Former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally, in an attack that drew condemnation from leading Republicans and Democrats and is being investigated as an assassination attempt.
The shooting on Saturday left blood on Trump’s face and sparked panic among thousands of people who attended the rally in the city of Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump’s campaign said the Republican presidential candidate was “fine” after the shooting, which the former leader said pierced the upper part of his right ear. At least one spectator was killed and two others were seriously injured, authorities said.
The Secret Service said it shot and killed the alleged attacker.
The shooting occurred after Trump, 78, began his speech. The former president grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then lowered his hand to look at it before falling to his knees behind the podium. Secret Service agents then surrounded Trump, before he emerged and raised his fist in the air, appearing to mutter the words “Fight! To fight! To fight!”
He was later removed from the stage and taken into a vehicle.
“I was hit by a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform after the shooting. “There was a lot of bleeding.”
The FBI called the attack an “attempted assassination” and said it took the lead in investigating the case.
Kevin Rojek, a spokesman for the agency, said authorities have identified the shooter but have not released details. He added that the motive was not immediately clear.
The attack was the most serious assassination attempt on a U.S. president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. The attack occurred in a deeply polarized political atmosphere, just four months before the presidential election and days before Trump was officially Republican nominee. candidate at his party’s convention — which his campaign said would go ahead as planned.
‘It looked like an assassination attempt’
US President Joe Biden was quick to condemn the attack.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden, who is running against Trump as the presumptive Democratic nominee, said in remarks. “It’s sick. It’s sick.”
Ron Moose, a Trump supporter who was at the rally, described the chaos: “I heard about four gunshots and saw the crowd fall and then Trump ducked too quickly. So the entire Secret Service jumped in and protected him as soon as they could. We’re talking in a second that everyone was protecting him.”
Moose said he saw a man running and being chased by police officers in military uniforms. He said he heard additional gunshots but wasn’t sure who fired them. He noted that by this time, snipers had already set up shop on the roof of a warehouse behind the stage.
The shots appeared to have come from outside the Secret Service-protected area, the agency said.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who was sitting in the front row of the rally, said he began to take the stage when Trump said he would invite him to come up later.
“Within a minute or two, I heard the shots… It was clear they were gunshots,” he told the Reuters news agency. “It felt like an assassination attempt… It was scary.”
The attack drew condemnation from leaders on both sides of the political aisle.
“This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and must be unanimously and resoundingly condemned,” said Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, on social media.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was horrified by what happened and relieved that Trump was safe.
“Political violence has no place in our country,” he said.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.
“For weeks, Democratic leaders have stoked a ridiculous hysteria that Donald Trump’s reelection would be the end of democracy in America,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican to survive a politically motivated shooting in 2017.
“Clearly, we have seen far-left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”
Hardline Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said: “Democrats wanted this to happen. They have wanted Trump gone for years and are prepared to do anything to make that happen.”
Trump, who served as president between 2017 and 2021, easily outperformed his rivals for the Republican nomination early in the campaign. He has largely unified around him a party that briefly wavered in support after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to reverse his 2020 election defeat.
The businessman and former reality TV star entered the year facing numerous legal concerns, including four separate criminal cases. He was found guilty in late May of trying to cover up secret payments to an adult film actress, but the other three prosecutions he faces – including two for his attempts to overturn his election defeat – were halted by various factors, including a Supreme Court ruling. Court earlier this month found him partially immune from prosecution.
Trump claims, without evidence, that all four processes were orchestrated by Biden to try to prevent him from returning to power.
World leaders condemn attack
Trump’s children took to social media to express their shock.
“This is the fighter America needs!” son Eric Trump wrote above a photo of his father with blood running down his cheek, his fist in the air and a US flag waving in the background as the Secret Service removed him from the stage.
Donald Trump Jr posted the same photo on X, writing: “He will never stop fighting to save America.”
“I love you, dad, today and always,” daughter Ivanka posted on X, thanking supporters as well as the Secret Service for their “quick and decisive actions today.”
“I continue to pray for our country,” she said.
Global leaders also condemned the attack.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office earlier this month, said he condemned all forms of political violence in the strongest terms and sent his “best wishes” to Trump and his family.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was praying for Trump’s quick recovery and called for a firm stance against “any form of violence that challenges democracy.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply concerned about the attack on my friend, while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the shooting “must be strongly condemned by all defenders of democracy and political dialogue”.
Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk said he “fully” supports Trump following the violence.
“I fully support President Trump and hope for his speedy recovery,” Musk wrote on X, sharing a video of Trump raising his fist as he was escorted by Secret Service officials.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
