Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Arthur Bremer, who shot Alabama Governor George Wallace during a 1972 presidential campaign stop, was freed from prison today, 18 years earlier than scheduled, a Maryland official said.

``Before dawn, Bremer was released and walked off of the facility,'' Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Public Safety and Correctional Services Department, said in an interview. Vernarelli said he didn't know where Bremer will live or who might have picked him up.

The shooting paralyzed Wallace below the waist and forced him to abandon his presidential bid. He was elected to two more terms as Alabama's governor before his death in 1998.

Bremer, 57, was set to get time off for good behavior, Ruth Ogle, program manager at the Maryland Parole Commission in Baltimore, said in an August interview.

``Bremer has been a good inmate,'' Ogle said. ``He's never had an infraction, been cited for good behavior by guards and works a clerking job.''

Under the conditions of the release, Bremer must stay away from elected officials and candidates and undergo mental-health evaluations and treatments if the state considers it necessary, the Parole Commission said in a statement. Bremer will be supervised by the Division of Parole and Probation until his sentence ends in 2025 and can't leave Maryland until then.

53-Year Sentence

After shooting Wallace and three bystanders in Laurel, Maryland, during the segregationist governor's run for the Democratic Party nomination, Bremer was sentenced to 53 years.

He served 28 of those years at Maryland Correctional Institute-Hagerstown. Before entering that medium-security prison, he was jailed in Baltimore. Bremer has spent a total of 35 years behind bars.

During a 1996 parole hearing, Bremer showed no remorse for the crime he committed, the Associated Press reported. His parole was denied then in part because he initially refused a psychological screening.

``My father forgave him and my family has forgiven him,'' George Wallace Jr. told the Washington Post from Montgomery, Alabama. ``That's consistent with God's law.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Riddell in Washington at Kriddell1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2007 12:44 EST