Former US President Donald Trump was hit in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania today.
The unidentified gunman and a spectator were killed, and two others were critically injured, officials said.
The 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate, whose team said he was “fine,” was attacked just as he began his speech. Blood was clearly visible on his cheek and mouth.
In his first reaction to the shooting, Trump said in a statement that he “was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
President Joe Biden, who will face Trump in the upcoming US Presidential election, called the incident “sick” and added that there was “no place in America for this kind of violence.”
President Biden spoke to Trump after the rally shooting, according to a White House official.
The official, quoted by AFP, said that President Biden spoke to former President Trump this evening and that the US incumbent would receive an updated briefing from law enforcement officials on the incident.
Sources within the Pennsylvania State Police report that all bullets fired at former President Donald Trump missed him, and that the injury to his right ear was caused by broken glass from a teleprompter that shattered on stage.
Update
The gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, according to the NY Post.
A new video of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump shows a woman shouting, “Crooks (the shooter), what are you doing? Get over here!”
Video shows Secret Service snipers engaging with Trump’s shooter.
Update
Donald Trump arrives in New Jersey, just hours after surviving an assassination attempt.
Update
Donald Trump remarked that the doctor at the hospital described his condition as unprecedented and called it a miracle. “I shouldn’t be here; I was expected to be dead,” Trump stated. “I was expected to be dead.”
Update
According to Reuters, the gunman who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump fired from a rooftop that the U.S. Secret Service had deemed outside its security perimeter.
Update
CNN reports that the US government has obtained intelligence about an Iranian plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
US authorities recently obtained intelligence from a human source about an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump. This information prompted the Secret Service to enhance security around the former president in recent weeks, according to multiple sources briefed on the matter, CNN reports. The sources also noted that there is no indication Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to this plot.
Update
US Secret Service has confirm that Trump sustained an injury from a bullet rather than from glass.
