Former President Ronald Reagan’s would-be assassin called for the Washington Hilton — the site of his own shooting and Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner blaze — to forgo hosting major events.
John Hinckley, who shot Reagan and three others in 1981, told TMZ that the hotel is not secure, a common thread in complaints about the weekend’s eruption at the gala attended by President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Cabinet officials and members of the press.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin, who was in attendance, said security appeared to be “lacking severely.”
At the first security checkpoint on the street outside the hotel, he “flashed” his ticket, was “waved through in one second,” his name was not checked on a list, he did not show an ID, he was not patted down and he didn’t pass through a metal detector, he said.
Only once it was time to enter the main ballroom for dinner did Mr. Melugin pass through magnetometers, empty his pockets and get patted down.
Then came the shooting in the hotel lobby near the ballroom.
“Hypothetically, if I had hidden an explosive in my shoe or my jacket, I would have had no problem getting into one of those ballrooms,” Mr. Melugin said.
The alleged gunman, Cole Allen, is accused of trying to breach a security checkpoint, armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives. He exchanged gunfire with law enforcement, shooting a Secret Service agent’s protective vest in the process, and was tackled to the ground in a lobby area one floor above the Hilton’s ballroom.
Mr. Hinckley said that during his failed assassination attempt, security was “lax” because he was able to sneak into a gaggle of reporters waiting outside the hotel for Reagan to exit after delivering a speech. While he was among them, Secret Service agents never verified whether he was a reporter during their sweeps, he said.
Mr. Hinckley ended up shooting Reagan, who was rushed to the hospital and almost died.
The assailant of 45 years ago said it was “spooky” to find out Saturday’s shooting “took place at the same hotel as mine did.”
The hotel should stop hosting high-stakes events there “because bad things keep happening,” Mr. Hinckley said, adding that “it’s just not a secure place to hold big events.”
After his failed attempt to kill the president, Mr. Hinckley was arrested but found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to a mental hospital for over three decades.
Mr. Hinckley, 70, was released from a mental health facility in 2016 and lives in Virginia.
• Mary McCue Bell can be reached at mbell@washingtontimes.com.
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