On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan walked out of the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., after speaking to a labor union group. He had only been in office for 70 days. He stopped to greet a crowd when suddenly John Hinckley Jr., 25, fired six shots with a short-barreled .22-caliber revolver from 15 feet away.
Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, was shot in the head, and a policeman and a Secret Service agent were also hit. The last bullet from Hinkley’s gun struck Reagan in his side. When a member of his security team saw blood in Reagan’s mouth, the president was rushed to the hospital. Doctors discovered that the bullet was only one inch from the president’s heart.
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The experience marked Reagan’s life forever. He wrote in his diary, “Whatever happens now, I owe my life to God and will try to serve him in every way I can.”
More than 43 years later, another U.S. president endured a similar assassination attempt. In this case it was former President Donald Trump, who was campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, on July 13. A 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, perched on a nearby rooftop, fired several shots at Trump with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.
One spectator in the crowd was killed—volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50—while two others were shot but survived. Trump was spared. Some say it was luck, because the bullet aimed at his skull only struck his right ear. Others are certain God miraculously shielded him from death that day.
When the bullet hit Trump, he crumpled to the stage floor as Secret Service agents rushed to his aid. Blood could be seen on his face and neck, but Trump was able to walk on his own. Before leaving for the hospital, he defiantly raised his fists in the air, shouting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” to remind the crowd that he wasn’t quitting his race.
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