Credit: White House / US federal government (public domain)Public domainSourceSOLVEDListenWashington Hilton, Washington, D.C. · 1981
On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan and three others outside the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. Hinckley was later found not guilty by reason of insanity.
SOLVEDListenQ Street NW, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. · 2011
Viola Herms Drath, a 91-year-old Washington, D.C. author and foreign-policy figure, was found dead in her Georgetown home on August 11, 2011. Her much-younger husband, Albrecht Gero Muth, was later convicted of her murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Credit: Unknown authorPublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenSite of the former Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station, Washington, D.C. · 1881
On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot twice at a Washington, D.C. railroad station by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker. Garfield died 79 days later on September 19, 1881; Guiteau was tried, convicted of murder, and executed by hanging on June 30, 1882.
Credit: D. Myles Cullen, U.S. Department of DefensePublic domainSourceSOLVEDListenWashington Navy Yard, Building 197 · 2013
On September 16, 2013, Aaron Alexis, identified by police as the gunman, fatally shot 12 people and injured three others at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in the Washington Navy Yard before being killed by police, making it the deadliest mass shooting in Washington, D.C. history.
Credit: Dallas EppersonCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenUnited States Capitol, Washington, D.C. · 2021
On April 2, 2021, Noah Green rammed a car into a security barricade outside the U.S. Capitol, killing Capitol Police Officer William "Billy" Evans and wounding another officer before being fatally shot by police.
Sheridan Circle, Embassy Row, Washington, D.C. · 1976
On September 21, 1976, former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and his colleague Ronni Moffitt were killed by a car bomb in Washington, D.C., planted by agents of the Chilean secret police (DINA) as part of Operation Condor, in an assassination declassified documents indicate was personally ordered by Augusto Pinochet.
Credit: dconvertiniCC BY-SA 2.0SourceSOLVEDListenPlaza of the United States Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. · 2022
On April 22, 2022 (Earth Day), climate activist Wynn Alan Bruce set himself on fire in the plaza of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. He died of his injuries the following day. Friends and his father said the act was a protest against inaction on climate change, though no note or manifesto was found.
SOLVEDListenEmbassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. · 2024
On February 25, 2024, U.S. Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell, 25, set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest of U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza, and died of his injuries that evening.
The files run from 1881 to 2024. The 2020s hold the most, with 4 files. The oldest is Assassination of James A. Garfield, from 1881.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (7), mass shooting cases (2) and kidnapping and abduction cases (2).
2 files of the 13 have coverage attached: 3 videos, podcasts and documentaries from 3 creators. The most covered is Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, with 2 items to watch or hear. Bailey Sarian, Dateline NBC and That Chapter have covered the most of them.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.
Ronald Reagan, James Brady, Tim McCarthy, Thomas Delahanty — Credit: White House / US federal government (public domain)Public domainSource
B&PStation1908 — Credit: Unknown authorPublic domainSource
Hagel lays wreath at Navy Memorial - 2013-09-17 — Credit: D. Myles Cullen, U.S. Department of DefensePublic domainSource
North Barricade (Flowers near the Capitol - panoramio (2) (cropped)) — Credit: Dallas EppersonCC BY-SA 3.0Source
United States Supreme Court Building2 — Credit: dconvertiniCC BY-SA 2.0Source
13. By status: 1 ongoing and 12 solved. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Assassination of James A. Garfield, from 1881. Open the file
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, with 2 videos, podcasts and documentaries linked from its file. Open the file
Bailey Sarian (1 case), Dateline NBC (1 case) and That Chapter (1 case).
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 13, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
