assassination - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1975: Gerald Ford Survives Assassination Attempt in Sacramento

On 5 September 1975, President Gerald Ford was leaving a meeting at the Senator Hotel in Sacramento, California, when Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a loaded .45-calibre pistol at him from close range. A Secret Service agent grabbed the weapon before it could be fired, and Ford was unharmed.

Fromme was arrested on the spot. She was later tried and convicted of attempted assassination of the President, receiving a life sentence. It was the first of two attempts on Ford's life within a single month, the second coming just 17 days later in San Francisco.

Gerald Ford portrait in the Michigan State Capitol at 100 N Capitol Avenue in Lansing, Michigan | ID 103716497 © Glenn Nagel | Dreamstime.com — ID 103716497 © Glenn Nagel | Dreamstime.com

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Assassination California Political Crime Sacramento Trial USA

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1994: NSW Politician John Newman Shot Dead Outside His Cabramatta Home

At 9:30 pm on 5 September 1994, Labor MP John Newman was shot twice and killed instantly in the car park of his Woods Avenue home in Cabramatta, in the western suburbs of Sydney.

His fiancee, Lucy Wang, was present but saw little due to the speed of the attack; she reported a hooded man in an army-style jacket who fired four shots and fled in a waiting car. Newman had represented Cabramatta in the NSW Legislative Assembly since 1986 and had campaigned aggressively against organised crime and drug trafficking in the area. Newman was later given a state funeral. He was 47 years old.

Grey car parked in front of a garage at night

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Assassination Australia Cabramatta Gang Murder NSW Organised Crime Political Crime Sydney

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1981: Hinckley Pleads Not Guilty to Shooting President Reagan

In March 1981, John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots at President Ronald Reagan outside a Washington D.C. hotel, wounding Reagan and three others. The attack was later revealed to be motivated by an obsession with actress Jodie Foster.

On 28 August 1981, Hinckley entered a plea of not guilty to charges of attempted assassination. He was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982 and was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Washington D.C.

President Reagan presents an introduction for the Horatio Alger Association | ID 26274897 © Joe Sohm | Dreamstime.com — ID 26274897 © Joe Sohm | Dreamstime.com

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Assassination Political Crime Trial USA

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1979: Mountbatten Killed by IRA Bomb Off the Irish Coast

On 27 August 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten, 79, was killed when a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA detonated aboard his fishing boat, Shadow V, in the waters off Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland. The bomb, concealed on the vessel the night before, was remotely detonated as Mountbatten and family members set out from the harbour. Three others died in the blast, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull and a 15-year-old local boy.

Thomas McMahon, an IRA bomb-maker, was arrested hours before the explosion on unrelated grounds and later convicted of the murders based on forensic evidence linking him to the boat. The attack was coordinated with the Warrenpoint ambush the same day, which killed 18 British soldiers, making 27 August 1979 one of the deadliest days for British forces during the Troubles.

A typical view in London. London. October 2018. A statue of Lord Mountbatten in Horse guards parade in london | ID 130381623 © Chris Mouyiaris | Dreamstime.com — ID 130381623 © Chris Mouyiaris | Dreamstime.com

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Assassination Europe Ireland Murder Political Crime Terrorism UK

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