John Hinckley, the man who shot and nearly killed President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has asked the world to choose peace over violence after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
“Violence is not the way to go,” Hinckley wrote on X on Wednesday. “Give peace a chance.”
The message comes after Trump was grazed by an assassin’s bullet, and a hero firefighter was killed at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
It was the first post Hinckley made in months that wasn’t about promoting his art or music.
Hinckley was the cause of national infamy and intrigue after the would-be assassin fired on Reagan as the president left the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC on March, 30, 1981.
The 1981 shooting has parallels with Saturday’s attempted assassination, in that both incidents targeted a Republican president, leaving three men injured.
Saturday’s shooting also resulted in the death of one man, heroic firefighter Corey Comperatore, while the 1981 shooting resulted in the death of former Secret Service agent James Brady, whose death in 2014 was attributed to the injuries he sustained, according to the Virginia Medical Examiner’s office.
While officials are still investigating why Thomas Matthew Crooks fired at Trump and his supporters, Hinckley’s case demonstrates that such extreme actions are not always fueled by partisan politics.
Hinckley famously tried to assassinate the US president as a way to impress actress Jodie Foster after becoming obsessed with her.
Hinckley had originally planned to kill President Jimmy Carter, getting within a few feet of him in 1980 during a campaign rally in Ohio.
After Carter lost to Reagan, Hinckley set his sights on the The Gipper.
Hinckley, who had undergone years of psychiatric care, was granted unconditional release in June 2022. He currently lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.