Shooting at Trump rally raises fears of political violence. Here’s a look at past attacks on US presidents and candidates.

A Shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday The injured former President Donald Trump has increased concerns about political violence and raised awareness of past attacks and assassination attempts against presidents and candidates.

In a social media post shared Saturday night, Trump thanked police officers for their quick action after he was “struck by a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

The Butler County District Attorney confirmed to CBS station KDKA in Pittsburgh that two people are dead – the shooter and a bystander. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News the shooter was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Two other bystanders are in critical condition.

Reporters heard numerous gunshots and the Secret Service stormed the stage. A video captured by CBS News shows Trump touching his ear and then crouching on the floor. Some blood was visible on his face.

Previous direct attacks on presidents and candidates

According to a 2008 report by the Congressional Research Service, there have been 15 direct attacks on presidents, presidents-elect, and candidates, five of which resulted in death. Of the 45 sitting presidents, 13 (or about 29%) have been assassinated or attempted assassinations. This number does not include the recent Trump incident.

At least seven of the last nine presidents have been the target of attacks, assaults or attempted assassinations. According to the Congressional Research Service report, the survivors included Gerald R. Ford (twice in 1975), Ronald W. Reagan (nearly fatally shot in 1981), Bill Clinton (when the White House was shot at in 1994) and George W. Bush (when an attacker threw a grenade at him and the President of Georgia during an event in Tbilisi in 2005, but it failed to explode). The latest Congressional Research Service report, citing the Secret Service as a source, also states that there have been assassination attempts on former Presidents Barack Obama, Trump and Biden.

Two other presidents were attacked, either as president-elect (Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933) or as presidential candidates (Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, when he ran for the presidency again after an absence of nearly four years).

Two other presidential candidates – Robert F. Kennedy, who was killed in 1968, and George C. Wallace, who was seriously injured in 1972 – were also victims of direct attacks, according to the Congressional Research Service report.

Presidents who were assassinated

Four presidents – Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy – were assassinated.

Of the 15 attacks listed in the report, only the Lincoln assassination was the result of a comprehensive conspiracy, the report says. But many of these events are still surrounded by conspiracy theories.

Only in one incident – the assassination of Lincoln – was a full-scale conspiracy proven, although such allegations arose on other occasions. Only in one other incident were more than one participant involved – the 1950 attack on Blair House, the temporary residence of President Harry S. Truman. However, the subsequent investigation and prosecution failed to produce evidence of additional conspirators.

Of the 18 attacks or assassinations on presidents or presidential candidates, all but two involved firearms. All but two of the attacks, both against Ford, were carried out by men. All but one of the 15 attacks occurred within the United States.

First documented attack on a president

According to the Congressional Research Service, the first attack occurred in 1835, when an assailant’s pistol misfired on President Andrew Jackson. The assailant, Richard Lawrence, was declared insane, saying “Jackson had prevented him from obtaining large sums of money and had ruined the country,” the report said.

Source: Congressional Research Service, 2008 and 2024

— Jake Miller and John Kelly contributed reporting.