American attempted assassin who shot and wounded President Reagan, Secret Service Agent Timothy McCarthy, Press Secretary James Brady and Washington policeman Thomas Delehanty on 30 March 1981 at 2:27 PM in Washington, D.C.
In December 1980, he went to Ted Kennedy’s office and waited for three hours with a loaded gun to see the Senator before he gave up on the assassination attempt and left. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced to an asylum for the mentally ill in Washington, DC.
Prior to the assassination attempt made upon President Reagan, he wrote a string of love letters to actress Jodie Foster.
In 1982, Hinckley met 12-year-older Leslie deVeau while she was a patient in the same facility for the shotgun murder of her ten-year-old daughter followed by her own suicide attempt. They were both in the hell of their mental illness, anguish and despair and their growing friendship led to improvement for both of them. Their long hours of talks led to love and in the spring of 1983, Hinckley asked deVeau to marry him.
In mid-1985, deVeau was able to function responsibly in society and was released. Hinckley’s progress was slower. They were able to see each other on weekends and kiss goodbye, feeling like a couple of teenagers. They talked to each other as they could to no one else. During the Christmas holidays, the young lovers spent time alone for the first time when Hinckley was allowed to spend a day with his family in northern Virginia. His sexual experience was limited to a few encounters with prostitutes shortly before the assassination attempt. They were not able to consummate their relationship, but the promise of a future together was a strong incentive to healthy responsibility.
During the next five years, Hinckley’s progress was interspersed with unsettling relapses. His psychological evaluations took a turn for the worse. In 1989 a report read, “The issues of poor judgment, need for ego-gratification through the media, isolation from others at all but a superficial level, grandiosity, suspiciousness, defiance in the face of narcissistic injury, refusal to accept responsibility for his actions other than in a fleeting way, emotional volatility, tendency to lie, lack of empathy for others, sense of entitlement – all remain as unresolved therapeutic issues.” His ability to maintain a stable relationship with deVeau was a plus.
By 1991, he was living in a medium-security ward and was working four hours a day in a clerical position. In January 1992, he was allowed to walk with deVeau without an escort around the hospital grounds. Not long after this, they had sexual relations for the first time. In July 1992, Hinckley was moved to a minimum-security ward. He and deVeau dreamed and planned of their future together.
On 15 January 1999 a divided appeals court ruled that Hinckley could make supervised day trips away from the mental hospital where he has lived for the past 18 years. In that time, he has been off the property once; now, accompanied by hospital personnel, he may visit his family and friends for short visits, a process of gradual re-entry into society. In December 2003, Hinckley was granted unsupervised visits with his parents.
Hinckley was released from institutional psychiatric care on 10 September 2016 and will live full-time at his mother’s home.
Link to Wikipedia biography