Photo: AFP
BUTLER (US): Donald Trump was hit in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday, in a chaotic and shocking incident that will fuel fears of instability ahead of the 2024 US presidential election.
The 78-year-old former president was rushed off stage with blood smeared across his face after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, while the gunman and a bystander were killed and two spectators critically injured.
The Republican candidate raised a defiant fist to the crowd as he was bundled away to safety and said afterward “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
President Joe Biden, who is set to face Trump in November’s deeply polarized election, said the incident was “sick” and added that there was “no place in America for this kind of violence.”
“We cannot be like this,” Biden said.
As the bangs ran out, Trump, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap, grimaced and clutched a hand to his ear, with blood visible on his ear and cheek.
He fell to the floor as Secret Service agents swarmed onto the podium, surrounding him and escorting him roughly off the stage to a nearby vehicle.
“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” Trump said on his TruthSocial network within hours, in remarks sure to stoke political tensions already engulfing the United States.
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” Trump said.
“Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
The US Secret Service said in a statement that the suspected shooter “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside the rally” before being “neutralized” by agents.
It said Trump was “safe and being evaluated” while confirming the death of a spectator while two others were critically injured.
The shooter has not yet been identified.
Trump said in his statement that “I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person of the rally who was killed.”
The shooting happened shortly after Trump took the stage at his final campaign rally before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next week.
