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The former president was holding a rally when he said he was shot in his ear. Two people, including the suspected gunman, were killed and two were critically injured.
By Michael Levenson
A man fired “multiple shots” toward the stage during former President Donald J. Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday evening, killing one spectator and critically injuring two others, according to the Secret Service.
Mr. Trump was rushed off the stage, blood visible around his right ear. He was taken to a hospital, and the Secret Service said he was “safe.” The Secret Service also said its agents had killed the shooter, whom federal law enforcement officials identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pa.
Senior F.B.I. officials said on Sunday that agents were investigating the shooting as a possible domestic terrorism attack and assassination attempt.
Here’s what we know about the shooting.
The Former President
Mr. Trump ducked quickly after the shots began and as members of the crowd began to scream. Secret Service agents then rushed Mr. Trump off the stage. As he was escorted to his motorcade, Mr. Trump, whose face and right ear were bloodied, pumped his fist in a defiant gesture to the crowd.
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How the Assassination Attempt on Trump Unfolded
Footage from the scene of the shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday shows the suspected gunman had a clear line of sight toward the former president, despite being outside the rally’s secure perimeter.
Former President Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania when shots rang out. Multiple people at the rally were filming at the time. The F.B.I. has said the shots were fired by a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour’s drive from the rally. Trump was on stage speaking for just over six minutes and talking about illegal immigration when the first sound of gunfire is heard. There are two bursts of fire. First three shots and then five shots Three seconds after the first shot is fired, he is surrounded by Secret Service agents who attempt to hurry him from the stage. They’re followed by other law enforcement personnel who are more heavily armed. For a brief moment, Trump tells them to stop until he can get his shoes. Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes. Sir, I got you, sir. Let me get my shoes on. When he gets up, blood is visible on his right ear. He pauses again before being rushed off stage and raises his fist in the air, appearing to mouth the word fight. The former president was standing on stage at this location. Soon after the first gunfire is heard, a video captured what appears to be the suspected shooter dead on the roof of this building. The building is the closest one to the rally that wasn’t within the security perimeter and is roughly 400 feet north of where Trump is standing. The location of the body matches the likely firing position. This is because the injury to the ear of Trump, who is facing northwest, is consistent with gunfire from that location. An audio analysis of the shots by an acoustic expert at Montana State University found the gunfire reached the stage from the same approximate distance as the body’s location. A Secret Service spokesman also said the suspected shooter fired from an elevated position and was killed. A video filmed during the rally showed a law enforcement sharpshooter positioned here on a roof roughly 400 feet from that suspected gunman and aiming in the gunman’s general direction before Trump was shot. Footage recorded after the shooting shows one spectator bleeding from a head wound in the bleachers to the north of where Trump was standing. According to the Secret Service, one person at the rally was killed and two others were critically injured. The shooting is being investigated as an assassination attempt.
He later said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”
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