Hinckley home prompts real estate agent’s warning

Real estate agent John Womeldorf always points out the street where John Hinckley’s 89-year-old mother lives if he’s showing a house in the same resort community. He doesn’t want new homeowners to be surprised after they’ve moved in.

“I just matter-of-factly ask them ‘Do you remember the guy that shot President Reagan?’ And usually they do and I say, ‘Well his mother lives here and he gets released a number of times a year and comes and stays with his mom,’ ” Womeldorf said.

The news has deterred maybe one or two buyers, he said.

Cabot Wade, a musician who gave Hinckley guitar lessons, said he never felt Hinckley was violent or dangerous. Nevertheless, he said, “Nobody will touch him with a 10-foot pole.”