WASHINGTON — For Saturday apparent attempted murder Since former President Donald Trump, there have been multiple instances of political violence targeting U.S. presidents, former presidents, and major party presidential candidates.
A look at some of the murders and attempted murders that have taken place since the country’s founding in 1776:
Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated. He was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while he and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, were attending a special performance of the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington.
Lincoln was taken to a house across the street from the theater for medical treatment after being shot in the back of the head. He died the next morning. His support for black rights has been cited as a motive for his assassination.
Two years before the assassination, during the Civil War over slavery, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, granting freedom to slaves within the Confederacy.
Lincoln was succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson.
Booth was shot dead on April 26, 1865, after being found in a barn near Bowling Green, Virginia.
Garfield was the second president to be assassinated, six months into his tenure. He was walking through a Washington train station to catch a train to New England on July 2, 1881, when he was shot by Charles Guiteau.
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, tried in vain to find the bullet lodged in Garfield’s chest using a device he had designed especially for the president. The mortally wounded president lay in the White House for several weeks, but died in September after being taken to the New Jersey shore. He had been in office for six months.
Garfield was succeeded by Vice President Chester Arthur.
Guiteau was found guilty and executed in June 1882.
McKinley was shot after giving a speech in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901. He was shaking hands with people passing by the receiving line when a man fired two shots into his chest at close range. Doctors expected McKinley to recover, but gangrene developed around the bullet wounds.
McKinley died on September 14, 1901, six months into his second term.
He was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
Leon F. Czolgosz, an unemployed 28-year-old Detroit resident, confessed to the shooting. Czolgosz was found guilty at trial and put to death in the electric chair on October 29, 1901.
Kennedy was fatally shot by a concealed assassin armed with a high-powered rifle while visiting Dallas in November 1963 with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Shots rang out as the president’s motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas.
Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died shortly afterward.
He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was sworn in in a conference room aboard Air Force One. He is the only president to have taken the oath of office on an airplane.
Several hours after the assassination, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald after finding a sniper’s location in a nearby building, the Texas School Book Depository.
Two days later, Oswald was being taken from the police station to jail when Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby rushed forward and fatally shot Oswald.
Ford faced two assassination attempts within weeks of each other in 1975, but was uninjured in both incidents.
On the first attempt, Ford was on his way to a meeting with the governor of California in Sacramento when Charles Manson disciple Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme pushed through a crowd in the street, pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at Ford. The gun did not fire.
Fromme was sentenced to prison and released in 2009.
It was 17 days later when another woman, Sara Jane Moore, confronted Ford outside a San Francisco hotel. Moore fired one shot and missed. A bystander grabbed her arm as a second shot was attempted.
Moore was sent to prison and released in 2007.
Reagan was leaving a speech in Washington DC and walking toward his motorcade when he was shot by John Hinckley Jr., who was in the crowd.
Reagan recovered from the shooting in March 1981. Three other people were shot, including his press secretary, James Brady, who was partially paralyzed.
Hinckley was arrested and committed to a psychiatric facility after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan. In 2022, Hinckley was released from court-ordered supervision after a judge determined he “no longer posed a danger to himself or others.”
Bush was attending a meeting in Tbilisi with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2005 when a hand grenade was thrown at him.
Both men were behind a bulletproof barrier when the grenade, wrapped in cloth, landed about 100 feet away. The grenade did not explode and no one was injured.
Vladimir Arutyunian was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Kennedy was running for the Democratic presidential nomination when he was assassinated in a Los Angeles hotel moments after delivering his victory speech for his 1968 California primary win.
Kennedy was a United States Senator from New York and the brother of President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated five years earlier.
Five other people were injured in the shooting.
Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder and given the death penalty, which was commuted to life in prison, where Sirhan remains after his last request for release was denied last year.
Wallace was running for the Democratic presidential nomination when he was shot while campaigning in Maryland in 1972, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Wallace, the governor of Alabama, was known for his segregationist views, which he later renounced.
Arthur Bremer was convicted of the shooting and sentenced to prison. He was released in 2007.