WHAT TO KNOW: TRUMP SHOT AT PENNSYLVANIA RALLY IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

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Sun 14 July 2024:

Former President Donald Trump, 78, was injured in the ear in a shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Here is what we know so far:

What happened at Trump’s rally and when?

  • At about 6:02pm (10:02 GMT) on Saturday, Trump was on stage, waving at a cheering crowd and settling into his regular rally speech under a midsummer sun.
  • He was discussing a surge in border crossings by undocumented immigrants under President Joe Biden. “That chart’s a couple of months old,” Trump told the crowd, “and if you want to see something really sad, take a look at what happened.”
  • That’s when the shots rang out, at least five, at about 6:15pm (22:15 GMT). Trump ducked to the ground while several Secret Service agents hurried to the stage and surrounded him.
  • “Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes”, Trump said, as the agents lifted him from the ground. He then said: “Wait, wait, wait”, before he started pumping his fist.
  • A few minutes later, Trump was lifted to his feet and quickly escorted offstage to his motorcade, blood was visible on his right ear and streaking across his cheek.
  • He could be seen pumping his fists and shouting “Fight!” to the crowd before being driven away.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is helped off the stage at a campaign rally in Butler
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by US Secret Service agents [Gene J Puskar/AP Photo]

How did the attack unfold?

  • According to the US Secret Service, multiple shots were fired towards the stage “from an elevated position outside the rally venue”. Authorities “neutralised the shooter”, who is now deceased.
  • On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said, “I 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.” “Much bleeding took place, so I realised then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
  • According to an analysis carried out by CNN, Trump was about 400-500 feet (120-150 metres) from the attacker.
  • A witness told BBC News he saw the attacker climb on the roof of a low-rise building just outside the security perimeter with a rifle and shouted to nearby police officers to alert them to the potential threat.
  • Ron Moose, a Trump supporter who was at the rally, described the chaos: “I heard about four shots and I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked also real quick. Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as they could. We are talking within a second they were all protecting him.”
  • The FBI called the shooting an attempted assassination.
  • The attack represents the first instance in decades where a current or former president has been shot, occurring less than four months before the presidential election. It also takes place just two days before the start of the Republican National Convention (RNC).

Is Trump safe?

  • Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, in a statement said that the former president was fine.
  • Trump was released from the Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania late on Saturday after he was injured in the shooting, according to CBC news.
  • Trump flew to New Jersey after visiting the Pennsylvania hospital, landing shortly after midnight at Newark Liberty International Airport. Footage shows Trump walking down the aircraft’s steps after landing at the airport.
  • According to local media reports, he also sent an email to his supporters saying: “THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM DONALD TRUMP,” the brief email read. “I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!”

Where exactly did the shooting take place?

  • The Incident took place at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. This is a city in the western part of the state about 56km (35 miles) north of Pittsburgh.
  • Trump was holding a rally at the Butler Farm Show Grounds. The city has a population of 13,502. It is located in Butler County, home to nearly 200,000 people.
  • The demographic is predominantly homogeneous; according to the US Census, 95 percent of the county’s population is white.

Who was the shooter?

  • The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, as the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination, it said in a statement on Sunday.
  • According to The Associated Press news agency, officials said the attacker was not an attendee at the rally.
  • He was killed, and law enforcement recovered an “AR-style rifle” at the scene. It is not clear what his motive was.

Video shows suspected attacker lying on roof: Report

A video posted by US tabloid TMZ appears to show the suspected attacker at Trump’s rally laying on a rooftop with a rifle before shots ring out.

The man, who appears to have long brown hair, is not shown firing in the published footage. But a quick succession of gunshots is heard, followed by screams from people off-camera.

“He’s turning this way, be careful guys,” a man is heard saying.

“Somebody got shot,” another voice says. “He’s right there, laying down.”

Earlier, the US Secret Service confirmed that its personnel had shot dead the suspected attacker, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Federal agents swarm home of suspected shooter

More information is emerging about the suspect in Trump’s assassination attempt, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Crooks, a registered Republican who once made a small donation to a left-wing group, lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

USA Today reported that dozens of law enforcement vehicles were posted at a residence listed as Crooks’s address on his voter registration record, with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a bomb squad on the scene.

Crooks’s father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he was trying to make sense of what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before commenting on his son.

The FBI has said it was working to determine a motive for the attack.

Were there any other victims?

  • The US Secret Service said one male spectator was killed and two other men were critically wounded in the shooting. Their identities were not immediately released.
  • Republican US Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas told Fox News that his nephew had been wounded at the rally.
  • “He was grazed in the neck. A bullet crossed his neck, cut his neck and he was bleeding,” Jackson said.

Will the Republican National Convention still go ahead?

  • The first day of the RNC is scheduled on Monday in Milwaukee and it is expected to continue.
  • Reince Priebus, the committee chair for the convention, said on Saturday night that the event would continue as planned, noting that guests had started arriving in Wisconsin.
  • Trump is also expected to be there. “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,” according to the statement attributed to Trump campaign senior advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.

What have been the reactions?

  • US President Joe Biden was quick to condemn the attack.
  • “There’s no place in America for this type of violence,” Biden, who is running against Trump as the presumptive Democratic nominee, said in remarks. “It’s sick. It’s sick.”
  • Trump’s children took to social media to express their shock.
  • “This is the fighter America needs!” son Eric Trump wrote above a photo of his father with blood running down his cheek, his fist in the air and a US flag waving in the background as the Secret Service rushed him from the stage.
  • Donald Trump Jr posted the same photo on X, writing: “He’ll never stop fighting to Save America.”
  • “I love you Dad, today and always,” daughter Ivanka posted on X, thanking supporters and the Secret Service for their “quick and decisive actions today”.
  • Elon Musk, head of Space X, Tesla and X, said he was endorsing Trump.
  • Global leaders also condemned the attack.
  • UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office earlier this month, said he condemned all forms of political violence in the strongest terms and sent his “best wishes” to Trump and his family.
  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply concerned by the attack on my friend”, while Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the shooting “must be strongly condemned by all defenders of democracy and political dialogue”.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife Sara were “shocked” by the shooting. “We pray for his safety and speedy recovery,” he added.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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