Brendan Smialowski/Reuters
John W. Hinckley, Jr., the man who shot president Ronald Reagan and three others in March 1981, will be released from a government psychiatric hospital next month. Hinckley shot the men 35 years ago in front of the Washington Hilton. According to a judge, the 61-year-old no longer poses a danger to others and will be allowed to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia. He will be released on Aug. 5, and he will have to undergo treatment and monitoring for at least one year, said U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman. In a 103-page ruling, he wrote: “After thirty-four years as an impatient at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, and in view of the foregoing findings, and the successful completion of over 80 ... visits to Williamsburg over the last 10 years, the Court finds that Mr. Hinckley has received the maximum benefits possible in the in-patient setting." He said, “The court finds by the preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Hinckley will not be a danger to himself or to others if released on full-time convalescent leave to Williamsburg under the conditions proposed.” At the time of the assassination attempt, Hinckley said he'd shot Reagan in order to impress Jodie Foster, with whom he was "obsessed."