WASHINGTON — Arthur H. Bremer, who as a young loner 35 years ago made a bold grab for notoriety by shooting four people -- including Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace -- in a suburban Maryland parking lot, was released from state prison early Friday morning after officials said he had turned himself into "a model prisoner."
Now 57, the man who put Wallace in a wheelchair was set free by a Maryland state law mandating his supervised release because he had amassed numerous credits for good behavior behind bars. But authorities said Bremer must adhere to strict guidelines, never leave the state and "stay away from any local, state, federal or foreign official or office holder, as well as a current candidate."
His release appears to mark the first return to freedom for any of the perpetrators of a string of successful or attempted assassinations from the 1960s to the early 1980s. Lee Harvey Oswald was killed in custody shortly after shooting President Kennedy. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, James Earl Ray, died of natural causes in prison. Others have been denied parole, including Sirhan Sirhan, who shot Robert F. Kennedy; Mark David Chapman, killer of John Lennon; and Sara Jane Moore and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who made separate failed attempts on President Ford in 1975.
The only other one close to getting out appears to be John W. Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Reagan in 1981. He has been allowed to leave a Washington mental institution for brief visits with his family.
"I would describe Arthur Bremer as a model prisoner," said Rick Binetti, spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. "He kept to himself. He stayed out of trouble."
Wallace, whose cry of "segregation forever" catapulted him to national attention, was running a racially charged campaign for president when he was confronted by Bremer in a shopping mall parking lot in Laurel, Md., on May 15, 1972. The candidate was shaking hands with supporters as Bremer jammed the barrel of a .38-caliber revolver against Wallace's abdomen.
The young man from Wisconsin started firing rapidly, hitting Wallace four times, sending one of the bullets into his spine. Three others in the crowd also were shot.
Wallace would never walk again. His presidential prospects effectively ended that afternoon.
