NEW YORK — A planned concert for John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was canceled even as Hinckley was released from federal court oversight, the New York City event location announced where the performance had been booked.
The Market Hotel in Brooklyn cited “very real and worsening threats and hate” in its social media announcement Wednesday that it was canceling the July 8 concert.
Hinckley, now 67, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 30, 1981 shooting of Reagan in Washington.
Reagan was seriously injured in the assassination attempt, and his press secretary, James Brady, was left permanently disabled.
Brady campaigned for gun safety legislation until his death in 2014. The Brady bill that passed in 1993 required a five-day waiting period for firearm purchases and background checks. prospective buyers, and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence are named after Brady and his wife, Sarah.
Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty were also injured in the shooting, which was motivated by Hinckley’s obsession with actress Jodie Foster.
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