Assassination Attempts Events

1605 Nov 5 Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes Day
The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, as it was then known, (also known as The Powder Treason or The Gunpowder Plot) was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Cathol...
1918 Aug 30 Fanny Kaplan Attempts to Assassinate Vladimir Lenin
According to official accounts, on August 30, 1918, Lenin was speaking at a Moscow factory called "Hammer and Sickle". As Lenin left the building and before he entered his car, Fanny Kapl...
1975 Sep 5 Lynnette Fromm Attempts to Assassinate President Gerald Ford
Ford faced two assassination attempts during his presidency, occurring within three weeks of each other: while in Sacramento, California on September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a ...
1975 Sep 22 Sara Jane Moore Attempts to Assassinate President Ford Shortly Following a Similar Incident
Sara Jane Moore, a former FBI informant with connections to various radical groups, today attempted to assassinate President Ford as he left the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco "The...
1981 Mar 30 Attempted Assassination of US President Ronald Reagan
The Reagan assassination attempt occurred on March 30, 1981, just 69 days into the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washi...
2010 Jan 8 Shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Following Inclusion on Sarah Palin's 'Hit List'
Giffords, who has been in Congress since 2006 and is Arizona's first Jewish representative, is married to astronaut Mark Kelly. (Click for that story.) In March of last year, her Tucson o...
2011 Jan 8 Sarah Palin Offers Condolences Following Tucson Shooting
Sarah Palin, who's been taking flak because of a SarahPac map that put Gabrielle Giffords' district in its crosshairs (literally), issued a quick Facebook statement today offering "sincer...
2011 Jan 8 Surgeon Optimistic Giffords Will Survive
Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is out of surgery after being shot while hosting a public event today, and a Tucson surgeon said he was "very optimistic" she would survive but th...
2011 Jan 9 Jared Loughner Charged in Tucson Shooting
Federal prosecutors today charged Jared Lee Loughner with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, reports the Arizona Republic. "Additional charges could be brought und...
2011 Jan 11 Lougner's Parents Release Statement Expressing Sorrow and Confusion
"This is a very difficult time for us. We ask the media to respect our privacy. There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel..." —The Loughner Family
2011 Jan 11 Sales of Glock Pistols Surge After Use in Tucson Shooting
In the any-publicity-is good-publicity-department: Sales of semiautomatic Glock pistols like that used in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting have spiked in Arizona and across the nation in t...
2011 Jan 11 Tucson Holds Catholic Mass for Nine-Year-Old Christina Taylor Green, Killed in Tucson Shooting
Tucson's citizens gathered by the hundreds last night, crowded under the roof of the Catholic church where Christina Taylor Green used to sing in the choir to pay homage to her and the ot...
2011 Jan 14 Loughner's Ex-Girlfriend Says She Knew Him as "Completely Normal"
When Kelsey Hawkes dated Jared Loughner he liked to play clarinet and Super Mario Bros. They did their homework together. They shared a love of classic rock. She once taught him how to ma...
2011 Jan 15 Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Off Ventilator for the First Time
Another milestone for Gabrielle Giffords: Doctors today took her off a ventilator for the first time since last week's shooting, reports CNN. They removed her breathing tube—she was breat...
2011 Jan 16 Gabrielle Giffords' Condition Upgraded to 'Serious'
More good news for Gabrielle Giffords: Doctors upgraded her from critical to serious condition today, the Arizona Republic reports. A spokesperson says such a change typically happens whe...
2011 Jan 19 Jared Loughner Indicted in Tucson Shooting
The first indictments against Jared Lee Loughner came out today, with plenty more to follow. The indictments from a federal grand jury charge him with the attempted assassination of Gabri...
2011 Jan 21 Gabrielle Giffords Moved from Hospital to Rehab Center
Giffords’ husband, mother, and staff members were expected to ride alongside her in the air ambulance, the Arizona Republic reports. US Capitol police put extra security in place at the H...
2011 Jan 24 Jared Loughner Pleads Not Guilty in Tucson Shooting
Jared Lee Loughner has pleaded "not guilty" in a Phoenix courthouse Monday to federal charges that he attempted to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and two of her aides on Jan. 8 in Tucson. ...
2011 Mar 3 Grand Jury Indicts Jared Loughner on 46 News Charges in Giffords Shooting
Jared Lee Loughner was charged on new counts that include the murders of US District Judge John Roll and Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, according to an indictment released today. A federal...
2011 Jun 21 Gabrielle Giffords Husband, Mark Kelly, Retiring from NASA to Write Memoir with Wife
Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, will write a book about their lives and the Arizona shooting rampage that seriously wounded the congresswoman
2011 Oct 11 US Justice Department Claims Disruption of Iran-Backed Plot on Saudi Envoy 's Life
The U.S. Justice Department says it has broken up a plot involving an elite Iranian military unit to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington. An Iranian-born U.S. citizen is i...
2011 Nov 11 Gabrielle Giffords Speaks Publicly for First Time
For the many Americans who have been following the story of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) as she recovers from being shot in the head last January, there's now a chance to briefly hea...
2011 Nov 17 Ortega-Hernandez Charged with Attempted Assassination
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, made his first court appearance before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh on Thursday, one day after he was arrested at a western Pen...
2011 Nov 24 Gabrielle Giffords Serves Thanksgiving Dinner at Military Base
US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords serves Thanksgiving dinner at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base with her husband Mark Kelly in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011.