Former President Donald Trump was wounded in what the FBI is treating as an assassination attempt at his campaign rally on Saturday night.
Just minutes into Trump’s remarks in Butler, Pennsylvania, gunshots could be heard as the former president grabbed his right ear and ducked to the ground behind his lectern. Within seconds, Secret Service agents rushed to cover him up.
About a minute later, agents helped Trump back to his feet, with the former president thrusting his fist in the air and yelling, “Fight,” with his ear covered in blood.
Trump said hours later on Truth Social that he was shot with a bullet “that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
“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 l realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Trump also extended his gratitude to the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies saying. He said he wants to “extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured.”
“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead,” Trump said in the post.
Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, said in a statement that he had just spoken to his father on the phone who was in “great spirits.”
“He will never stop fighting to save America, no matter what the radical left throws at him,” Trump Jr. said.
The shooter and one attendee are dead, according to Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger. The Secret Service said in a statement that “a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue” and confirmed that Secret Service staff “neutralized” the suspect.
The Secret Service also confirmed that one attendee had been killed and said two others are “critically injured.”
President Joe Biden condemned the shooting in a brief statement to reporters. He spoke with Trump later Saturday night, a White House official said.
Rep. Dan Meuser, who was at Trump’s rally, described the scene to NOTUS as “chaotic.”
“People were screaming,” he said.
“Another quarter of an inch, he could have been assassinated,” Meuser said of Trump.
“Very sadly, a few civilians were hit,” he said. “There was one relatively close to me that I understand actually was killed. There was, frankly, blood all over the bleacher area. And so it was a really, really sad situation.”
Bill Bretz was with Trump just a few minutes before he went onstage. He’s the Westmoreland County GOP chairman and vice chair for the Pennsylvania GOP’s southwestern caucus. This was his first time meeting the former president. From his car in a jam-packed parking lot, Bretz told NOTUS he “was like a 17-year-old kid, excited about meeting the president.”
After taking a photo with Trump, Bretz was working his way back to his seat when shots were fired. He was separated from his wife, mother-in-law and son.
“They seemed like they were either coming from over my head or, you know, flying over my head,” Bretz said. “It was chaos.”
“As he walked offstage, he walked right by me, pumping his fist very defiantly.”
Bretz said the crowd was “organized, there was no panic. Everybody got down and let Secret Service do their job.”
“It’s a horrifying day. And, you know, it’s magnified by the fact that I was just with him a few minutes early, and he was so gracious and, you know, in such a good mood today, and talking with everybody very engaged,” he said.
Bretz said, above all, he hopes the country can come together at this moment.
“No matter who is ultimately at fault there, hopefully, we can have a moment and remember that we’re all Americans here, and be galvanized by this moment here and move forward in a patriotic and democratic way to have this election here in November,” he said.
Allegheny GOP Chairman Sam DeMarco, who was not at the rally, said in a statement to NOTUS that the shooting is a “haunting reminder of how extreme rhetoric and political hatred can rob a nation of its civility and shared purpose.”
“Donald Trump is a fighter who left the stage reluctantly and will come back stronger and even more prepared to fight to make America great,” he added.
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Katherine Swartz is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.