A witness present during the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy said she heard two shooters, not one as police had recorded from her initial statement.

Nina Rhodes-Hughes was standing a few feet away from Kennedy during the shooting at a Los Angeles hotel and said authorities altered her account of what happened, CNN reported Saturday. The U.S. senator from York was seeking the Democratic nomination for president when he was killed.

"What has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right," Rhodes-Hughes told CNN. "The truth has got to be told. No more coverups."

Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of the shooting and sentenced to life in prison, has requested that he be released, retried or granted a new hearing on new evidence, including Rhodes-Hughes' information. During his 1969 trial, Sirhan never contested the prosecution's case that he was the only shooter.

State prosecutors said even if there were a second gunman, Sirhan is still guilty of murder under California law. (c) UPI