SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s governor has rejected releasing Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan from prison more than a half-century after the slaying shook the world in 1968.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday rejected a recommendation from a two-person panel of parole commissioners.

Newsom said Sirhan, now 77, poses an unreasonable public safety threat.

Kennedy, the U.S. senator from New York, was killed moments after he claimed victory in California’s pivotal Democratic presidential primary.

The parole panel’s recommendation in August split the iconic Kennedy family.

The panel said Sirhan should be released after 15 previous denials.