Francisco Martin Duran
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Francisco Martin Duran | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 8, 1968 |
| Occupation | Criminal |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Children | 1 |
| Criminal charge | Attempted assassination of U.S. president Bill Clinton Assault of a federal officer (4 counts) |
| Penalty | 40 years imprisonment |
Francisco Martin Duran (/dəˈræn/; born September 8, 1968) is an American convicted criminal and attempted assassin who, on October 29, 1994, fired 29 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle at the White House in an attempt to kill United States President Bill Clinton. Duran was convicted of attempted assassination and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Duran was born in Barelas, an inner-city neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico.[1] He had six half-siblings, all born to different fathers, all of whom moved in and out of his life. His mother was a cleaning lady who received food stamps and other government assistance.[1]
Duran was arrested at 17 and charged with the attempted theft of a front-end loader that he was going to take for a joyride. The judge made a deal with him that he would drop the charges if he enlisted in the United States Army. Duran quickly accepted the judge's offer, and his mother gave her consent as he was a minor.[1]
Military career
After basic training, Duran was selected as a medical specialist. His first tour of duty was with the 25th Light Infantry Division in Hawaii. He was an unremarkable soldier. During this tour he fell in love and had a son; he was married shortly after.[1]
On August 9, 1990, Duran and a group of Army friends got drunk at a bowling alley and were asked to leave when an argument broke out between the soldiers and some civilians about the soldiers' boisterous behavior. When the civilians blocked Duran as he tried to leave in his car, Duran confronted one of the civilians and drove away before returning and driving into the crowd outside, injuring a woman, before driving away.[1] He was stopped and arrested by military police.[1]
Duran was court-martialed and found guilty of drunk driving, aggravated assault, drunken and disorderly conduct, and leaving the scene of an accident. He was stripped of rank and sentenced to five years in prison at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.[2] He was released after two and a half years in 1993.[1]
After his release, Duran settled in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and worked as an upholsterer.[3]
1994 White House shooting
On October 29, 1994, Duran, dressed in a trench coat, approached the fence overlooking the north lawn of the White House and fired 29 7.62×39mm rounds from a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle (a Chinese copy of the SKS)[4] at a group of tourists wearing suits on the White House lawn, specifically a tourist whose haircut was said to resemble that of President Bill Clinton. Passersby wrestled Duran to the ground and subdued him until Secret Service agents arrived to take him into custody. Clinton was reportedly inside watching a football game at the time and was not harmed.[3]
The incident was six weeks after Frank Eugene Corder crashed a Cessna into the south lawn of the White House, and prompted debate about closing off traffic on that area of Pennsylvania Avenue. No one was injured in the assassination attempt.[citation needed]