(SeaPRwire) –   Nearly 45 years prior to the purported assassination attempt targeting President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday evening, another U.S. President was shot at that very same Washington, D.C., hotel.

Back in 1981, then-President Ronald Reagan was outside the Washington Hilton—where the WHCA dinner takes place annually—when John Hinckley Jr. tried to take his life.

Unlike the suspect in Saturday’s incident, who was apprehended before reaching the main ballroom (where Trump, Cabinet members, and over 2,000 other guests were seated), Hinckley got much closer to Reagan during his attack: he fired a revolver at the President from only a few feet away, wounding him before being subdued and arrested.

In a Monday interview with TMZ, the now-70-year-old Hinckley said it felt “spooky” to learn that Saturday’s shooting “took place at the same hotel as mine did.”

Hinckley isn’t the only one who sees parallels between his attack and the recent shooting, which has reignited interest in that historical event. Here’s what to know about the 1981 assassination attempt.

What happened in 1981

On March 30, 1981, Reagan was exiting the Washington Hilton with his Secret Service detail after speaking to members of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Before he could reach his limousine parked in front of the hotel, Hinckley—standing in a crowd of onlookers outside—opened fire.

The would-be assassin was tackled by a special agent within seconds, and Reagan was quickly ushered into the vehicle and driven away. But in that brief window, Hinckley fired six shots from his .22-caliber revolver: one bullet ricocheted off Reagan’s limousine, hitting the President under his left armpit, striking a rib, piercing a lung, and narrowly missing his heart.

Three others were also shot: White House Press Secretary James Brady (in the head), Metropolitan Police Officer Thomas Delahanty (in the back of the neck), and Special Agent Tim McCarthy—who stepped between Hinckley and Reagan to shield him—in the chest.

All four survived the attack. Inside the limousine, Special Agent in Charge Jerry Parr noticed Reagan bleeding from his mouth and directed the vehicle to George Washington University Hospital, where doctors operated to remove the bullet. The President spent 12 days in the hospital before returning to the White House.

Brady, who suffered a severe head wound that left him partially paralyzed, died in 2014 due to injuries from the shooting, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the Northern District of Virginia. His death was ruled a homicide.

The FBI found evidence in Hinckley’s room at the Park Central Hotel that revealed his motive: in a letter to actress Jodie Foster, he wrote he planned to kill Reagan as a demonstration of his love for her. Agents also found magazine photos of Foster and newspaper clippings detailing Reagan’s schedule in the room.

On June 21, 1982, a jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent more than 30 years in a psychiatric institution before receiving full-time conditional release in 2016 to live with his mother in Virginia. He was fully released in June 2022.

“After 41 years 2 months and 15 days, FREEDOM AT LAST!!!” Hinckley posted on X at the time.

Reagan’s shooter and injured agent speak out

Following the alleged attempt on Trump’s life, Hinckley told TMZ that the Washington Hilton should stop hosting large gatherings.

“Bad things keep happening” at the Hilton, Hinckley told the outlet, arguing it is “just not a secure place to hold big events.” He described the hotel’s security in 1981 as “lax.”

Meanwhile, McCarthy— the special agent shot outside the Washington Hilton in the 1981 attack—praised the Secret Service’s response to the correspondents’ dinner shooting, saying they did a “hell of a good job.”

“From what I can tell right now talking to my colleagues, it was handled pretty well. You never want something like this to happen. Security was tested, security responded, and at this point it did pretty well,” McCarthy told NewsNation. “I’m pretty satisfied with what the Secret Service did on this occasion.”