Trump injured in shooting at rally in Pennsylvania

CNN
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Former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday night while speaking on stage at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The incident is being investigated as an attempted murder by a gunman on a rooftop near the rally site.

Trump fell to the ground as the first shots rang out at around 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time. Secret Service agents stormed the stage and surrounded Trump as screams from the audience could be heard. After a few moments, Trump was helped to his feet by the agents. He appeared to shout something to the crowd and could be seen clenching his fist as he was dragged into a vehicle behind the stage.

According to the Secret Service, one of the demonstrators was killed and two others were seriously injured.

The shocking incident that threatened Trump’s life raises serious questions about security and the manner in which the former president was shot, with lawmakers already calling for an investigation into the Secret Service’s handling of Saturday’s rally. The shooting occurred shortly before Trump is scheduled to accept his 2024 presidential nomination at next week’s Republican National Convention.

A law enforcement source and a police officer on the scene told CNN the shooter was on the roof of a building directly in front of the venue where Trump was holding his rally, to the right of the stage. There was a heavy police presence around the building.

A video posted on social media shows the suspected Trump shooter lying motionless on the roof of a building. Multiple law enforcement sources have described him as a sniper, but further details have not been released.

The Secret Service said the gunman “fired multiple shots at the stage from an elevated position outside the venue.” The gunman was killed by Secret Service agents, the agency said in a statement.

Later Saturday night, Trump posted on Truth Social describing the shooting and thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement for their response.

“I was hit by a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear. I knew immediately something was wrong because I heard a whooshing sound, gunshots and immediately felt the bullet go through the skin. There was severe bleeding so I realized what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

Law enforcement officials say the shooting is being investigated as a possible attempted murder.

Republican Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania was sitting in the front row of Trump’s rally with Dave McCormick, the Republican Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, and Mike Kelly. The congressman told CNN that the bystander who was fatally shot was “no more than 20 feet behind them.”

“Of course everyone started screaming and calling for a paramedic. Frankly, it was a bloody scene,” said Meuser.

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Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said his lead investigator told him the shooter was in a building next to the property.

“You would have needed a rifle for that,” he said. “It was several hundred meters.”

President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall were part of the team that briefed the president.

Speaking from Rehoboth Beach on Saturday evening, Biden said he had been “thoroughly briefed on the incident” and was trying to reach Trump to speak with him.

“There is no place for this kind of violence in America – it’s sick, it’s sick,” Biden said. “That’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country. We can’t allow this to happen. We can’t be like this. We can’t tolerate this.”

Rico Elmore, a former candidate for the Pennsylvania legislature who spoke at Saturday’s rally, had his white shirt covered in blood and walked away from the rally stage while speaking to CNN. He described jumping over the barrier and putting his hand on the head of an attendee who had been shot and was bleeding.

“All we know is that shots were fired and then I jumped over the barrier and put my hand on the man’s head, who was bleeding profusely,” Elmore said. He said he did not know the participant and that he was “just a stranger.”

Elmore was visibly shaken but said he was not injured. He said he only saw one attendee get hit and not what happened to Trump.

Lawmakers from both parties were quick to express shock and condemn the political violence after Saturday’s shooting, while world leaders sent their best wishes to the former president.

“I have been briefed by law enforcement and continue to monitor developments. This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and decisively condemned,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

“I am appalled by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Former Trump campaign adviser David Urban told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he spoke with McCormick, the Republican Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, who was sitting in the front row of the rally. Trump told McCormick to “come up here on the stage,” Urban said, after which he heard a few “pops” that sounded like “firecrackers.”

McCormick fell to the ground and when he got back up, he said Secret Service agents were “standing around everyone and dispersing them,” Urban said.

McCormick wrote on X that he and his wife, former Trump administration official Dina Powell, are “praying for President Trump and all those injured today in Butler, PA.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Pamela Brown, Zachary Cohen, Kristen Holmes, Alejandra Jaramillo, DJ Judd, Gregory Krieg, Jamie Lynch, Phil Mattingly, Hannah Rabinowitz, Raja Razek, Morgan Rimmer, Alayna Treene, Emma Tucker, Whitney Wild, Ryan Young and Gregory Krieg contributed to this report.