At 2:27 p.m. on March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan walked out of the Washington Hilton hotel into a slate-gray D.C. afternoon.

Suddenly, shots rang out.

Bodies fell, Secret Service agents whipped out their weapons, and Reagan was heaved into the presidential limousine.

None of the six bullets fired by assailant John W. Hinckley Jr. initially hit Reagan, but one ricocheted off the limo, striking him in the left side of his chest.

‘Get out of here! Go! Go! Go!’ Secret Service agent Jerry Parr shouted.

The car sped away, leaving behind pandemonium: Three men lay on the ground, bleeding profusely, while a scrum of others piled on top of Hinckley.

Realizing that the president had been hit, Parr directed the limo to rush to the George…