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In the front passenger seat: Interviews with Shaddick, Tim McCarthy, Jim Varey, and Joe Trainor. Trainor won the coin toss with McCarthy and Dalton McIntosh. Trainor stayed behind at the Secret Service command post, called W-16, under the Oval Office.

Behind Halfback: Interviews with Fischer and Muratti; Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 16; in later books and interviews, Deaver said he rode in the limousine with Donovan and the president to the hotel. The Treasury report identified only Donovan and Reagan as passengers in the limousine.

made up the “escape package”: Interview with Parr.

staff car ferrying: Interview with Maseng, who rode with Brady to the speech in the staff car. The motorcade assignments were also specified in the president’s daily schedule, RRPL.

As the scheduled departure: Larry Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 7; Mollie Dickenson details Brady’s life and work at the White House and describes his day on March 30, 1981, in her thorough book, Thumbs Up.

The string of limousines: Tim McCarthy testimony.

The ride had covered 1.3 miles in about four minutes: Treasury report.

A few minutes before the president’s arrival: Interview with Herbert Granger; Granger Secret Service report (redacted); Thomas Delahanty FBI report.

seven reporters and ten spectators: Green Secret Service report (redacted).

At seven that morning: Interview with Granger; Granger’s Secret Service report; Delahanty FBI report. Few others were wearing bulletproof vests that day. Tim McCarthy wasn’t wearing one, nor was Parr. Reagan was not wearing one, either. Before the attempt on his life, the president rarely donned one, according to agents. After the shooting, at the request of the Secret Service, Reagan wore a bullet-proof vest or bulletproof clothing more often.

Hell … it’s just the Hilton: Interview with Granger.

but his dog, Kirk: Mailed response by Delahanty to questions by the author; Alfred E. Lewis, “In Recuperation, Delahanty Recalls Reagan Shooting,” WP, May 11, 1981, p. A10.

About forty-five minutes: Granger Secret Service report (redacted); interview with Granger; Treasury report; interview with D.C. police officer Richard Hardesty, who was deployed above the VIP entrance.

“They’re coming”: Delahanty FBI report.

Granger, a former: Interview with Granger.

Looking back at the police sergeant: Government psychiatric report; testimony of psychiatrists who interviewed Hinckley.

His RG 14 revolver: The FBI allowed me to hold the gun. It has a very heavy trigger pull. An FBI agent testified to this same fact at Hinckley’s trial.

He removed the six Devastator: Hinckley described these bullets as “stingers,” and FBI agent Gerald Wilkes testified that these bullets were more deadly than others in the would-be assassin’s possession because they explode on contact. “Upon detonation, the bullet is fragmented, producing a shrapnel-type effect,” Wilkes testified. “This vastly increases the area of contact of that bullet with the medium through which it is passing. Also a new kinetic energy is produced by the explosion of the explosive agent. Not only that, the intensely high temperature produced by the detonation of [the bullet] can produce damage to the local areas where it” exploded. Wilkes testified that only one bullet exploded on impact—the one that struck Brady. The others most likely did not explode because they did not reach high enough speeds, hit soft targets, or struck objects at an angle, reducing the force of impact required to set off the explosion, according to John Finor, a firearms examiner for a police force in Pennsylvania and president of the Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners. Finor said such bullets have since gone out of favor; they are less likely to inflict mortal wounds because they fragment and disperse much of their energy at impact and do not penetrate as far as conventional bullets, he said.

This was also not the first time: Testimony at Hinckley’s trial; government psychiatric report. I could find no public record of how many guns Hinckley brought with