Basic Hinckley Info

John Hinckley

AKA John Warnock Hinckley, Jr.

Born: 29-May-1955
Birthplace: Ardmore, OK

Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Assassin

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Took a shot at President Reagan

Wacko psychopath who stalked Jodie Foster for a time, while she was at Yale. He became obsessed with her after seeing her in Taxi Driver (1976), and began writing her letters and love poems, even scoring a couple of chats on the phone with her. Hinckley believed that by assassinating the President of the United States, he would win her love and respect. At the time, that official was Jimmy Carter. Hinckley went to a couple of his campaign stops in 1980, only to be arrested for attempting to bring firearms onto an airplane in Nashville in October 1980. For a few months, he lived with his parents, and was cut off at his psychiatrist's suggestion after failing to find a job.

Meanwhile, Carter lost the election and Ronald Reagan was elected. At the end of March he took a bus to Washington, D.C., arriving on 29 March. Hinckley stayed up late that night, composing a letter to his lady love, detailing his plan to assassinate the President. The following day, he went to a labor convention at the Washington Hilton, where Reagan was scheduled to speak. He fired several shots from a .22 at Ronald Reagan, striking him once under the left armpit. He also critically injured press secretary James Brady, and injured Secret Service Agent Timothy J. McCarthy and Washington DC Police Officer Thomas K. Delahanty. A copy of The Catcher in the Rye was found in Hinckley's hotel room.

While awaiting trial, Hinckley tried to commit suicide by overdosing on Tylenol on 29 May 1982, but failed. In August he was indicted for the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, only to be found not guilty by reason of insanity on 21 June 1982.

In 1999 he was allowed the right to trips outside the hospital, supervised by the Secret Service. In April 2000, he won the right to unsupervised furloughs, only to have this privilege revoked when guards found a book about Jodie Foster in his room.

Father: John Hinckley
Mother: Jo Ann Moore Hinckley
Brother: Scott B. Hinckley
Sister: Diane