Free after four decades of confinement, John Hinckley Jr. recalls his life in Colorado before Reagan assassination attempt

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on President Ronald Reagan, seriously injuring him in an assassination attempt that received international news coverage. Three others were wounded, including Press Secretary James Brady who wound up permanently disabled. At the time, Hinckley was a resident of Colorado.

There was no doubt Hinckley fired the bullets, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington D.C. Early on in his stay there, he exchanged letters with CBS News Colorado reporter Rick Sallinger.

Four decades later, Hinckley is a free man living in Virginia. Sallinger traveled to Williamsburg in August to interview him about those letters and the shooting.

"You wrote to me saying you wanted to be an astronaut or a Denver Bronco," Sallinger said.

"Well, maybe a Denver Bronco. I don't know why I said astronaut," Hinckley said.

Those writings, he explained, were indicative of his mental state back then.

Diagnosed with depression and psychosis, he had seen the movie "Taxi Driver" 15 times and became obsessed with the actress Jodi Foster. The assassination attempt was his way to try to impress her. It failed. He later tried to take his own life two different times.

"That was early on in my confinement. I was very, very depressed. Very sick. At the prison I was at I attempted suicide," he said.

Hinckley insists, and the court now agrees, that he isn't the same person that he was back then.

"I'm still on medications, but all through those year I was in many therapies. Group therapies. Individual therapies," he said.

Hinckley credits his recovery to his lengthy relationship with fellow patient Leslie deVeau and their care of stray cats.

Hinckley had lived in the Hiwan neighborhood in Evergreen but his parents kicked him out on the advice of a psychiatrist. Following the assassination attempt, investigators came to the house and found articles about assassinations.

"It was a time when I was kind of getting more and more depressed. So there were some good times in Colorado, but a lot of it was my depression sliding into deeper and deeper illness," he said.

Hinckley moved into an apartment in the Denver metro area after getting kicked out and was on valium at various times that he lived there. He had purchased one of several guns he owned in Lakewood not far from a restaurant he worked at. Eventually he took up residence at the Golden Hours Motel on West Colfax Avenue. That was until just a few days before the assassination attempt. He flew to Los Angeles for one night, decided against restarting his music career and then took a cross-country bus trip to Washington.

The assassination plot then started growing in his mind.

Sallinger asked Hinckley to think back to the day of the shooting.

"I went to the hotel and waited till he came out," Hinckley said.

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In the years following his arrest, Hinckley's parents founded the American Mental Health Fund.

"They just worked so hard over the years to get me to where I am now with my freedom," Hinckley said. "I'm free at last, after 41 years."

Brady, confined to a wheelchair, went on to become a leader in the debate over guns in America, advocating for stronger restrictions. Sallinger asked Hinckley to state his feelings on the issue.

"I think there's too many guns in America. I think assault weapons should be banned," Hinckley said.

Sallinger asked him what led him to that belief.

"Just watching the news. The country is out of control with the violence right now and there's too many guns."

Hinckley has hopes that he will be known for his art and his music. He records videos of himself singing and playing songs on YouTube. He has had trouble with his attempts to perform in front of an audience.

"Yeah, I (book) these venues and the concerts sell out. But then the venues cancel on me because of backlash they receive from from putting on the concert," he said.

The music he writes is about is his life. His most popular song is called "Never Ending Quest."

"I just want a never ending quest to have a better life. And ... over the years I was on a never ending quest for to get to where I am now. To have a good life."

"Do you think the people of America forgive you or are willing to forget?" Sallinger asked.

"Americans have their own beliefs about me, and I can't change most people's minds."