Trump injured when shots fired at Pennsylvania rally; gunman killed by Secret Service
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A bullet fired by a 20-year-old man grazed former president Donald Trump as he spoke Saturday evening during a campaign rally about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. Secret Service agents rushed Trump, face bloodied, from the stage into a nearby limo as the former president pumped his fist in defiance.
Trump was treated and released at a nearby hospital. His campaign said he was “fine.”
“This evening, we had what we’re calling an assassination attempt against our former President Donald Trump. It’s still an active crime scene,” Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said at a news conference.
Early Sunday, the F.B.I. identified the shooter as Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pa., which is about an hour’s drive from the rally site in Butler. They were working to uncover a motive.
State voter rolled identified Crooks as a registered Republican, multiple media outlets reported. He was killed by a U.S. Secret Service agent shortly after opening fire.
Two people — the shooter and a rally attendee — were killed, and two other spectators were critically injured, the Secret Service said. The FBI said they were all adult men.
The attack occurred just moments after Trump began speaking at the rally. He was showing rally attendees a chart about border crossings when gunfire rang out. Trump stopped speaking mid-sentence, touched the side of his face and ducked down.
He was quickly dog-piled by Secret Service agents as several more shots rang out. In the background, someone could be heard yelling “get down, get down, get down.” There was screaming in the crowd, as spectators sitting behind the former president either crouched down or looked around nervously.
Agents held Trump down for about a minute, before helping him up and encircling him. He emerged with blood on his ear and face, and pumped his fist as he was hustled offstage.
Trump took to his social media site Truth Social at 8:42 p.m. and said that a bullet had gone through the upper part of his 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,” wrote Trump, who also offered his condolences to the rally attendee who was killed. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said during an appearance on CNN Saturday night that the shooter pulled the trigger from “outside the grounds” of the rally, and acknowledged that law enforcement would have to “figure out how he got” to the location where he carried out the attack.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service said in a statement that the shots came from “an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” and confirmed that the shooter was dead.
Rally attendees described a chaotic scene as the shooting unfolded . One man at the rally who said he is an emergency room physician recounted to CBS News in an on-camera interview how he tried to help someone who was badly wounded in the attack.
Trump shooting: Attendees describe chaotic scene as shots rang out at Pennsylvania rally
“The guy had spun around, was jammed between the benches,” the man recalled. “He had a head shot here. There was lots of blood and he had brain matter.”
President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident by top officials, including Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to the White House.
In a brief televised address delivered Saturday night, Biden condemned the violence and said he would reach out to Trump. He later connected with the former president.
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“Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said. “It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”
The shooting came just hours before Republicans are set to gather in Milwaukee for the the party’s political convention, which begins Monday. Trump, who is expected to name a running mate any day, is scheduled to formally accept the GOP presidential nomination Thursday.
In a statement issued Saturday night, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said the shooting would not interfere with the Republican National Convention.
“President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th President of the United States,” they said. “As our party’s nominee, President Trump will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again.”
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