How did Joseph Smith die?

Joseph and Hyrum Smith were incarcerated in the county jail on the evening of June 25 after being arrested on charges of treason. They remained there until their assassination on June 27. [6]

According to eyewitness Willard Richards, Joseph attempted to leap from a window during the attack, “when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward exclaiming, ‘ O Lord my God! ’” [1]

The excerpts leave uncertain whether Joseph died before falling to the ground. In the podcast transcript, historian Elizabeth Kuehn explains that some accounts describe him as surviving the fall and either propping himself against the nearby well curb or being placed there by the mob, which then shot him again, killing him. The accounts differ on these final details. [1]