Using a revolver, Hinckley wounded Reagan, police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and White House Press Secretary James Brady.

[3] Hinckley was reportedly seeking fame to impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had a fixation after watching her in Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver.

John Warnock Hinckley Jr. was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma[5][6] and moved with his wealthy family to Dallas, Texas at the age of four.

His father was John Warnock Hinckley Sr. (1925–2008), founder, chairman, chief executive and president of the Vanderbilt Energy Corporation.

[5] Hinckley became obsessed with the 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which disturbed protagonist Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) plots to assassinate a presidential candidate.

He never enrolled in the course, but instead used the money to support himself while sending Foster love letters and romantic poems, and repeatedly calling and leaving her messages.

[13] Failing to develop any meaningful contact with Foster, Hinckley fantasized about conducting an aircraft hijacking or killing himself in front of her to get her attention.

[citation needed] Hinckley arrived in Washington DC on March 29, 1981, after travelling by Greyhound bus from Los Angeles.

[18] Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me.

The third shot missed, but the fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, who was deliberately standing in the line-of-fire to shield Reagan.

[22]: 84  Another Cleveland-area labor official, Frank J. McNamara, joined Antenucci and started punching Hinckley in the head, striking him so hard he drew blood.

[23] As a result of the shooting, Brady endured a long recuperation period, remaining paralyzed on the left side of his body,[24] until his death on August 4, 2014.

Carpenter concluded that Hinckley could not emotionally appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions because he was consumed by the prospect of a "magical unification with Jodie Foster".

[29] For the prosecution, Park Dietz testified that he had diagnosed Hinckley with dysthymia and three types of personality disorders: narcissistic, schizoid, and mixed, with borderline, and passive-aggressive features.

[32] The insanity instruction provided to the Hinckley jurors was based on the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code: The burden is on the Government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt either that the defendant was not suffering from a mental disease or defect on March 30, 1981, or else that he nevertheless had substantial capacity on that date both to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law and to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct.The jury deliberated for a total of 24 hours over the course of four days.

[35][25] Hinckley did not face charges as a result of Brady's death because he had been found not guilty of the original crime by reason of insanity.

[42] The IDRA excised the Model Penal Code's volitional element in favor of an exclusively cognitive test,[39]: 1484–85  affording the insanity defense to a defendant who can show that, "at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts".

[50] Hinckley was released from institutional psychiatric care on September 10, 2016, with many conditions—including that he was required to live full-time at his mother's home in Williamsburg, Virginia, to work at least three days a week and record his browser history.

[68] He was also prohibited from a variety of activities, including contacting the Reagan, Brady, or Foster families; watching or listening to violent media; accessing pornography; and speaking to the press.

[68][69] In November 2018, Judge Friedman ruled Hinckley could move out of his mother's house in Virginia and live on his own, upon location approval from his doctors.

[64] In September 2019, Hinckley's attorney stated that he planned to ask for full, unconditional release from the court orders that determined how he could live by the end of 2019.

[74] In a June 2022 interview with CBS, Hinckley expressed remorse for his actions, and apologized to the Reagan and Brady families, as well as Jodie Foster.

"[76] Phoenix, Arizona hardcore punk band Jodie Foster's Army (JFA) formed in 1981 and their name was a reference to the assassination attempt.

[80] In 1984, Lansing, Michigan hardcore band the Crucifucks recorded "Hinkley [sic] Had a Vision", which expressed a desire to kill the president.

[81] Another new wave band, Wall of Voodoo, released a song about Hinckley and his life titled "Far Side of Crazy" (1985), with the name also being a quotation from his poetry.

[82] Singer-songwriter Carmaig de Forest devoted a verse of his song "Hey Judas" to Hinckley, blaming him for Reagan's increased popularity following the assassination attempt.

[83][84] Hinckley is featured as a character of the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman musical Assassins (1990), in which he and Lynette Fromme sing "Unworthy of Your Love", a duet about their respective obsessions with Foster and Charles Manson.

A skit on the sketch comedy show The Whitest Kids U' Know that satirized the presidency of Ronald Reagan depicted a fictionalized version of Hinckley.

[91] In October 2020, a federal court ruled that Hinckley may showcase and market his artwork, writings, and music publicly under his own name, but his treatment team could rescind the display privilege.

[99] On June 15, 2022, after his restrictions were unconditionally lifted, it was announced that what would have been Hinckley's first live performance in front of a physically present audience at a Brooklyn, New York venue had been canceled over security concerns for "vulnerable communities" after it had received threats.