Trump shot in ear at campaign rally in Pennsylvania, suspected shooter killed | Donald Trump News

Former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally. The attack was condemned by leading Republicans and Democrats and is being investigated as an attempted assassination.

The shooting on Saturday left Trump’s face covered in blood, sparking panic among the thousands of people attending the rally in the Pennsylvania town of Butler.

Trump’s campaign team said the Republican presidential candidate was “doing well” after the shooting, which pierced the upper part of the former president’s right ear. At least one bystander was killed and two others were seriously injured, authorities said.

The secret service said he had shot the suspected attacker.

The shooting occurred after Trump, 78, had just begun his speech. The former president put his right hand to his right ear, then lowered his hand to look at it and fell to his knees behind the lectern. Secret Service agents then surrounded Trump before he emerged and raised his fist in the air while appearing to mouth the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

He was later led off the stage and into a vehicle.

“I was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform after the shooting. “There was severe bleeding.”

The FBI described the attack as an “assassination” and said it had taken over the investigation into the case.

Kevin Rojek, a spokesman for the agency, said officials had identified the shooter but would not release details. He added that the motive was not immediately clear.

The attack was the most serious assassination attempt on a U.S. president or presidential candidate since the assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981. It came in a deeply polarized political atmosphere, just four months before the presidential election and days before Trump is set to be officially named the Republican nominee at his party’s convention – which his campaign team says will go ahead as planned.

“It felt like an assassination”

US President Joe Biden immediately condemned the attack.

“There is no place for this kind of violence in America,” said Biden, the likely Democratic nominee against Trump. “This is sick. This is sick.”

Ron Moose, a Trump supporter who was at the rally, described the chaos: “I heard about four shots and saw the crowd go down and Trump duck very quickly as well. Then all the Secret Service members jumped and protected him as fast as they could. We’re talking about a second where they were all protecting him.”

Moose said he then saw a man running away, being chased by officers in military uniforms. He said he heard more shots but was not sure who fired them. He noted that snipers were positioned on the roof of a warehouse behind the stage at that point.

The shots appeared to have come from outside the Secret Service-secured area, the agency said.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who was sitting in the front row at the rally, said he was just about to go on stage when Trump said he would ask him to come forward later.

“After a minute or two I heard the shots… It was clear that they were shots,” he told Reuters. “It felt like an assassination attempt… It was terrible.”

The attack was condemned by leading politicians from both political camps.

“This horrific act of political violence during a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and decisively condemned,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on social media.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was horrified by what happened and relieved that Trump was safe.

“Political violence has no place in our country,” he said.

Some of Trump’s Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.

“For weeks, Democratic leaders have stoked the ridiculous hysteria that Donald Trump’s re-election would mean the end of democracy in America,” said U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, the Republican runner-up in the House who survived a politically motivated shooting in 2017.

“We have obviously seen in the past that left-wing lunatics resort to violent rhetoric. This inflammatory rhetoric must stop.”

Republican hardliner Marjorie Taylor Greene said: “The Democrats wanted this to happen. They have wanted to get rid of Trump for years and are willing to do anything to make that happen.”

Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, easily defeated his rivals for the Republican nomination early in the campaign, largely rallying around a party whose support briefly wavered after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat.

The businessman and former reality TV star faced numerous legal problems earlier this year, including four separate criminal cases. In late May, he was found guilty of trying to cover up hush money payments to a porn actress. But the other three cases against him – including two related to his attempts to compensate for his election loss – were halted by various factors, including a Supreme Court decision earlier this month that declared him partially immune from prosecution.

Trump claims, without providing any evidence, that all four prosecutions were staged by Biden to prevent his return to power.

World politicians condemn attack

Trump’s children expressed their dismay on social media.

“This is the fighter America needs!” wrote son Eric Trump over a photo of his father with blood running down his cheek, his fist raised in the air and a US flag waving in the background as the Secret Service hastily escorts him off the stage.

Donald Trump Jr. posted the same photo on X and wrote: “He will never stop fighting to save America.”

“I love you, Dad, today and always,” daughter Ivanka posted on X and thanked supporters and the secret service for their “quick and decisive action today.”

“I continue to pray for our country,” she said.

Leading politicians from around the world also condemned the attack.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office earlier this month, said he strongly condemned all forms of political violence and sent his “best wishes” to Trump and his family.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he was praying for Trump’s speedy recovery and called for a firm stance against “any form of violence that challenges democracy.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed “deep concern about the attack on my friend,” while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the shooting “must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by all defenders of democracy and political dialogue.”

Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk said he “fully” supported Trump following the violence.

“I fully support President Trump and hope for his speedy recovery,” Musk wrote on X, sharing a video of Trump clenching his fist as he is led away by Secret Service agents.