John Hinckley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, will be opening a music store in Virginia, he announced Monday.
Hinckley said on X that the store will be in Williamsburg, Virginia, but he has yet to reveal the name. The establishment will open “in a week or two,” he said. Reactions to Hinckley’s announcement ranged from cracking jokes to outrage that he has been released from prison.
“I’ll be opening a music store in Williamsburg, Va,” he wrote on X, including the address of the store. “Grand opening is in a week or two!”
Hinckley has attempted to make a career out of music since his release in 2022, posting some of his own to his public YouTube channel. He’s also performed at multiple concerts since his release and has announced an upcoming performance in February.
Reaction’s to Hinckley’s announcement poured in from his roughly 63,000 followers on X.
“Glad you’re giving it a shot,” one user wrote.
“Will you be working security John?” joked another.
Other responders were less amused, however, with some arguing bluntly that Hinckley “should be in prison.”
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“Your mental excuse kept you from prison. It is an injustice you’re even free to do this. Another sad decision by a liberal justice system,” another user wrote.
Hinckley shot four people on March 30, 1981, including Reagan, then White House press secretary James Brady, as well as a Secret Service agent and a police officer. Brady suffered medical complications for the rest of his life, and his 2014 death was ruled a homicide.
Hinckley spent more than 30 years in a mental hospital after being found not guilty in the assassination attempt by reason of insanity. He received a conditional release to his mother’s home in 2016, but those conditions were dropped in 2022, and he has since been fully free.