Donald Trump escaped the worst. The former US president, 78, was evacuated, his face covered in blood, after a shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, in which the shooter and a passerby were killed, and two spectators were seriously injured. Before the officers took Donald Trump to a large black vehicle, he raised a fist in defiance toward the crowd. “I was hit by a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear,” he said on his platform, Truth Social.
Democratic President Joe Biden, who faces Donald Trump in November’s election, said he was relieved to hear that the Republican was apparently in good health while condemning “such violence.” Biden spoke with Trump, the White House said.
Unverified footage shows the body of the alleged assailant lying on the sloping roof of a low-rise building from where he fired, sending terror and panic into the eyes of onlookers. At a press conference Saturday night, the FBI confirmed that the shooting was an “attempted assassination.” On Sunday, “the FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the individual involved in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump,” the agency said in a statement cited by NBC and CBS. Multiple witnesses said they saw the shooter before the shooting and alerted Butler police, who said they “responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity,” without elaborating.
“Let me take my shoes”
The rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (northeast), was the last before the Republican convention that begins Monday in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and at the end of which Donald Trump is to be officially invested as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. His campaign team confirmed Saturday evening that the former president intends to go there after undergoing a medical examination at the hospital as a precaution.
He was seen getting off his plane unassisted, hours after the assassination attempt, according to a video posted on social media by his deputy communications director. The Republican candidate, who had just started his speech with one of his usual tirades on migrants, accusing Joe Biden of letting them enter the country en masse, was immediately tackled to the ground by Secret Service agents.
The crowd erupted in fear and some spectators threw themselves to the ground. After a few moments, Donald Trump stood up, his hair disheveled and without his red cap, surrounded by the agents. “Let me get my shoes,” he was heard telling them. He was then escorted from the stage to his car, raising his fist in the air several times in defiance, to the cheers of his supporters.
“It’s unbelievable that something like this could happen in our country,” Trump said on Truth in the hours that followed, at the risk of further stoking political rivalries. “I knew right away that something was wrong because I heard a whistle, gunshots, and I immediately felt the bullet tearing the skin,” he detailed.
The U.S. Secret Service said in a statement that the suspected gunman “fired multiple shots toward the scene from an elevated position outside the rally” before being “neutralized” by officers. Police confirmed that one spectator was killed and two others were seriously injured, all adult males.
“International shockwave”
The attack sent shockwaves across the globe, with leaders from Britain, Israel, Japan and France expressing outrage. Biden cut short a stay at his Delaware beach house to return to Washington. He will receive an update from security services on Sunday morning, the White House said.
The assassination attempt has already reignited political tensions, and right-wing conspiracy theories have flooded social media. Senator J.D. Vance, one of Donald Trump’s putative running mates, claimed that Joe Biden’s “rhetoric” had “led directly” to the attack on Donald Trump. The implications of this event for the campaign could be immense.