John Hinckley, who shot Ronald Reagan in 1981, is granted full freedom

Judge says shooter no longer poses a danger and his mental health problems are 'in remission'

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  FILE - In this March 30, 1981 file photo, President Ronald Reagan, center, is shown being shoved into the President's limousine by secret service agents after being shot outside a Washington hotel. A federal judge in Washington is holding what is expected to be the final hearing for would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley before he is released from restrictive conditions he has lived under since he shot the president in 1981. (AP Photo / Ron Edmonds, File)

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  Secret Service agents and police officers swarm the gunman, obscured from view, after he attempted to assassinate Reagan outside the Washington Hilton hotel. AP

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  FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2003 file photo, John Hinckley Jr. arrives at U. S. District Court in Washington. Attorneys for the U. S. government have indicated that they will not oppose a plan to lift all remaining restrictions next month on Hinckley Jr. , the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981. U. S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington ruled last year that Hinckley can be freed unconditionally in June 2022 if he continues to follow the rules placed on him and remains mentally stable as he continues to live in Williamsburg, Va. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci, File)

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  Michael Jackson is given the Presidential Special Achievement Award by Reagan in 1984. Photo: Bettmann

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  Prince Charles, Reagan, his wife Nancy and Princess Diana attend an event. Getty Images

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  Queen Elizabeth II hosts Reagan at a gala dinner at Windsor Castle in 1982. McCarthy / Daily Express / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

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  Reagan talks on the telephone while flying on Air Force One. Photo: Bettmann

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  Queen Elizabeth rides with Reagan at Windsor Castle. Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images

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  Serena Williams and her sister Venus Williams stand with Reagan at a tennis camp in Florida in 1990. Getty Images / AFP

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  Queen Elizabeth stands with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, at Buckingham Palace in London in 1989. PA

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  Reagan meets South African Bishop Desmond Tutu at the White House in 1984. AP

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  Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, left, shakes hands with Reagan at the Geneva conference in November 1985. AP

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  Reagan signs a treaty eliminating US and Soviet intermediate-range and shorter-range nuke missiles in 1987. AFP

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  Reagan waves to the crowd after a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, during which he urged the Soviet president to 'tear down this wall'.

A US federal judge on Wednesday granted John Hinckley, the man who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in a 1981 assassination attempt, unconditional release from the remaining restrictions he faced, US media reported.

During a hearing in Washington, US District Judge Paul Friedman lifted travel and internet use restrictions against Hinckley, who has been living on his own in Williamsburg, Virginia, Fox News reported.

Mr Friedman's order will take effect on June 15, it reported.

During a hearing in September, Mr Friedman said he would grant Hinckley unconditional release but gave prosecutors more time to monitor him as he began to live on his own after the death of his mother.

Mr Friedman at the time said Hinckley's mental health problems were "in remission" and he no longer posed a danger.

In 2016, he was released from a psychiatric hospital where he was treated for depression and psychosis, and allowed to move into a gated community in Williamsburg to care for his elderly mother, who died in August 2021.

Since leaving the hospital, Hinckley has obeyed court-ordered conditions and has remained mentally stable and asymptomatic, court documents show.

"Hinckley has made no verbal threats, and he has exhibited no behaviours indicative of harm to himself, others or the property of others. He has exhibited no disruptive or problematic behaviours," federal prosecutors wrote to the court in support of his release.

US president Ronald Reagan is shoved into his limousine by Secret Service agents after being shot outside a Washington hotel on March 30, 1981. AP

In September, Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post that she opposed Hinckley's release, saying that she did not believe he felt remorse.

On March 30, 1981, Hinckley shot Reagan in an assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Reagan suffered a punctured lung but recovered.

Others wounded included White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington police officer Thomas Delahanty.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity at a 1982 jury trial.