The man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, John Hinckley Jr. can move out of his mother’s house, a federal judge ruled.
Hinckley had been a student at Texas Tech University before the assassination attempt. The case put Lubbock in the national spotlight for a time.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982. But he was ordered to remain locked up in a treatment facility. In 2005 he was allowed to leave the hospital for visits to his parents’ house in Virginia.
Starting in 2016, he was allowed to remain free under a list of conditions. But now, because of the new ruling, one condition has been lifted. He no longer must remain in his mother’s house.
Hinckley, 63, can live within 75 miles of his mother’s house as long as his doctors give approval.
The Associated Press reported, “Doctors must give approval to where Hinckley decides to live. And he still must meet at least twice a month with a social worker, a psychiatrist and a therapist. He can’t own a gun or consume alcohol or drugs.”
Reagan suffered life-threatening injuries but recovered. He served two terms as president and died later of natural causes related to Alzheimer’s.
Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, was less fortunate in the shooting. Brady was paralyzed on his left side for the rest of his life. Brady died in 2014 from conditions related to the after-effects of the shooting and technically his death was ruled a homicide.
Hinckley did not graduate from Tech. He had been a student on and off for seven years. According to an archived article from the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Hinckley’s address was 2404 10th Street.
The entire neighborhood was torn down and rebuilt since then. The address would have been effectively just across the street from the Texas Tech campus. According to the same article, he also lived at 2404 19th Street which is not far from the southeast corner of the Tech campus.
According to information published at the time, Hinckley was trying to impress actress Jodie Foster when he shot Reagan.
