"If we had been a split second slower, he could have been hit in the head."
It has been 30 years since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. But for retired Secret Service agent Ray Shaddick, the memories of that gray, rainy day in Washington remain clear.
It was 2:27 p.m., March 30, 1981. The 70-year-old president, barely two months into his term, exits the Washington Hilton after delivering a speech to leaders of the AFL-CIO. He walks out a side door to the hotel -- a door used more than 100 times by presidents in the previous decade.
Waiting roughly 15 feet away stands a disturbed John Hinckley Jr., holding a .22-caliber revolver. The president waves to the crowd as he approaches the open door of his armored limousine.
