Blood seen on Donald Trump’s face as he is whisked away from the podium after a bullet meant to kill him grazed his ear.
New Delhi: Donald Trump, former United States president and Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, escaped by an assassination attempt by a whisker during an election rally at Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. A lone gunman from a nearby rooftop took a few shots at him in which a bullet grazed his ear drawing blood.
The would-be assassin was immediately shot dead by a US Secret Service sniper positioned behind Trump’s podium on an elevation.
The assassination bid also saw one person dead and two critically injured. Later, Pennsylvania’s governor Josh Shapiro said at a news conference that the male spectator who was killed has been identified as Corey Comperatore, 50, who was shot while attempting to shield his family from the gunfire.
According to media reports, the gunman fired around 5–6 rounds using a semiautomatic AR-style rifle from his position approximately 130 yards (around 400 feet) from the podium from where Trump was delivering his speech, before he was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper team.
On Sunday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Later, his father, Matthew, 53, told the media he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” adding that he would wait until he talked to law enforcement before saying anything further.
Soon after the bullet hit Trump’s ear, he quickly ducked behind the dais as agents from his security detail rushed the stage, surrounded, and dove on him. The incident happened when the former president was showing off a chart of border-crossing numbers when gunshots started ringing through the crowd. Trump could be seen reaching with his right hand toward the back of his face.
When he finally stood up, surrounded by Secret Service agents, blood appeared on his face. The crowd cheered as he got up and was whisked away to his car. However, before that, he clenched his fist and chanted to the crowd: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
In a statement early on Sunday, Trump released a statement in which he said he was “fine”.
Biden reacts
The White House, on Sunday, said the US president, Joe Biden, received briefings on the attempt to kill Trump from Kimberly Cheatle, director of the Secretary Service; Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the US homeland security department; and the White House homeland security adviser, Liz Sherwood-Randall.
Later, Biden, in a statement said he was “grateful” that Trump was doing well after the shooting, and there was “no place for this kind of violence in America”. He called the incident “sick” and said he called Trump to inquire about his well-being. He said: “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence, it’s sick, sick. 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.”
