<Li> Raymond Lee Harvey was an Ohio - born unemployed American drifter . He was arrested by the Secret Service after being found carrying a starter pistol with blank rounds, ten minutes before Carter was to give a speech at the Civic Center Mall in Los Angeles on May 5, 1979 . Harvey had a history of mental illness, but police had to investigate his claim that he was part of a four - man operation to assassinate the president . According to Harvey, he fired seven blank rounds from the starter pistol on the hotel roof on the night of May 4 to test how much noise it would make . He claimed to have been with one of the plotters that night, whom he knew as "Julio". (This man was later identified as a 21 - year - old illegal immigrant from Mexico, who gave the name Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz .) At the time of his arrest, Harvey had eight spent rounds in his pocket, as well as 70 unspent blank rounds for the gun . Harvey was jailed on a $50,000 bond, given his transient status, and Ortiz was alternately reported as being held on a $100,000 bond as a material witness or held on a $50,000 bond being charged with burglary from a car . Charges against the pair were ultimately dismissed for a lack of evidence . </Li> <Li> John Hinckley, Jr. came close to shooting Carter during his re-election campaign, but he lost his nerve . He would later attempt to kill President Ronald Reagan in March 1981 . </Li> <Ul> <Li> On March 30, 1981, as Ronald Reagan returned to his presidential limousine after a speech at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C., he and three other men were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr . Reagan was struck by a single bullet that broke a rib, punctured a lung, and caused serious internal bleeding . He was rushed to nearby George Washington University Hospital for emergency surgery and was then hospitalized for about two weeks . Upon release, he resumed a light workload for several months as he recovered . </Li> </Ul> <Li> On March 30, 1981, as Ronald Reagan returned to his presidential limousine after a speech at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C., he and three other men were shot and wounded by John Hinckley, Jr . Reagan was struck by a single bullet that broke a rib, punctured a lung, and caused serious internal bleeding . He was rushed to nearby George Washington University Hospital for emergency surgery and was then hospitalized for about two weeks . Upon release, he resumed a light workload for several months as he recovered . </Li>

When was the last time a president was shot