On Monday 30 March 1981 an assassination attempt was made on the US President Ronald Reagan.
John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to shoot Reagan outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C., at around 2.27 PM local time, just after the president had addressed the Building and Construction Workers Union of the AFL-CIO. Hinckley was armed with a .22 revolver with exploding bullets and was only ten feet away from Reagan when he began shooting. Hinckley’s first shot hit press secretary James Brady and other shots wounded a police officer Thomas Delahanty and a Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. The sixth and final shot hit Reagan’s limo and then ricocheted into the President’s chest.
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| pic. reaganlibrary.archives.gov - taken seconds after the assassination attempt on President Reagan. James Brady and police officer Thomas Delahanty lie wounded on the ground |
Shortly afterwards, Reagan was subjected to an emergency thoracotomy lasting 105 minutes. He came close to death losing over half of his blood volume in the emergency room and during surgery to remove the bullet. He left the hospital thirteen days later.
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| pic. crimemagazine.com |
James Brady became permanently disabled from his gunshot wound and became an ardent supporter of gun control as a result of this event. He died on August 4, 2014, 33 years after the shooting. His death was ruled a homicide, caused by the gunshot.
At his trial in 1982, in Washington, D.C., charged with 13 offenses, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, and has since remained under constant institutional psychiatric care.
