By Steve Neavling
John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan and three others outside a D.C. hotel in 1981, will be released on June 15, and a Secret Service agent who was wounded in the shooting said he accepts the judge’s ruling, NBC Chicago reports.
In issuing a written release order, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said Hinckley, who turns 67 on Sunday, doesn’t appear to pose a danger anymore.
“John Hinckley tried to kill the president of the United States. He came very close to doing so,” Friedman said Wednesday. But “without losing sight of what he did 40 years ago, he has been the most scrutinized person [in America’s mental health system] … living under a microscope as none of us have.”
Then-Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy, who was wounded in the shooting, spoke after the ruling Wednesday.
“I hope they’re right,” McCarthy said. “They seem to have been right so far, but there isn’t much room for error.”
He added, “The doctors have said he’s no longer a danger for himself or others and I’ll take their word on that. And as I said during the last 10 years or so when he was released from time to time and they increased it, he hasn’t violated any of the rules, so that’s encouraging.”
In addition to Reagan and McCarthy, Hinckley also shot White House press secretary James Brady and Washington Police Officer Tim Delahanty.
