Kevin Johnson and Michael Winter

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The death of James Brady has been ruled a homicide resulting from John Hinckley Jr.'s attempted 1981 assassination of President Ronald Reagan, the Virginia Medical Examiner ruled Friday.

As a result, D.C. Metropolitan Police are investigating the death of the former White House press secretary and gun control icon. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the shooting that left Brady partially paralyzed.

Brady died Tuesday at age 73. The medical examiner attributed his death to the bullet that struck Brady in the head when Hinckley emptied his six-shot .22-caliber revolver in March 1981.

Hinckley, 59, has been confined to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington and has received psychiatric treatment since his acquittal in 1982. Since 1999, he has been allowed outside the facility, with his unsupervised visits to his mother's home in Williamsburg, Va., gradually expanded to 17 days.

Gail Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Brady family, said Friday that she had not seen the formal ruling on Brady's death.

"But if it is accurate, it doesn't come as any surprise to any of us,'' she said. "Jim Brady suffered immensely after being shot. It's just a fact.''

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the advocacy group that bears the name of the former press secretary and his wife, Sarah, declined to comment.