John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan, admitted for the first time in a bombshell interview Monday that he is to blame for the death of public official James Brady.
“I would say yes,” Hinckley responded when asked by New York Post columnist Piers Morgan if he agrees he killed Brady.
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley, then 25, shot Reagan and his press secretary, Brady, as they headed into a limo. Brady suffered life-altering injuries, passing away decades later in a death that the coroner ruled a homicide.
“Do you accept now that because you fired the gun at James Brady that caused catastrophic injuries and subsequent death, that you were guilty of his murder?” Morgan asked on his show, “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” in an interview set to air Monday evening.
Hinckley at first defended himself: “Well, I wouldn’t say that. I mean, I certainly caused him to have devastating injuries, but I believe he lived on for another 30-something years. So I can’t really say I’m the cause of the murder.”
John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, admitted in an interview with Piers Morgan that he is responsible for the death of White House press secretary James Brady. Piers Morgan UncensoredMorgan pushed back: “I mean, it was ruled a homicide by the coroner and he [Brady] suffered horrendously from his injuries. He was paralyzed for the rest of his life. You did kill him, didn’t you? I mean, there’s no doubt. Ultimately you killed him.”
Hinkley responded, “I understand.” He then replied, “I would say yes” when asked one more time by Morgan if “you accept you killed him?”
The would-be presidential assassin, now 67, was granted unconditional release in June, 41 years after the assault.
Hinckley was found not guilty in the aftermath of the attack by a jury that declared him insane. He subsequently spent two decades in a mental hospital.
He never faced charges for Brady’s death because he was found to be insane in the first trial and because Washington, DC, law said too much time had elapsed between the shooting and the public official’s death.
In 2003, US District Judge Paul L. Friedman began allowing Hinckley to live outside the hospital with restrictions, and by 2016, he was living in Virginia full-time.
Hinckley told Morgan he understands that he is responsible for Brady’s death. AFP via Getty ImagesSecret Service Agent Tim McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahanty also suffered bullet wounds in the attack.
