George Wallace's shooter to be paroled

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Arthur Bremer, whose 1972 assassination attempt left late Alabama Gov. George Wallace paralyzed, is to be freed from a Maryland prison after 35 years.

Other victims of Bremer's shooting spree received e-mail notification Thursday that Bremer is to be released Friday, The Baltimore Sun reported. Wallace, the Alabama governor who became notorious for his opposition to racial integration, died in 1998.

State prison officials would not release any information on the conditions of Bremer's release or where he will be living. He had been housed in a medium-security prison in Hagerstown.

Bremer opened fire at a political rally in Laurel, Md., where Wallace was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, wounding four people. His motive was to gain attention, and he had also targeted President Richard Nixon.

Peggy Wallace Kennedy of Montgomery, Ala., said she believed that Bremer should serve his full 53-year sentence.

"He hurt a lot of people," Kennedy said. "My father suffered for 25 years after that, and his children suffered right along with him. His physical pain was our emotional pain."

In later years, Wallace abandoned his segregationist views and gained considerable black support as a politician who helped poor Alabamans.