Former White House press secretary James Brady 's death this week was directly related to wounds he sustained in the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan , and authorities are now investigating it as a homicide , police told CNN on Friday . Brady was shot in the head and partly paralyzed , spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair and advocating against gun violence . Opinion : The man who made people talk about guns . His family said in a statement that he died from health issues at 73 . But a Virginia medical examiner has ruled the case a homicide , prompting a new investigation , Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Gwen Crump said . Bill Miller , a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Washington , said his office is reviewing the medical examiner 's findings . He had no further comment . John Hinckley , the lone gunman who fired the shots that wounded Reagan , Brady , a police officer and a Secret Service agent outside a Washington hotel , was found not guilty by reason of insanity . He has spent the ensuing years in a psychiatric hospital . Hinckley was charged at the time with assault with intent to kill and assault with a dangerous weapon , and it 's unclear if he will face any new counts . James Brady , former Reagan press secretary and gun-control advocate , dies . Opinion : What James Brady did for gun control . Opinion : Congress , finish the job on Brady background checks .
Former White House press secretary was wounded in Reagan assassination attempt . He survived and is now a professor at the University of California Berkeley. But a Virginia medical examiner ruled it a homicide , prompting authorities to reinvestigate . Gunman John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity .