Former US President and likely future Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was shot during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
What happened
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During the rally, after what sounded like gunshots, Trump touched his ear and then ducked down to the platform base, reportedly as the Secret Service trains their protectees to do. Blood was visible on his face. The Secret Service hurried Trump off the stage, and he raised his fist as he rose surrounded by Secret Service agents protecting him as human shields.
Before letting the former president get to his feet the agents are overheard saying, “The shooter is down,” meaning that within the few dozen seconds of shots being fired, the shooter had been taken out by unspecified law enforcement officials.
The agents then say, “Let's move!” The Secret Service then let Trump stand amid their protective huddle.
When he stands it is with blood running down the right side of Trump’s face, consistent with any superficial epidermal injury from capillary damage in the outer ear.
Audio can be heard before the agents escort him away, wherein Trump tells his protectors, “Wait, wait, wait.”
Trump then speaks to the audience from the platform, saying, “Fight, fight, fight!” while raising a fist in the air.
He was then evacuated from the scene surrounded by the agents as they went off stage down a ramp, exiting stage left.
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As CNN reports, the shooter who fired the shot was not at the rally but likely on a rooftop outside the Trump rally. The local district attorney said the attacker would have needed a rifle to shoot from such a distance, as the stand was hundreds of meters away.
Two people were killed in the incident, including the shooter, according to The Washington Post. One spectator was dead, and two others were critically injured. State police have identified the person killed and the two people injured, all adult males, but did not release their names during a news briefing early Sunday.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek described the shooting as an assassination attempt during a news briefing.
Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that the assailant was a 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania. In a briefing early Sunday, the FBI stated that authorities were not yet prepared to release the shooter’s identity and had not determined a motive for the assassination attempt.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump reported that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
The AP reports that the suspect in the shooting was killed by Secret Service agents. He was not a participant in the rally.
Updated. Trump rally shooter identified
Law enforcement authorities have identified the man responsible for the assassination attempt on Trump, as reported by NBC News.
The FBI confirmed that the shooter, now deceased, was 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. A motive has not yet been determined. The gunman was immediately “neutralized” by the Secret Service, according to Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi.
Pennsylvania voter records show a Thomas Matthew Crooks with the same address and birth date registered as a Republican, though it is unclear when this registration occurred. However, in the US you can only register a political party affiliation when registering to vote after turning 18 years old.
During a news conference Saturday night, law enforcement reported that the investigation was nearing an identification of the shooter, who did not have identification on him. State police Lt. Col. George Bivens said, “The shooter has been tentatively identified. It’s a matter of doing biometric confirmations.”
Authorities also stressed their focus on uncovering a motive and determining whether the shooter had any accomplices.
Additionally, a video has surfaced on social media in which Crooks says, “My name is Thomas Matthew Crooks. I hate Republicans. I hate Trump. And guess what? You got the wrong guy.”
Kyiv Post has made the editorial decision not to embed the video in our news piece following journalistic and ethical standards to not glorify the assailant, which could be inspirational to copycat criminal acts.
In what condition is Trump?
The Secret Service said Trump was safe after the evacuation. His campaign headquarters stated that he was examined at a local hospital.
Trump’s spokesperson, Stephen Chung, said in a statement that Trump thanked law enforcement and emergency responders for their quick response. According to Chung, Trump is doing well and is being checked out at a local medical facility. He promised to provide more detailed information later.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump thanked the US Secret Service and all law enforcement agencies for their quick response to the shooting. He offered his condolences to the families of the man who was shot and killed and another who was seriously injured.
“It is unbelievable that this can happen in our country,” Trump said.
Biden’s reaction
The White House initially reported that US President Joe Biden was briefed on what happened at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania. Afterward, it was announced that Biden would address the nation.
Biden wrote a post on the X social network stating that there is no place for politically motivated violence in America and called on the entire country to condemn this act.
President Joe Biden spoke with Donald Trump late Saturday after a shooter opened fire at the former president’s campaign rally in Western Pennsylvania, as reported by Politico citing a White House official.
President Biden then left Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to return to Washington. Earlier in a quickly arranged on-camera appearance, he had called for unity and denounced the violence at Trump's campaign event.
“Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick...” Biden told reporters. “We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
He stressed that the Trump rally “should’ve been able to be conducted peacefully without any problem,” and that “the idea that there’s political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It’s just not appropriate.”
“Everybody must condemn it. Everybody,” Biden added.
The president made these remarks at an emergency briefing room at a police station in Rehoboth Beach roughly two hours after the fatal shooting at Trump’s rally.
Biden, who had been attending Mass on Saturday evening, learned of the incident and wanted to address the nation as soon as he was fully briefed, according to a source familiar with the president’s movements. Biden left Rehoboth late Saturday night to return to the White House.
According to a Biden campaign official, all outbound communications have been paused and his ads against his opponent will be pulled from television.
Reactions to the shooting attack on Trump
Barack Obama, Trump’s predecessor, disavowed “political violence” in a post on X, saying, “There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy. Although we don’t yet know exactly what happened, we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt. This moment should remind us to recommit to civility and respect in our politics.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X that he was horrified to learn of the shooting of former US President Donald Trump, saying: “Such violence has no excuses and should have no place anywhere in the world. Violence should never win.”
Zelensky added that he was glad to learn that Trump is now safe and wished him a speedy recovery.
“I also express my condolences to the relatives of the victim of this attack - a participant in the rally. I wish strength to everyone who is shocked by this event. I wish America to come out of this stronger,” he wrote.
This post will be updated as it unfolds.
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