NEW YORK – Former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally. The incident caused blood streaks on his face and prompted his security agents to swarm him.
Afterwards, Trump emerged, pumped his fist in the air, and appeared to mouth the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The Secret Service reported that the shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed, and two other spectators were injured.
The incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt. When the shots rang out, Trump, 78, had just started his speech. He 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.
Secret Service agents swarmed and covered him. He emerged about a minute later, his red “Make America Great Again” hat knocked off, and could be heard saying, “Wait, wait,” before agents ushered him into a vehicle.
Trump said he was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. He made the statement on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh, noting that “much bleeding took place.”
The shooter’s identity and motive were not immediately clear, and leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence. The Trump campaign said he was “doing well.” Bloomberg reported he had been released from the hospital.
The shooting occurred less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls, including those by Reuters/Ipsos, show the two locked in a close contest.
Biden said in a statement, “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.” Biden spoke with Trump following the shooting, a White House official said. Republican U.S. Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas told Fox News that his nephew had been wounded at the rally.
The shooting raised immediate questions about security failures by the Secret Service, which provides former presidents, including Trump, with lifetime protection.
Ron Moose, a Trump supporter who was at the rally, described the chaos: “I heard about four shots, and I saw the crowd go down, and then Trump ducked also real quick. Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as possible. We are talking. Within a second, they were all protecting him.”
Moose said he saw a man running and being chased by officers in military uniforms. He said he heard additional shots but was unsure who fired them. He noted that by then, snipers had set up on the roof of a warehouse behind the stage.
The BBC interviewed a man who described himself as an eyewitness, saying he saw a man armed with a rifle crawling up a roof near the event. The person, who the BBC did not identify, said he and the people he was with started pointing at the man, trying to alert security.
The agency said the shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service. The FBI said it had taken the lead in investigating the attack.
