Shocking assassination attempts targeting presidents with bullets, bombs, and suicide planes.

A high-profile target with enemies worldwide, the president of the United States holds a powerful position.

Attempts to assassinate presidents have been carried out through various means, including guns, poisoned packages, mail bombs, roadside explosives, and even suicide attacks from the air.

In office, four out of the 45 men who held the position of chief executive were assassinated.

Since World War II, the leader of the free world has been widely recognized as an American president, and there have been numerous attempts to end their life.

In the aftermath of the unexpected events that transpired in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, we present a comprehensive analysis of 14 of the most unusual attempts to assassinate our presidents, in addition to the four instances where American presidents were tragically murdered in office. The data used in this report comes from the Library of Congress, the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as numerous news and historical sources.

Assassination attempts on US presidents

2024: Donald Trump

On July 13, 2024, a rooftop gunman fired several rounds at the former president during a live event on national television while Trump was campaigning.

The rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was one of several events in Trump's ongoing bid to regain the White House.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected gunman, was reportedly shot dead by Secret Service snipers. The investigations are ongoing.

2016: Donald Trump

At a June 18 Trump campaign rally in Las Vegas, a British citizen who had exceeded his tourist visa tried to grab a firearm from a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer. The individual had received gun training the previous day at a shooting range.

Sandford received a 12-month and 1-day prison sentence for possessing a firearm as an illegal alien.

2013: Barack Obama

According to a Politico report, James Everett Dutschke sent letters laced with poison Ricin to then-President Obama in an attempt to frame a rival.

Dutschke mailed poisoned correspondence to Sen. Roger Wicker and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland, both of whom are Republicans.

Before delivery, the letters to Obama and Wicker were intercepted, while the letter to Holland was delivered, but the judge remained unharmed.

2011: Barack Obama

According to federal authorities, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired on the White House, stating that Obama was "the devil" and the "anti-Christ."

Before opening fire from the passenger window of his Honda with a Romanian-made semiautomatic rifle with telescopic sight, Ortega-Hernandez drove 1,800 miles from Idaho to Washington D.C.

2006: George W. Bush

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a political rally was disrupted by Vladimir Arutyunian, who threw a grenade towards then-President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The grenade, enveloped in fabric, landed 100 yards away from the global leaders and seemingly failed to function.

Arutyunian was sentenced to life in prison after he admitted to attempting to kill the president again.

1996: Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were on Air Force One when Secret Service agents found an explosive device on the planned motorcade route in Manila.

The al-Qaeda assassination attempt on the president and first lady was thwarted by the agents who swiftly altered the presidential procession's route.

1994: Bill Clinton

On the night of Sept. 11, 1994, Frank Eugene Corder stole a Cessna 150L single-engine prop plane and the next day tried to crash it into the White House to kill the president. However, he was killed when he crashed into South Lawn.

Officials stated that severe intoxication led to the man missing his White House target, resulting in no other casualties.

1981: Ronald Reagan

On March 30, 1981, in Washington, D.C., John Hinckley Jr. fired a .22 caliber revolver with "devastator" bullets at then-President Ronald Reagan and his security team outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, all in an attempt to gain the attention of actress Jodie Foster.

According to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, Reagan was injured when a bullet that had hit the limousine ricocheted and struck him under his left armpit.

Reagan underwent an emergency surgery at George Washington University Hospital to remove a bullet from his chest.

During the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, Metropolitan Police Department officer Thomas Delahanty and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy were also injured. White House press secretary James Brady was shot in the head and left severely disabled. After 12 days in the hospital, Reagan was able to return to the White House.

1975: Gerald Ford

On September 5, 1975, in Sacramento, California, a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol was aimed at the president by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme as he greeted a crowd.

Larry Buendorf swiftly placed his hand in front of the gun's hammer, preventing Fromme from shooting Ford.

The Charles Manson family member, Fromme, added to the bizarre notoriety of the incident.

1974: Richard Nixon

In February 1974, Samuel Joseph Byck killed a cop and co-pilot while attempting to hijack Delta Airlines Flight 523 on the ground at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

The DC-9 passenger jet was suspected to have been part of a plot to assassinate then-President Richard Nixon by crashing into the White House.

The pilot was shot and wounded by Byck, who carried an incendiary device on the plane.

1947: Harry Truman

In the pre-Israel Middle East, the Stern Gang, a Zionist militia, sent several explosive devices to the White House with the intention of assassinating then-President Harry Truman.

Mailroom staff discovered the explosives, which Secret Service bomb experts defused.

1912: Theodore Roosevelt

During a campaign stop in Milwaukee, the rugged leader of the Rough Riders demonstrated his strength once again while running for a third term as president.

Roosevelt delivered an 84-minute speech before being shot in the chest with a .38 revolver.

As he spoke, a large crimson stain soaked his white shirt with blood that seeped from his body.

1864: Abraham Lincoln

According to Smithsonian Magazine, in August, while riding horseback from the White House to a retreat cottage three miles away, Lincoln was shot in the head by a would-be assassin who fired from near the road, causing his stovepipe hat to fall off.

A bullet hole was discovered in the crown of a hat that soldiers found on the road later.

1835: Andrew Jackson

In January 1835, Richard Lawrence pulled a gun on President Andrew Jackson in the Capitol Rotunda, nearly killing him.

Lawrence aimed a derringer single-shot pistol at Jackson's heart from inches away and pulled the trigger. However, the powder failed to ignite, according to an official Senate.gov account.

The assassinations of 4 US presidents

1963: John F. Kennedy

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, remains an unresolved mystery that continues to haunt the nation.

Two days after being the lone suspect in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot dead on live television. His death sparked 60 years of questions, controversy, and conspiracy theories.

1901: William McKinley

On Sept. 6, 1901, in Buffalo, New York, Leon Czolgosz fatally shot President McKinley twice in the stomach from a close range.

The San Francisco Call declared Czolgosz, the chief executive, as the victim of the most cowardly anarchist in a bold front-page headline. Witnesses brutally beat him nearly to death. He was convicted and executed just a month later.

After McKinley's assassination, the Secret Service was instructed by Congress to safeguard the president.

1881: James Garfield

On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was preparing to board a train in Washington D.C. when he was assassinated by an unhappy supporter, Charles Guiteau.

The lawyer and writer expressed anger after being overlooked for the position of ambassador to France.

Garfield endured agony for 79 days before finally succumbing to his injuries. Quiteau was convicted and executed in 1882.

1865: Abraham Lincoln

On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known stage actor, assassinated President Lincoln by shooting him in the back of the head from a close distance while the president was watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.

The surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee marked the end of the Civil War, which was won by Lincoln and Union forces.

According to Britannica, Booth was a "vigorous supporter of the southern cause." After his death on April 26, 1865, he became the subject of a frantic manhunt.