On March 30 , 1981 , Ronald Wilson Reagan , the 40th President of the United States , was shot Use_firearm and wounded Bodily_harm by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington , D.C. , as he was returning Arriving to his limousine after a speaking Expressing_publicly engagement Participation at the Washington Hilton Hotel .

Hinckley 's motivation for the attack Use_firearm was to impress Change_sentiment actress Jodie Foster , who had played Action the role of a child prostitute in the 1976 film `` Taxi Driver '' .

After seeing Perception_active the film , Hinckley had developed Coming_to_be an obsession with Foster .

A federal judge subpoenaed Criminal_investigation Foster to testify Protest at Hinckley 's trial Criminal_investigation , and he was found Know not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate Attack the president .

Hinckley remained confined to a psychiatric facility .

In January 2015 , federal prosecutors announced Expressing_publicly that they would not charge Judgment_communication Hinckley with Brady 's death Death , despite the medical examiner 's classification of his death Death as a homicide Killing .

On September 10 , 2016 , Hinckley was released from institutional psychiatric care .