Former US President Donald Trump, the target of an assassination attempt on Saturday during a rally in Pennsylvania, days before accepting the Republican nomination for the third time. A burst of gunfire set off panic and a bloodied Trump, who said he had been shot in the ear, circled through the Secret Service and ran toward his truck as he shook his fist in defiance.
Trump’s crusader said the presumptive Republican nominee was “fine” after the shooting, which it said pierced the top of his right ear.
“I immediately knew something was wrong, I heard a whistle, gunshots and I immediately felt the bullet tear my skin. There were a lot of hemorrhages,” he wrote on his social network.
The FBI identified the shooter early Sunday as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The firm said the investigation remains active and ongoing.
Secret Service agents shot and killed Crooks, who had attacked from a high position outside the rally site at a farmer’s exhibition in Butler, Pennsylvania, the firm said.
One player was killed and two spectators were seriously injured, the government said. They were all men.
It was the most serious assassination attempt committed against a president or presidential candidate since the assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981. It brought new attention to considerations of political violence in the United States. deeply polarized, less than four months before the presidential elections. And it may simply replace the tenor and security posture of the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee.
Organizers said the conference would go ahead as planned.
Trump flew to New Jersey after visiting a local hospital in Pennsylvania and landed shortly thereafter at Newark Liberty International Airport. A video released through an aide showed the former president disembarking from his personal plane flanked by United States Secret Service agents and heavily armed members of the agency’s counterattack team, an unusually visual display of strength by his coverage team.
President Joe Biden, who opposes Trump, reported on the incident and spoke with Trump several hours after the shooting, the White House said.
Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is covered by United States Secret Service agents at a crusade rally Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“There is no position in the United States for this violence,” the president said in a public speech. “It’s crazy. It’s crazy. “
Biden planned to return to Washington early and spend a weekend at his beach space in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Many Republicans blamed Biden and his allies for the violence, arguing that sustained attacks on Trump, seen as a risk to democracy, created a poisonous environment. In particular, they highlighted a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying that “it’s time to put Trump on target. ”
Authorities said members of the U. S. Secret Service Counter Strike Team killed the shooter. The heavily armed tactical team travels with the president and primary party candidates and is expected to deal with any active threats while other officials focus on protecting and evacuating the user to the coverage center.
Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene, according to a third user familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
An AP investigation of more than a dozen videos and images of the Trump rally site, as well as satellite photographs of the venue, shows the gunman managed to get bizarrely close to the spot where the former president was speaking.
A video posted on social media and geotagged via the AP shows the frame of a user dressed in gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of an AGR International Inc. building, a production plant just north of the grounds of the Butler Farm Show where Trump held the rally. Formation
The roof where the user was standing was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking, a distance at which a clever sniper could succeed on a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U. S. Army recruits can go to the U. S. U. S. You have to hit a human-sized figure to qualify with the M-16 rifle. The AR-15, like the Trump rally gunner, is the semi-automatic civilian edition of the Army’s M-16.
Asked at the news conference if authorities didn’t know the shooter on the roof until he started shooting, Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh ticket office, replied that “that’s our assessment right now. “
“It’s surprising” that the gunman was able to open fire on the level before the Secret Service killed him, he added.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose branch oversees the Secret Service, said officials were committed to the Biden and Trump campaigns and were “taking any and all steps imaginable to ensure their safety and security. “
Trump appeared on a board with the numbers of border crossings when the shooting began after 6:10 p. m.
When the first pop played, Trump said “Oh,” put his hand to his right ear and looked at it, before temporarily crouching on the floor of his desk. People in the stands also ducked as shouts echoed through the crowd.
Someone may be heard near the microphone saying, “Duck, duck, duck, duck!”while the officials went to the scene. They piled on top of the former president to protect him with their bodies, as is their educational protocol, while other agents took up positions on the level to scan for the threat.
Screams were heard among the crowd of several thousand people. One woman screamed louder than the others. Voices were then heard saying “the shooter is down” repeatedly, before someone asked “are we able to move?” and “Are we clear?” Then someone ordered: “Let’s go. “
Trump may be heard in the video saying at least twice, “Let me take my shoes, let me take my shoes,” with a voice saying, “I’ve given them to you, sir. “
Trump stood up moments later and can be seen pointing his right hand toward his face, which was stained with blood. He then raised his fist in the air and appeared to say the word “Fight” twice in front of her. the crowd of his supporters, prompting loud applause and chants of “USA. ” USA. “
Trump receives help to move down from the level of a campaign in Butler, Pa. , Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)
The crowd applauded as he stood up and clenched his fist.
His caravan left the place a few moments later. In the video, Trump turns to the crowd and raises his fist just before being bundled into a vehicle.
“They were all put on their knees or in a prone position, because we all knew, we all learned that it shoots,” said Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for the US Senate in Pennsylvania, sitting to Trump’s right.
Seeing Trump raise his fist, McCormick said, he looked over his shoulder and saw that someone had been punched while sitting in the stage bleachers.
Eventually, first responders pulled the injured user out of a giant crowd so he could get medical attention, McCormick said.
Journalists covering the demonstration heard five or six shots and many hid under tables. After the first two or three shots, other people in the crowd seemed surprised, but not scared. An AP reporter at the scene reported that the noise came first. They sounded like firecrackers or, in all likelihood, car firecrackers.
When it became clear that the stage had failed and that Trump would not speak again, participants began to leave the room. A man in an electric wheelchair was stranded in the box when his wheelchair’s battery died. Others tried to help him move.
Former U. S. President Donald Trump is covered by U. S. Secret Service agents at a crusade rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Police temporarily asked the remaining people to leave the scene and Secret Service agents told reporters to “leave now. This is a genuine crime scene. “
Two firefighters from Steubenville, Ohio, who were at the rally, told the AP they helped others who appeared injured and heard bullets hit the speakers.
“The bullets hit around the stands, one hit the loudspeaker tower and then chaos broke out. We touched the ground and then the police converged on the stands,” Chris Takach said.
“The first thing I heard was some cracking noises,” Dave Sullivan said.
Sullivan saw one of the speakers get hit and bullets flying and “We hit the deck. “
He said that once the Secret Service and other governments converged on Trump, he and Takach helped two other people who had been shot on the stand and cleared a path to get them to the side.
“It’s just an unhappy day for United States,” Sullivan said.
“After we hear the gunshots, the hydraulic line dripping everywhere, you might see the hydraulic fluid coming out of it. And then the perimeter tower started falling,” Sullivan said. “Then we heard another shot that maybe you heard, you knew anything. Fire the bullets. They are not firecrackers. “
The dangers of the crusade have taken on a new urgency after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in California in 1968, and in 1972, when Arthur Bremer shot and seriously wounded George Wallace, who was running as an independent on a questionable crusading platform. This led to increased coverage of the candidates, even as threats persisted, notably the endorsement of Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008.
Presidents, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, have even higher degrees of security. Trump is a rarity as a former president and current candidate.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the three men on Trump’s short list for vice president, temporarily sent statements expressing their fear for the former president, and Rubio shared a symbol taken while Trump was being escorted. level with his fist in the air and a trail of blood on his face with the words “God President Trump. “
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said in an X message that he had been informed of the situation and that Pennsylvania State Police were present at the rally site.
“Violence by any political party or political leader is surely unacceptable. He has no position in Pennsylvania or in the United States,” he said.
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Colvin, Balsamo and Price reported from New York. Long reported from Washington. Associated Press editors Michael Biesecker and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Will Weissert in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed to this report.
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