruby Ridge Incident of 1992 and the Waco Siege of 1993 as a form of payback against the federal government. This seemingly innocuous photo shows the truck, full of explosives, making its way to the designated drop-off point for the bomb just under 5 minutes before it exploded. This act of terrorism was the worst on American soil until September 11, 2001. Law enforcement caught the perpetrators of the attack shortly afterward; one was sentenced to the death penalty and executed, the other was sentenced to 161 consecutive counts of life in prison without the chance of parole.