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Embarrassing Incidents

Thrown Objects

(Analysis of cases appearing in
Section 3A
.)

Number of Incidents:
We analyzed 92 incidents of objects thrown at at-risk people.

Status of Target:
32% heads of state, 20% other government officials, 18% national figures, 13% movie/sports/media celebrities, 9% state or city officials, 5% business executives, and 3% members of Congress. In 63% of the incidents, the target was a government official.

Mortality:
95% were uninjured, 5% were injured, and none of the targets were killed. Arguably, in only 15% of the incidents -- those where rocks and bottles were thrown -- was the intent to injure the target.

Thrown Objects:
43% pies; 23% eggs, tomatoes, ketchup, salad dressing, flour, or garbage; 15% rocks or bottles; 12% other items (including 4 water/drink; 1 smoke bomb; 1 condom; 1 animal parts; 1 coin; 1 toilet paper roll, 1 tripod, and 1 shoe); 7% ink, paint or glue.

Range:
It can be assumed that all of these incidents occurred at fairly close range, distances perhaps best described as being "within a stone's throw."

Conclusions:
Among those targeted by attackers throwing objects, most were Government officials, followed by national figures and movie/sports/media celebrities. Objects are most often thrown at public figures to cause embarrassment or to bring attention to some cause, not to injure or kill the protectee. The most commonly thrown item was pies, followed by eggs, tomatoes, ketchup, salad dressing, flour, and garbage. When these items were combined, they accounted for 66% of the items thrown at public figures. Many of these attacks occurred on college campuses and nearly all of the perpetrators were young people. All of the incidents (except
Case #1155
, which was done more as a publicity stunt) were related to protests. Therefore, security personnel should be alert for the presence of protesters and should be prepared, in the event they throw objects at the protectee.

Pests, Protestors, Pranksters, and Self-Inflicted Wounds

(Analysis of all cases appearing in
Section 3B
and
3C
.)

Number of Incidents:
We list 320 incidents as embarrassing incidents. Thrown objects accounted for 92 incidents, but we wanted to look at that problem separately from other kinds of confrontations. We will now look at 228 other incidents: 205 confrontations with pests, protesters, and pranksters, and 23 self-inflicted wounds incidents.

Status of Target:
The 228 total incidents involved 48% heads of state (presidents, premiers, prime ministers, emperors, kings, and queens); 13% state and city officials (governors and mayors); 13% national figures (princes, princesses, candidates, statesmen, ex-officials, and religious figures); 10% movie/sports/media celebrities; 9% members of Congress or Parliament; 6% other government officials (diplomats, envoys, ministers, ambassadors, vice presidents, and chancellors); 0.5% court officials; and no business executives.

Mortality:
95.5% were unharmed, 4% were injured, and 0.5% of the public figures were killed. The only death was from a "self-inflicted wound" incident, and none were the result of encounters with pests, protesters, and pranksters. Firearms were involved in 83% incidents of "self-inflicted wounds." (Note: While some might argue that the injuries and deaths included in this section actually belong in the "Unintentional Injury" section, we wanted to determine how often encounters with embarrassing situations result in harm to the protectee).

Conclusions:
Confrontations with pests, protesters, and pranksters have not resulted in any deaths and have resulted in few physical injuries to public figures. However, the public figure often suffers public relations injuries that can be damaging to their career. In addition, experts agree that adverse publicity creates a short-term heightened level of risk. Many of the so-called self-inflicted wound" incidents were damaging to the reputation of the public figure, not to mention his or her safety, in incidents involving firearms accidents. In many cases, these actions opened the public figure to lawsuits filed by others.

Attacks on U.S. Presidents

(The cases analyzed for this category appear in
Section 4
.)

Note: In this section, unlike the others, we include cases that occurred prior to 1960.

Number:
We examined 15 attacks or near-attacks of acting or former U.S. presidents. Two of the presidents were attacked twice (Kennedy and Ford).

Mortality:
The target escaped unharmed in 60% of the attacks (Jackson, F. Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Ford, Clinton, Bush). The target was killed in 27% of the attacks (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy). The target was injured in 13% of the attacks (T. Roosevelt and Reagan). Combined, 40% of these attacks injured or killed the target.

Assailants:
The attacks were carried out by a lone assailant in 93% of the cases. In only 7% was there more than one assailant (Truman).

Weapon:
Firearms were used in 80% of the attacks. Handguns were used in 67% of the attacks (Jackson, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, Truman, Ford, Ford, Reagan). Shoulder-fired weapons were used in only 13% of the attacks (Kennedy and Clinton). 13% utilized an explosive device (Kennedy, Bush). Only 1% used another weapon (airplane -- Nixon). None of the assailants used a knife or edged weapon. In those cases in which bullets were fired, the assailants fired a total of 67 bullets in 12 attacks, averaging 5.6 rounds per attack. The most bullets fired by assailants were 27 (Duran) and 17 (Collazo and Torresola). Excluding those two attacks, only 23 bullets were fired in 10 attacks, averaging 2.3 rounds per attack. In only 7% of the attacks did the bodyguards return fire, and there were 10 rounds of returned fire in that case (Truman).

Range:
The attacks occurred at close range (fewer than 25 feet) in 62% of the attacks. The attacks were launched from more than 25 feet in 38% of the attacks. The longest ranges encountered were 263 feet (Oswald) and 238 feet (Duran). Two cases were not applicable, because an attack was not carried out (Pavlick and Byck).

Duration:
Of the 12 attacks involving firearms, 83% were over within a few seconds. Only 17% of the attacks lasted longer than five seconds (Kennedy's attack took just over 6 seconds, and Truman's reportedly lasted just under three minutes). Two cases were not applicable, because no on-the-scene attack occurred (Pavlick and Byck).

Situation:
The target was moving to or from a car or building (arrival or departure situations) in 40% of the attacks. The target was riding or seated in his car in 20% of the attacks. When these numbers are combined, the targets were in arrival or departure situations, or in cars 60% of the time. At the time of the attack, the target was in the White House, residence, or office 20% of the time (Truman, Nixon, Clinton). The target was at another location in 80% of the attacks. The attacks took place outdoors in 71% of the cases, and indoors in 29% of the cases.

STARS:
It was possible to conclude that security actions or strategies benefited the protectee in 33% of these cases. Note, however, that protectors were not present at all attacks in presidential history, the Secret Service being given formal responsibility for presidential protection only after 1901. Most important,
all instances of benefit from security actions or strategies in these cases arose as the result of Secret Service agents and Secret Service strategies.

Conclusions:
Attacks on presidents most often fail to harm the target, and presidents are more often killed than injured. Attacks on presidents nearly always involve lone assailants. Attacks on presidents most often involve handguns. In most cases, an average of two to three shots are fired by the assailant and none are fired by the bodyguards. Attacks on presidents usually occur at close range (fewer than 25 feet), and from no greater than 263 feet away. Attacks on presidents are nearly always over within a few seconds. Attacks on presidents most often occur during arrival or departure situations, away from the White House, and in outdoor settings.

Section 1

Intentional Harm Cases

Was Hinckley's attack on President Reagan a success or failure? The president was not killed, so therefore the attempt failed. But he was struck with a bullet, which also means that the protective strategies failed to adequately protect him from harm. The answer to this question depends on your perspective.

In this section, we have listed situations that were either actual attacks or planned attacks in which steps were taken to carry out the plans. The first section looks at those lethal and near-lethal approaches in which the protectee was killed or injured. From a protective point of view, these are clear-cut failures. In the second section, a lethal approach was made, but the protectee escaped unharmed. The third section lists cases where some element of the protective plan precluded an attack from being carried out. Many of these are the clear-cut successes and exemplify what protection is all about. A fourth section examines a number of recent kidnappings.

Clearly, luck plays a role in many of the attempts where the protectee survived, but others in his entourage were killed or wounded. We have used the criteria
"Did the protectee escape unharmed?"
as the determining factor.

Section 1A: Successful Attacks within the United States

1.
Date: September 20, 1958
Target: Reverend Martin Luther King
Location: New York, New York
Details: Izola Ware Curry approached King as he sat in a Manhattan department store, signing copies of his book. She stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. She was also carrying an automatic pistol. He was rushed to a Harlem hospital and recovered from his wound. Curry was found unfit to stand trial and was sent to a mental facility.

2.
Date: June 12, 1963
Target: Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
Details: Evers arrived home late at night after attending a civil rights rally. Byron de la Beckwith shot him in the back as he got out of his car in the driveway. He died at the University Hospital in Jackson. A 1918 Enfield 30.06 rifle was found in nearby bushes and it was traced to Beckwith. After three trials, Beckwith was found guilty in 1994.

3.
Date: April 10, 1963
Target: General Edwin Walker (U.S. Army, retired)
Location: Dallas, Texas
Details: Walker was sitting at a desk in his dining room when Lee Harvey Oswald fired at him from less than one hundred feet away. The bullet struck the wooden frame of the window, which deflected its path. Walker was injured in the forearm by bullet fragments. Oswald had reportedly decided to assassinate Walker, an outspoken anti-communist critic, to mark his place in history. Oswald surveilled Walker for some weeks prior to the attack, taking pictures of Walker's home and nearby railroad tracks. He wrote a note to his wife, Marina, with instructions for her to follow in the event he was captured. Oswald ordered a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle through the mail, and later posed for two pictures in his backyard, holding the rifle. The Dallas Police were unable to develop any suspects in the Walker shooting, however after Oswald's arrest for the shooting of President Kennedy, his home was searched, and the note and photos were discovered. Ballistics tests matched his rifle to the Walker shooting.

4.
Date: November 22, 1963
Target: President John F. Kennedy
Location: Dallas, Texas
Details: Kennedy was riding in an open car through the streets of Dallas to attend political meetings. Three rounds from a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5mm rifle were fired at Kennedy's car as it passed the Texas School Book Depository, where Oswald worked. According to the Warren Commission investigation, the first round missed, the second round struck Kennedy in the back, passed through him, then struck Texas Governor John Connally in the back, passed through his chest, through his wrist, coming to rest in his thigh, and the third round struck Kennedy in the head, causing a massive, fatal wound. Kennedy died on the scene but was rushed to Parkland Hospital, where he was declared dead. Oswald reportedly fled the Book Depository and later allegedly murdered a policeman before being arrested. The shots fired from the Texas School Book Depository covered a distance of 263 feet, the farthest distance from which anyone has harmed a U.S. President. Controversy has continued for four decades about the number of shots fired, the origin of shots, and the number of assailants.

5.
Date: November 24, 1963
Target: Prisoner Lee Harvey Oswald
Location: Dallas, Texas
Details: Oswald was being held for the assassination of President Kennedy and the murder of a Dallas police officer. He was being moved to a car parked in the basement of the police station. He had a police bodyguard on each arm and was being led past a crowd of reporters, who were jostling for position. A "barricade" consisted of a chalk line drawn on the floor. Other security personnel stood with their backs to the wall, watching Oswald, and blinded by TV lights and flashbulbs. Jack Ruby lunged through the crowd and shot Oswald in the stomach with a Colt .38 revolver. Oswald was rushed to the hospital, but died two hours later. Ruby was arrested and later died of cancer in prison.