Ronald Reagan shooter John Hinckley Jnr says sorry for wounding ex-president
- John Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was suffering from acute psychosis – experts say his mental illness has been in remission for decades
- The assassination attempt paralysed Reagan’s press secretary James Brady, who died in 2014. It also wounded a police officer and a Secret Service agent
The man who wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981 apologised for his actions and said he doesn’t remember what he was feeling when he fired the shots that also wounded three others.
John Hinckley Jnr told CBS Mornings in his first televised interview since he was freed from all court oversight this month that he feels sorry for all the lives his actions affected.
“I feel badly for all of them. I have true remorse for what I did,” Hinckley said. “I know that they probably can’t forgive me now, but I just want them to know that I am sorry for what I did.”
Going back to that day, Hinckley recalled Reagan walking out of the Washington Hilton after giving a speech: “And I was right there, and I fired shots at him, which so unfortunately hit other people, too.”
Asked what feelings led him to shoot, Hinckley said he can’t remember those emotions and doesn’t want to.
“It’s such another lifetime ago. I can’t tell you now the emotion I had right as [Reagan] came walking out. I can’t tell you that,” he said, later adding: “It’s something I don’t want to remember.”