The gun attack on the White House took place in the same place where Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981
Almost half a century ago, former President Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt in the very same place where, on Saturday, April 25, the armed attack took place during the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
The assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan/PHOTO: Getty Images
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, where he had addressed 5,000 members of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) unions, when several shots were fired, writes the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
John Hinckley Jr. fired a .22 caliber revolver on the president and his security team. Reagan was wounded after one of the bullets ricocheted off the limo and hit him under the left arm.
John Hinckley Jr./PHOTO: Wikipedia
Press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahanty were also injured during the attack.
The president's injuries were not immediately noticed until he began coughing up blood. He was later transported to George Washington University Hospital.
After twelve days in the hospital, he returned to the White House with a new determination to change the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner after gunshots were heard. Authorities have identified the suspect who opened fire as a 31-year-old man from California.
Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shootings, told authorities after his arrest that he intended to shoot Trump administration officials, two sources told CBS News.
He is in custody and will be charged soon, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Two years ago, Trump was hit by a bullet or a bullet fragment at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
