John Hinckley Jr. admits to killing James Brady

John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to kill President Ronald Reagan, admitted for the first time in a bombshell interview Monday that he is to blame for the death of public official James Brady.

“I would say yes,” Hinckley responded when asked by New York Post columnist Piers Morgan if he agrees he killed Brady.

On March 30, 1981, Hinckley, then 25, shot President Reagan and his press secretary James Brady as they headed into a limo. Brady suffered life-altering injuries, passing away decades later in a death the coroner ruled a homicide.

“Do you accept now that because you fired the gun at James Brady that caused catastrophic injuries and subsequent death, that you were guilty of his murder?” Morgan asked on his show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, in an interview set to air Monday evening.

Hinckley at first defended himself: “Well, I wouldn’t say that. I mean, I certainly caused him to have devastating injuries but I believe he lived on for another 30-something years. So I can’t really say I’m the cause of the murder.”

Morgan pushed back: “I mean, it was ruled a homicide by the coroner and he suffered horrendously from his injuries. He was paralyzed for the rest of his life. You did kill him, didn’t you? I mean, there’s no doubt. Ultimately you killed him.”

Hinkley responded, “I understand.” He then replied “I would say yes” when asked one more time by Morgan if “You accept you killed him?”

The would-be Presidential assassin, now 67, was granted unconditional release in June, 41 years after the attempt.

Hinkley was found not guilty in the aftermath of the attack by a jury that declared him insane. He subsequently spent two decades in a mental hospital.

In 2003, US District Judge Paul L. Friedman began allowing Hinckley to live outside the hospital with restrictions, and by 2016, he was living in Virginia full-time.

Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahanty also suffered bullet wounds in the attack