Attack at the Correspondents' Dinner: In the same hotel a US president was shot and seriously wounded in 1981
The armed incident on Sunday morning at the Correspondents' Dinner attended by Donald Trump, JD Vance and other senior US officials took place at the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue – the same hotel where Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded in 1981.
That armed incident took place on March 30, 1981, when the attacker, John Hinckley Jr., shot at Reagan while he was returning to his limousine after a speech held inside the hotel, notes News.ro.
Reagan survived, but was seriously injured by a bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and struck him in the chest, breaking a rib and puncturing one of his lungs. He was rushed to the nearby George Washington University Hospital and was finally discharged on April 11.
Then-White House Press Secretary James Brady was injured in the same incident, as were a Secret Service agent and an officer from the local Metropolitan Police Department.
Brady suffered brain damage during the incident and was left disabled.. His injuries plagued him for the rest of his life and contributed to his death in 2014.
The following year, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but was confined to a maximum security ward at St Elizabeth Hospital in Washington until his release in 2016.
A commemorative plaque still marks the site of the shooting on the hotel's facade.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton by Secret Service agents Saturday night after a man opened fire with a rifle on security personnel. The suspect has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from California.
