A planned concert by John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been canceled even as Hinckley was freed from federal court oversight, the New York City venue that had booked the performance announced.
The Market Hotel in Brooklyn cited “very real and worsening threats and hate” in its announcement on social media Wednesday that it was canceling the July 8 concert.
The now 67-year-old Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the March 30, 1981, shooting of Reagan in Washington.
Reagan was seriously wounded in the assassination attempt, and his press secretary, James Brady, was permanently disabled.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Brady went on to campaign for gun safety legislation until his death in 2014. The Brady Bill that passed in 1993 required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks of 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 wounded in the shooting, which was motivated by Hinckley’s obsession with the actor Jodie Foster.
