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Only moments before, a man who looked like Ford had preceded him out of the door. "Some people began to clap," Moore recalled. "I pulled my gun halfway out of my purse, and then I realized it wasn't he." Shaking, she jammed the revolver back in her bag. No one had seen the hostile motion.
Now Ford looked to his left and right, moving briefly to acknowledge the cheers of smaller groups of about 50 spectators on both sides. He walked toward his car, saw the larger crowd across the street, smiled and hesitated. "It looked like he couldn't make up his mind whether to cross over or not," recalled Patrolman John Gleeson. Actually, Secret Service agents did not like the looks of the weary crowd and had advised him not to approach it.
Then it happened. "When he finally did come out, he was right there almost in front of me," said Moore. "There was a while when it was so crowded I wasn't sure I could get a clear shot. But it was so easy, it was unbelievable. I pulled my gun out, took careful aim very slowly." She held the gun shoulder-high with her right hand, bracing it with the left. She said she rushed the shot "by a few seconds. I realized after I fired, I aimed high. If I had my .44, I would have caught him."
Actually, Moore's aim was not too high. Astonishingly, her bullet whizzed harmlessly between a TV crew and agents, striking the wall of the hotel 5½ ft. above the sidewalk. But it had been deflected just enough to her left to miss Ford by about 5 ft. at roughly head level as he bent to get in his limousine. The deflection was caused by the swift reflexive action of Oliver Sipple.
"Ford came out and started to wave," Sipple recalled. "I started to applaud. At that point, I seen this arm with the chrome-plated gun at the end of it right in front of me. I don't know why I did it. Reaction, I guess. I lunged with both hands. I grabbed her arm down. I don't know if it went off before I grabbed her or not." Other officers were certain the lunge was in time. "There's no question he did deflect the weapon," said Lieut. Frank Jordan. "Just as she shot, he pushed it aside. It was a very slight deflection, but it was enough."
Ford stared straight at the attacker.
He looked startled, almost dazed.
Instantly he crouched, then was shoved to the sidewalk by Secret Service Agents Ron Pontius and Jack Merchant. This placed the car between Ford and the gun-wielding woman. An agent opened the rear door of the limousine, and other agents almost threw Ford inside and to the floor. Agents Pontius and Merchant leaped into the vehicle, followed by Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld. All three shielded Ford's prone body as the car sped away.