Donald Trump was whisked off the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania after apparent gunshots rang through the crowd. He quickly ducked behind the podium as agents from his protective detail rushed the stage, and screams rang out from the crowd.
The presumptive Republican nominee appeared to have been the target of an assassination attempt while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Jully 13, according to law enforcement officials.
While speaking to AP, two officials who on the condition of anonymity were willing to discuss the ongoing investigation, said the shooter was not an attendee at the rally and was killed by US Secret Service agents.
The officials said the shooter was engaged by members of the US Secret Service counterassault team and killed.
The former president, with his ear covered in blood, was quickly pulled away by Secret Service agents, and his campaign stated that he was “fine.”
It is not yet clear whether Trump was struck by gunfire or was injured as he was pulled to the ground by agents.
Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger said in a phone interview that the suspected gunman was dead and at least one rally attendee was killed.
Trump was showcasing a chart of border crossing numbers before the Republican National Convention which starts Monday, when the apparent shots began.
After the footage was widely shared on social media, Trump was placed in a waiting SUV just two minutes after the first shot was fired. While Trump was speaking, a popping sound was heard, causing the former president to put his right hand up to his right ear, as the people in the stands behind him looked shocked.
This incident comes at a time of intense political division, just four months before the presidential elections and shortly before Trump is set to be officially named the Republican nominee at his party’s convention.
“There’s no place in America for this type of violence,” President Joe Biden, who is running against Trump as the presumptive Democratic nominee, said in remarks. “It’s sick. It’s sick.”
The attack, carried out by a shooter who the Secret Service then killed, marks the first attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
