Most Bizarre Assassination Attempts

John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. This action was just one part of a planned attack on the American government's political leaders. Booth entered the President's box at Ford's theater.Lewis PowellPowell approached the Washington, DC home of William Seward, the Secretary of State and an abolitionist.

The Secretary of State suffered a serious carriage accident on April 5, breaking several bones, including his jaw. Powell told Seward's butler he was delivering medicine. The servant doubted Powell and told him to wait. Powell, physically large, ignored the servant. He went up the stairs to the second floor and the home's bedrooms.

Powell knocked out Seward's son, Frederick, and stabbed an Army sergeant. Powell then jumped onto the Secretary of State's bed and stabbed Seward's face. Seward wore a metal brace for his jaw, which stopped most of Powell's attacks. One thrust cut Seward's throat, causing a lot of blood. Seeing little in the dark room, Powell thought he killed the politician. He started fighting Seward's other son, Augustus, who rushed into the room.

Powell stabbed Augustus and ran away.On the stairwayA State Department messenger walked in the open front door and confronted Powell. Powell stabbed the messenger, then ran into the street. Powell avoided capture for three days. Eventually, he was jailed, tried, and found guilty of conspiracy to murder government officials. He received a death sentence. Seward was badly hurt, but he and the other victims survived the attack.

In 1984, after IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands died, the IRA aimed to strike the English government's core by trying toassassinate Margaret Thatcher herselfThe IRA began planning because they knew Thatcher would attend the Annual Conservative Party Conference.

Three weeks before the event, an IRA bomb maker named Jerry Magee checked into the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, using a false name. He placed a bomb in Room 629. Magee used parts from a VCR to set the bomb to explode more thanthree weeks later, October 11, at 2:53 AM on the morning of the last day of the conference.

The party leader gave a speech on the final day, so the IRA expected Thatcher to be there. The explosive was meant to destroy the building, killing everyone inside. The bomb exploded on time, but it killed five people and hurt thirty others. Thatcher avoided a falling chimney column just a few feet from her room.

Magee's fingerprints remained on his check-in card, leading to his arrest. He received eight life sentences and a minimum of 35 years in jail. He was released in 1999 due to the Good Friday Agreement prisoner exchange.

On January 30, 1835, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, became the first person to try and assassinate the President of the United States.Richard Lawrence became the first person to attempt to assassinate the President of the United States.Andrew Jackson left the US Capitol after a funeral for a House member. Lawrence confronted him and pulled the trigger on a pistol.

The percussion cap ignited, but the gun misfired. Lawrence then took another pistol from his pocket (reloading was hard) and shot Jackson again. That gun also misfired.Lawrence took another pistol from his pocket and shot at Jackson again. That gun also misfired.Some accounts say Jackson tried to hit Lawrence with his cane, but the President likely left the scene fast.

The assassin thought he was the King of England. A jury found Lawrence insane after five minutes and sent him to a mental institution where he died in 1861. When the Smithsonian tested both pistols a hundred years later, they both fired on the first try. Jackson believed it was divine intervention.

During Harry Truman's administration, the decision came to renovate the White House, so Truman moved to a temporary place at Blair House.Truman moved to Blair House, which became the Vice President's official home.Only a few Secret Servicemen accompanied Truman. Truman walked half a block on a public street to get to his office, even stopping for red lights.

On November 1, 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalist gunmen tried to shoot into Blair House, aiming to kill Truman. Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo, both Puerto Ricans, planned their attack with uprisings happening on their island. Truman took a nap in a second-story bedroom. The gunmen then moved to the building steps, firing at White House Police officers and Secret Servicemen.

Collazo reached the front steps but got seriously hurt. Torresola wounded several law enforcement members. Then, police officer Leslie Coffelt, who was already dying, came from his guard shack and shot Torresola in the head, killing him instantly. Coffelt died in the hospital four hours later.

Hearing the noise, President Truman opened the second-floor window over the entrance. The Secret Service warned him to return as Torresola reloaded his weapon.Collazo would face the death penalty. Truman later changed the sentence to life in prison. Jimmy Carter commuted Collazo's sentence in 1979, and he went back to Puerto Rico.The gunmen faced death sentences, but Truman later changed the sentence to life in prison. Jimmy Carter commuted Collazo's sentence in 1979; he returned to Puerto Rico.

April 30, 2009, a car sped during a parade honoring a Dutch holiday. It narrowly missed the open-air bus holding Queen Beatrix and other Dutch royals. Then, the car hit a monument, striking 17 pedestrians before thousands watched in horror. Eight people, including the driver and 38-year-old [Name], were involved.Karst Tates.Tates died from his injuries.

Tates recently lost his job and faced eviction. He had no criminal record, drugs, or alcohol. Before losing consciousness, Tates told police he planned to harm the Dutch royal family. Authorities never verified a motive for the attack. News reports called Tates a "loner."

Franklin D. Roosevelt began speaking to a small crowd in a Miami park on February 15, 1933, as President-Elect. Roosevelt spoke from the rear seat of an open car because his polio made standing awkward. The crowd moved forward. 32-year-old Giuseppe "Joe" Zangara.Giuseppe "Joe" Zangara.Zangara fired six shots at FDR.

The small 5'1" Zangara stood on an unstable folding chair to get a good shooting spot for FDR. He bought the pistol for eight dollars at a pawn shop. The shots missed Roosevelt but hit five others, including Chicago mayor Anton Cermak.

Zangara faced an eighty-year jail sentence. When Cermak died from peritonitis three weeks later, the would-be assassin was retried for murder and received the death penalty. Zangara pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death. Five weeks after the shooting, after ten days on Death Row at Raiford, Florida, Zangara was executed. His last words were: "Viva l'Italia! Goodbye to all poor peoples everywhere! ... Push the button! Go ahead,"Push the button!

On May 13, 1981, a Turkish national named Mehmet Ali Agca.Mehmet Ali Agca.Agca tried to kill Pope John Paul II. While John Paul greeted people in St. Peters Square in his Popemobile, Agca shot the Pope four times. The bullets hit him twice in the midsection. Doctors took him to the hospital, and he got better.

Agca's motives and political ties remain unclear. Agca claimed Turkish criminals paid him to kill the Pope. Agca also met with Bulgarian embassy officials in Rome before the attempt.

One theory suggests the Soviet government wanted the Pope dead because of his effect on Iron Curtain countries. Authorities never verified a motive for Agca's attempt. John Paul II asked for his pardon, and the Italian president deported Agca to Turkey in June 2000.

He faced ten years in prison or legal trouble for acts before shooting the Pope. Agca often changed his story about who ordered him to kill the Pope, blaming everyone from Ayatollah Khomeini to the Russian KGB.

On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. fired six wild shots at President Ronald Reagan. Five shots missed. First, people thought Reagan avoided injury, and media reported he was not hit. But as they moved toward the White House, Reagan complained of pain in his rib cage.

Jerry Parr, the head of the President's secret service detail, decided to go to George Washington University Hospital instead.The destination was George Washington University Hospital.President Reagan entered the hospital, insisting on walking to the emergency room. He suddenly folded to one knee and started having trouble breathing.

The first blood pressure reading showed it was dangerously low. The bullet stopped one inch from Reagan's heart, and he bled heavily inside. Stabilizing Reagan took 35 minutes. During the surgery, he lost about half his blood supply. Reagan was very close to death.

Reagan left the hospital a week later. Many years passed before the media and the American public understood how serious Reagan's condition was during that event.

On January 22, 1969, the Soviet government covered up an assassination attempt on Leonid Brezhnev for thirty years.A mentally unstable, disaffected Russian soldier fired many shots.He fired shots at a motorcade supposedly carrying Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev to a ceremony honoring cosmonauts. This assassination attempt was remarkable because it happened live.Soviet television and a large crowd saw the attempt. The Russian government hid details for 30 years before releasing specifics.Soviet television and a large crowd saw the attempt. The Russian government hid details for 30 years before releasing specifics.

The Soviet government told the Western press an "incident" happened. After a brief statement days later, they offered no other facts. KGB head Yuri Andropov personally questioned the assassin, Viktor Ilyin, declared him insane, and put him in a Stalinist mental institution.

Ilyin killed the chauffeur of one limo and slightly wounded the cosmonauts. Still, Ilyin left the mental institution in the '90s with an apartment and a disability pension.

On December 3, 1976, no one was charged for shooting Bob Marley.Three gunmen attacked.Three gunmen broke into Bob Marley's home in Kingston, Jamaica. They shot Marley's wife while sneaking in the front gate, wounding her scalp before entering the rehearsal area where Bob Marley and his band played. They shot wildly at the occupants. Marley narrowly avoided a chest shot when his manager, Don Taylor, pushed him down at the last second. The bullet still hit Marley's arm.

Bob Marley got caught in the violent political fight between Prime Minister Michael Manley and his rival, Edward Seaga. The government scheduled Marley for a free concert, but warned him not to play, fearing his performance would show support for Manley. Other, darker reasons involving American interests and dislike for Manley—who was seen as a radical and potential communist—also surfaced.

All injured people recovered, including Bob Marley. The performer played the festival two days later as planned. However, he left Jamaica for two years, moving to London. No one ever charged for the shooting, and the bullet stayed in Marley's arm his whole life.

Twice in September 1975.Assassins with pistols tried to shoot President Gerald Ford close up. Both attackers were women. The first attempt happened September 5, while Ford walked the grounds of the state capital in Sacramento. While shaking hands with people, Ford met Charles Manson family member Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme. Fromme wore all red.President Ford returned to California on September 22, 1975, to speak at a conference at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. While preparing to get into his limo outside the hotel, Sara Jane Moore, an FBI informant and 45-year-old bookkeeper, fired two shots at him from across the street.including a bright scarlet dress and an elf-like stocking cap.Fromme drew her Colt .45 from a holster under her dress, pointed it at Ford, and pulled the trigger. The gun missed. Fromme shouted, "It didn't go off! Can you believe it?!" as she fought to get down.

Later that same month, on September 22, 1975, Sara Jane Moore, a radicalized FBI informant and 45-year-old bookkeeper, fired two shots at President Ford as he prepared to enter his limo in front of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, where Ford was addressing a conference.

One shot hit the President near him; the second shot bounced off an onlooker who wrestled Moore down. Moore got a life sentence and worked as an accountant in jail. She got parole in 2007 after 32 years in prison. Squeaky Fromme got parole in 2009.