Former US president Donald Trump said a bullet grazed his ear after a gunman fired at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday (July 13). The Secret Service says one person was killed and two others were critically injured. The suspected gunman is dead, officials said. The FBI said it was working with the Secret Service and the local district attorney to investigate the incident as an assassination attempt.
Trump, 78, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, is “fine” and received treatment at a local medical facility, according to his campaign.
Videos showed blood on his ear and his face, Secret Service agents shielding him, as he pumped his fist in the air, mouthing: “Fight! Fight!”
Shots rang out around 6 p.m. while Trump was addressing the rally near Butler, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. Trump grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium after the gunshots.
Secret Service agents swarmed around him, then rushed him off the stage and into a car.
Multiple shots
The suspected shooter fired multiple shots at the stage “from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” a Secret Service spokesman said. Secret Service agents “neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased”, the spokesman added.
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the “subject involved” in what it termed an attempted assassination. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records.
It was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”.
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he said. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
Later, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said Trump had left Butler “under the protection of US Secret Service and with the assistance of the Pennsylvania State Police”.
Biden condemns shooting
President Joe Biden condemned the shooting. He said at a press conference: “ We cannot be like this. We condone this.” He added that he was grateful to hear Trump was “safe and doing well.” Biden later spoke to Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris also said she was relieved that Trump was not seriously injured.
Trump’s campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, said: “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act. He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility.”
Several Republican lawmakers blamed Biden and Democrats for the shooting.