Trump injured in shooting at Pennsylvania rally

CNN
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Former President Donald Trump was shot in the ear while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening in what is being investigated as an assassination attempt by a gunman on a rooftop nearby the rally.

After the first shot rang out at about 6:15 pm ET, Trump fell to the ground. Secret Service agents rushed onto the stage and surrounded Trump as screams erupted from the audience. Moments later, Trump was pulled to his feet by agents and was seen appearing to address the crowd, raising his fist as he was carried away to a vehicle backstage.

According to the Secret Service, one rally attendee was killed and two were seriously injured.

The shocking attack on President Trump’s life has raised serious questions about security and how the former president was shot, and lawmakers are already calling for an investigation into the Secret Service’s response to Saturday’s rally. The shooting came just before President Trump is scheduled to accept the 2024 presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention this week.

Law enforcement sources and officers at the scene told CNN that the shooter was on the roof of a building just outside the venue where Trump was holding his rally, to the right of the event stage, with a heavy police presence surrounding the building.

Video posted on social media showed a man believed to be Trump’s gunman lying motionless on the roof of a building, described by multiple law enforcement sources as a sniper, but no details were yet available.

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

President Trump posted on Truth Social late Saturday night, explaining the shooting and thanking the Secret Service and police for their response.

“I was shot above my right ear. I knew immediately something was wrong as I heard the hiss and the gunshot and felt the bullet break through my skin. I was bleeding heavily and realized what was happening. God Bless America!” Trump wrote.

Law enforcement officials said the shooting is being investigated as a possible assassination attempt.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pennsylvania, who was sitting in the front row at the Trump rally along with Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Rep. Mike Kelly, told CNN the gunman was “within 20 feet” of them.

“Obviously, everybody started screaming and calling for paramedics. It was a bloody scene, to be honest,” Mueser said.

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Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said he was told by the lead detective that the shooter was in a building adjacent to the property.

“You’d need a rifle,” he said. “It was a couple hundred yards away.”

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 Adviser Liz Sherwood Randall were part of the team briefing the president.

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

“We have no place in America for this kind of violence. This is terrible,” Biden said. “This is one of the reasons we have to unite our country. We can’t allow this to happen. This can’t be tolerated.”

Rico Elmore, a former Pennsylvania congressional candidate who spoke at Saturday’s rally, his white shirt soaked in blood, told CNN as he walked off the rally stage how he jumped a fence and placed his hand on the head of a protester who had been shot and was bleeding.

“All I know is that a shot went off, I jumped over the fence and put my hand on a guy’s head who was bleeding profusely,” said Elmore, who said he did not know any of the people in attendance and were “just strangers.”

Elmore was visibly shaken but said he was not injured and only saw one protester get punched, not what happened to Trump.

Lawmakers from both parties were quick to speak out after Saturday’s shooting, expressing horror and condemning political violence, while leaders around the world sent messages of congratulations to the former president.

“I have received reports from law enforcement and continue to monitor developing events. This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful election rally has no place in our country and is unanimously and strongly condemned,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

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

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 at the rally, and that Trump told McCormick to “come on stage,” at which point Urban said he heard several “pops” that sounded like “firecrackers.”

At that point, Urban said, McCormick fell to the ground, and when he got up, he saw Secret Service agents “surrounding everybody and they were scattering.”

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

This story has been updated with additional reports.

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