John Hinckley, the man accused of assassinating President Ronald Reagan, has been seen for the first time since a federal judge granted him unconditional freedom last week.
The 67-year-old was sighted in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Tuesday, where he’d been living with his mother, Jo Ann Hinckley, before she died last summer at the age of 95.
He wore a blue and white striped shirt, Under Armour cap, navy blue trousers and black sneakers as he walked through a parking lot. His cell phone could be seen in his shirt pocket and he held a Diet Coke in one hand.
Hinckley is set to hit the road in July to perform his music in what he calls his Redemption Tour. He has a sold out show in Brooklyn, New York, on July 8 and another in Chicago on July 23.
A show planned for Hartford, Connecticut, has been canceled.
He promoted his tour in a YouTube video last week and thanked his fans on Twitter for supporting him and buying tickets.
Hinckley, who spent decades in a mental institution for the attempted murder of the president in a bizarre attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster, will no longer be held to his remaining court-imposed restrictions and will be a free man starting June 15.
‘A big thank you to everyone who helped me get my unconditional release,’ Hinckley wrote in a series of tweets this week.
He then made a reference to the Grateful Dead. ‘What a bizarre and lengthy journey it has been,’ he wrote. It’s time to get down and dirty.’
‘What this world needs is peace, love, and understanding,’ he said on Thursday, tweeting a mash-up of songs made famous by Dionne Warwick and Elvis Costello.
He’d had enough of utilizing other people’s songs in his messages by Friday. ‘On July 8, I’ll be performing 17 songs during my gig in Brooklyn, New York.’ He wrote, ‘All originals.’
Hinckley – he has now dropped the suffix Jr. from his name – plays guitar and sings. He has been uploading his music to YouTube and has amassed about 27,000 subscribers.
His first show as a free man is slated for July 8 at The Market Hotel in Brooklyn and has already sold out.
A 1995 civil settlement had banned Hinckley from financially benefiting from his name or story.
But in October 2020, he won a ruling to publicly display his artwork and music under his own name after previously being forced to release it anonymously.
Most of the music he has written are love songs.
Hinckley has posted himself singing cover songs including, Elvis Presley’s Can’t Stop Falling In Love and Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind, with his channel so far racking up nearly 100,000 views among all of his songs.
His self-penned ballads include Majesty of Love with the lyrics, ‘the world is in so much pain, we have much to gain’, and Everything Is Gonna Be Alright, where he croons ‘there ain’t nothing wrong with the rain, it is good to wash away the pain.’
Hinckley’s obsession with women seemed to continue during his time in institutional psychiatric care.
Hinckley had multiple loves while at St. Elizabeths, the mental hospital where he was sent, including a woman with severe schizophrenia and Leslie deVeau a DC woman, who had murdered her own daughter.
Hinckley said in 2020: ‘I’m a musician. Nobody knows that. They just see me as the guy who tried to kill Reagan.’
Hinckley – who was 25 when he shot Reagan – has since been declared mentally stable, and his therapists helped him release music via Soundcloud and YouTube.
‘I worry he’s a well-known figure and I worry about someone trolling him,’ one therapist said.
Another, Carl Beffa wrote in court papers: ‘I would very much like to see him be able to make an income from his artwork. If it coincidentally happens his name is attached to it, I don’t see it would be an issue.
‘I would be surprised if it reverted back to this narcissism he had with Jodie Foster, because it has not been present in any way whatsoever.’
The judgment required Hinckley to inform his treatment team of his plans to display his works.