WILLIAMSBURG — The man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, John Hinckley Jr., has been booked to play a concert in Brooklyn, N.Y. on July 8.
The assassination attempt wounded President Reagan, a police officer named Thomas Delahanty, a Secret Service agent named Tim McCarthy, and critically wounded Press Secretary James Brady.
In 1982, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and he has since spent 35 years of his life at St. Elizabeths Hospital, a public psychiatric facility in Washington, D.C.
In 2016, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley was to be released from the psychiatric hospital to live full-time with his mother, Jo Ann Hinckley, in Williamsburg.
His mother passed away in July 2021. In September a federal judge approved Hinckley’s unconditional release beginning in June 2022.
Hinckley has been known to play the guitar as part of his music therapy, but it may come as a surprise that he has been preparing a musical act, and he intends to travel around the country to perform at different venues as a part of his self-proclaimed “John Hinckley Redemption Tour.”
Hinckley created a Youtube account in 2020 where he can be seen strumming his guitar and covering songs as well as performing original pieces.
He’s uploaded many of his original songs to this Youtube channel including: “Can’t We Get Along,” “You and I Are Free,” and “We Will See This Through.”
Since its inception, the John Hinckley Youtube channel has recorded over 26,000 subscribers, and his videos tally a grand total of over 850 thousand views combined.
Hinckley announced on his Twitter account that he has sold out the Brooklyn show and that he has already booked another show in Logan Square Auditorium, in Chicago.
