John Hinckley

John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. president Ronald Reagan as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a revolver, Hinckley wounded Reagan, MPD police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and White House press secretary James Brady. Brady was left disabled and died 33 years later from his injuries.

Hinckley believed that the attack would impress the actress Jodie Foster, on whom he had a fixation after watching her in Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remained under institutional psychiatric care for over three decades. Public outcry over the verdict led state legislatures and Congress to narrow their respective insanity defenses.

In 2016, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley could be released from psychiatric care as he was no longer considered a threat to himself or others, albeit with many conditions. After 2020, a ruling was issued that Hinckley may showcase his artwork, writings, and music publicly under his own name, rather than anonymously as he had in the past. Since then, he has maintained a YouTube channel for his music. His restrictions were unconditionally lifted in June 2022.

In 2025, Hinckley published his full-length autobiography, John Hinckley Jr.: Who I Really Am by WildBlue Press, giving an in-depth review on his upbringing, the beginning of his fixation on Foster, the planning, occurrence, and aftermath of the shooting, his trial, institutionalization, and release.