Wounded officers struggle with news of Hinckley's release

July 28, 2016 at 5:25 p.m. | Updated July 28, 2016 at 5:35 p.m.

by Associated Press

FILE - In this March 30, 1981 file photo, a U.S. secret service agent with an automatic weapon watches over James Brady, the president's secretary, after being wounded in an attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan in Washington. A Washington, D.C. policeman, Thomas Delahanty, lies to the left after also being shot. John Hinckley Jr. shot four people outside a Washington hotel on March 30, 1981, but two of his victims understandably got most of the attention: President Ronald Reagan and his press secretary, James Brady. Former Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and former District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty, both of whom took bullets to protect the president. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
FILE - In this March 30, 1981 file photo, a U.S. secret service agent with an automatic weapon watches over James Brady, the president's secretary, after being wounded in an attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan in Washington. A Washington, D.C. policeman, Thomas Delahanty, lies to the left after also being shot. John Hinckley Jr. shot four people outside a Washington hotel on March 30, 1981, but two of his victims understandably got most of the attention: President Ronald Reagan and his press secretary, James Brady. Former Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and former District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty, both of whom took bullets to protect the president. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) - The two law enforcement officers who were shot by John Hinckley Jr. when he tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan have mixed feelings about the news that Hinckley will soon go free.

Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty each took a bullet to protect Reagan. McCarthy spent five more years protecting the president and is now a police chief in Illinois. Delahanty retired on disability after the shooting and lives quietly in a Pittsburgh suburb.

McCarthy tells The Associated Press he respects the judge's decision to release Hinckley from a psychiatric hospital to live with his mother. But that doesn't mean he agrees with it. He says what Hinckley did is "unforgivable."

Delahanty tells AP he's "not too enthused" about Hinckley's release.

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