The others, a Secret Service agent and a D.C. police officer, recovered from their injuries. After a year at his mother’s home, he will be allowed to live alone or with housemates. Later, he was diagnosed with acute psychosis, major depression and narcissistic personality disorder.
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Hinckley was 25 years old March 30, 1981, when he went to the Washington Hilton, waiting outside before shooting Reagan as he exited the hotel.
He is also required to work or volunteer three days a week, and has been offered a job at a local church, according to court documents.
The White House press secretary at the time, James Brady, was severely injured during the assassination attempt, which has been blamed for contributing to his death in 2014.
But in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, officials with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute criticized the decision.
A witness who was at the hospital for an event said he saw Hinckley leave Saturday morning.
Once Reagan was elected, Hinckley turned his attention to the new president, despite telling his parents he thought he would be good for the country. (L) escorted by police in Washington, DC, following his arrest after shooting and seriously wounding then U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
A federal judge granted Hinckley “full-time convalescent leave” from the hospital on July 27. Hinckley was aquitted 21 June 1982 after a jury found him mentally unstable.
Reagan’s family have said they are strongly opposed to Hinckley’s release – and past year, his daughter Patti wrote: “I hope the doctors are right when they say that John Hinckley isn’t a danger to anyone, but something in me feels they are wrong”.
“I don’t think that anybody who tries to nullify a national election with a bullet should ever been walking free, no matter what their mental state”, former federal prosecutor Joseph DiGenova said.
Reagan’s son called his release “shortsighted”.
The Ronald Reagan shooter certainly failed to gain the love of the object of his obsession.
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Hinckley will be able to travel – he got a driver’s license in 2011 and the court order in his case lets him drive within 30 miles of Williamsburg by himself.
