Attempted Assassination Donald Trump Shot
Gunman Killed at Trump Rally Shooting, Ex-President Wounded in Ear
Shooter is killed by Secret Service, and Donald Trump says he felt bullet rip through his ear; the Pennsylvania rally shooting is being investigated as assassination attempt
- Former President Donald Trump said on social media he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” when gunfire erupted at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday. The Secret Service shot and killed a suspected gunman.
- Federal authorities are investigating the shooting as an assassination attempt.
- One spectator was killed and two others were critically injured after “multiple shots” were fired, the Secret Service said on social media.
- Details on the suspected shooter weren’t immediately available.
- The gunman used a rifle and fired from an elevated position outside of the rally, the Secret Service added.
- President Biden spoke to the former president and is returning to Washington from Rehoboth Beach, Del.
- Earlier, Biden declared there is “no place in America for this sort of violence. It’s sick.”
- Messages of concern and support for Trump poured in immediately from top Democrats and top Republicans as well as former presidents—all decrying political violence.
- Some Republicans blamed the shooting on Biden’s rhetoric; but Trump said motive is not clear.
Former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear Saturday evening while speaking onstage at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in an incident that’s being investigated as an assassination attempt from a shooter on a roof near the rally site.
Trump fell to the ground after the first pop of shots rang out at approximately 6:15 p.m. ET. Secret Service agents rushed the stage to surround Trump as screams were heard from onlookers. After several moments, Trump was brought to his feet by the agents, and he appeared to be calling out to the crowd and could be seen pumping his fist as he was whisked away into a vehicle offstage.
One of the rally attendees was killed, and and two rally-goers were critically injured, according to the Secret Service.
The shocking episode that threatened Trump’s life raises grave questions about security and how the former president was shot at, with lawmakers already calling for an investigation into the Secret Service’s handling of Saturday’s rally. The shooting comes right before Trump is set to accept the 2024 presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention this coming week.
A law enforcement source and a police officer at the scene told us that the shooter was positioned on a building rooftop just outside the venue where Trump was holding his rally, located to the right of the event stage. There was a heavy law enforcement presence around the building.
Video posted to social media showed the suspected Trump shooter lying down on the roof of a building, appearing motionless. Multiple law enforcement sources have referred to this individual as a sniper, although additional details are not yet clear.
The Secret Service said the shooter fired “multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue.” The shooter was killed by Secret Service agents, the agency said in a statement.
Trump posted on Truth Social later Saturday evening, describing the shooting and thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement for their response.
“I 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. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.
The shooting is being investigated as a possible assassination attempt, according to law enforcement officials.
Rep. Dan Meuser, a Pennsylvania Republican, was sitting in the front row of Trump’s rally with Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Rep. Mike Kelly. The congressman told the spectator, who was fatally shot and killed, was “no more than 20 feet behind” them.
“Everybody started, certainly, screaming, asking for a medic, and honestly, it was a bloody scene,” Meuser said.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said he was told by his chief detective that the shooter was on a building adjacent to the property.
“It would have required a rifle,” he said. “It was several hundred yards.”
Biden: ‘It’s sick’
President Joe Biden was briefed in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on the shooting. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall were part of the team briefing the president.
Biden spoke from Rehoboth Beach Saturday evening, saying he had been “thoroughly briefed” on the incident and was trying to reach out to Trump to speak with him.
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence – it’s sick, it’s sick,” Biden said. “It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
Rico Elmore, a former Pennsylvania legislative candidate who was a speaker at Saturday’s rally, had blood all over his white shirt and was walking away from the rally stage as he spoke to our reporters on the ground and described jumping over the barrier and putting his hand on the head of an attendee who was shot and bleeding.
“All we know is shots were fired and then I jumped over the barrier and put my hand on the guy’s head that was profusely bleeding,” Elmore said. He said he didn’t know the attendee and he was “just a stranger.”
Elmore was visibly shaken up but said he was not harmed. He said he only saw one attendee hit and did not see what happened to Trump.
Sounded like ‘firecrackers’
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle quickly weighed after the shooting Saturday expressing their horror, condemning the political violence. Leaders around the world sent their well wishes to the former president.
“I have been briefed by law enforcement and am continuing to monitor the developments. This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.
“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Former Trump campaign adviser David Urban had spoken with McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate from Pennsylvania, who was sitting in the front row of the rally. Trump told McCormick to “come up here onstage,” Urban said, at which point he heard a few “pops” that sounded like “firecrackers.”
McCormick dropped to the ground at that point, and when he got up, he said that Secret Service agents were “around everybody and they were scattering,” according to Urban.
McCormick wrote on X that he and his wife, former Trump administration official Dina Powell, “are praying for President Trump and all who were injured today in Butler PA.” source