According to sources, the suspect was killed in a shooting at a Trump rally by a Secret Service sniper

A suspected shooter who open fire According to sources, he was shot by a Secret Service sniper during a rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

One participant in the rally was killed and two others seriously injured, the Secret Service said in a statement on Saturday evening.

The suspect was shot by a member of a Secret Service counterattack team, two law enforcement sources told CBS News. The gunman, armed with a rifle, was outside the cordoned-off rally area, about 200 yards from Trump’s stage, standing on top of an elevated structure believed to be a shed, the two sources said.

It is still under investigation whether Trump was hit by a bullet or debris, a law enforcement source said.

While Trump was speaking on stage at around 6:15 p.m. local time, several shots were fired. Video showed the former president immediately clutching his ear and then crouching to the ground as his Secret Service agents rushed the stage. Some blood was visible on his face as he stood up and raised his fist to the crowd. He was quickly escorted to his motorcade and the Secret Service later confirmed he was safe.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he was “struck by a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

He continued: “I knew immediately that something was wrong because I heard a hissing sound, gunshots and immediately felt the bullet go through the skin.”

Authorities are investigating the shooting as an attempted murder, law enforcement sources told CBS News. The Secret Service is currently leading that investigation with assistance from the FBI, they said.

Rep. Mike Kelley of Pennsylvania, who was backstage watching Trump speak, told CBS News, “I think a woman next to me was hit, and other people were hit.”

Dr. Jim Sweetland, an emergency room doctor who was at the rally and witnessed the shooting, told CBS News by phone that he administered first aid to a man who had suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

“He had been shot in the head, his body was twisted and pinned between two benches in the stands,” Sweetland said. “He wasn’t breathing, he had no pulse. He appeared to be seriously ill.”

Sweetland said with the help of three people, he was able to place the victim on a bench and then begin CPR and chest compressions.

“There was a lot of blood spilled on the bleachers where he was lying, and also brain matter,” Sweetland said.

Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers then approached, picked up the victim and presumably took him to an ambulance, Sweetland said.

Republican Senate candidate David McCormick, who was sitting in the front row of the rally, also witnessed a person being shot.

“It was really hard to tell, there was a lot of blood, so it wasn’t clear where the bullet had hit him and how severe the wound was,” McCormick told CBS News. “He appeared to be unconscious, but even that isn’t entirely clear to me.”

The shooting occurred just two days before the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

This is a developing story and will be updated.