Convicted felon and ex-President Donald Trump was the target of an apparent assassination attempt on July 13 at a Pennsylvania rally, days before he was to seize the Republican nomination for a third time in Milwaukee.
Gunfire triggered panic in the crowd. A bloodied Trump, who said he was shot in the ear, was surrounded by Secret Service and hurried to his SUV.
Trump’s campaign said the presumptive GOP nominee was doing “fine” after the shooting, which he said pierced 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. Much bleeding took place,” he wrote on his social media site.
At least one attendee was dead and two spectators were critically injured, authorities said. The Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter — who had attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue – a farm show in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“During Former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the evening of July 13 at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased. U.S. Secret Service quickly responded with protective measures and Former President Trump is safe. One spectator was killed, and two spectators were critically injured. This incident is currently under investigation. and the Secret Service has notified the FBI.” – Anthony Guglielmi, Chief of Communications for the U.S. Secret Service
The attack was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It drew new attention to concerns about political violence, which Trump himself has actively promoted for years.
The shooting occurred in a deeply polarized U.S., less than four months before the presidential election and days before the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee. The incident could alter the tenor and security posture at the RNC and around the city.
State law in Wisconsin prevents cities from banning firearms, which includes the security “footprint” around a credentials-only “hard” zone for the upcoming convention. Demonstrations and marches are planned within this area daily during the event.
While firearms are prohibited in the hard perimeter around the convention, only law enforcement officers on duty can carry guns there, as stated by the Secret Service. Earlier attempts by Milwaukee Common Council to ban guns in the convention’s soft security zone were thwarted by state law. Despite Wisconsin being an open carry state, proposed gun control legislation faces strong opposition from Republican lawmakers.
Trump’s campaign said the convention would proceed as planned.
President Joe Biden, who is running against Trump, was briefed on the incident and spoke to Trump several hours after the shooting, the White House said.
“There’s no place in America for this type of violence,” the president said in public remarks. “It’s sick. It’s sick.”
Biden planned to return to Washington early, cutting short a weekend at his beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Democratic officials in Milwaukee and public leaders also issued statements condemning the act of violence.
“There’s no space, absolutely none, for this sort of violence in America. No one should be shot – not like this. Not kids, not churchgoers, and not a candidate for President of the United States. We must demand peace, whether it is in the political sphere or in homes and neighborhoods everywhere.” – Mayor Cavalier Johnson
“My thoughts are with President Trump and all of the folks attending the rally in Pennsylvania. Thank you to the first responders who acted quickly, putting themselves and their safety at risk in order to respond to a horrific act of violence and keep people safe.” – Governor Tony Evers
“Political violence is abhorrent and should be rejected by all lovers of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power that lies at that political system’s core. This remains true even if the object of that violence is someone you take to be a potential enemy of democracy and whom you fear will challenge or has already challenged the sanctity of our electoral process.” – Alderman Scott Spiker
“Forward Latino condemns the attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump, as we condemned the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the countless acts of hate inspired by extreme political rhetoric committed on individuals and families with Hispanic surnames, physical characteristics, or preferred spoken language. Forward Latino continues to provide emergency assistance to Hispanics who have been attacked in acts of hate. We invite all true Americans to condemn all forms of political violence regardless of party, race, ethnicity, gender, faith or orientation.” – Darryl Morin, National President of Forward Latino
In the coming days, much of the focus will shift to the shooter and security lapses. The shooter was not an attendee at the rally and was killed by U.S. Secret Service agents, according to two officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
The officials said the shooter was engaged by members of the U.S. Secret Service counterassault team. The heavily armed tactical team travels everywhere with the president and major party nominees, and is meant to confront any active threats while other agents focus on safeguarding and evacuating the person at the center of protection.
Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene, according to a third person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
An analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking.
A video posted to social media and geolocated shows the body of a person wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a building at AGR International Inc., a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held.
The roof where the person lay was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle. The AR-15, like the shooter at the Trump rally had, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service, said officials were engaged with the Biden and Trump campaigns and “taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.”
A RALLY PROMOTING POLITICAL VIOLENCE DISRUPTED BY GUNFIRE
Trump was showing off a chart of border crossing numbers when the apparent shots began just after 6:10 p.m. It took two minutes from the moment of the first shot for Trump to be placed in a waiting SUV.
As Trump was talking, a popping sound was heard, and the former president put his right hand up to his right ear, as people in the stands behind him appeared to be shocked.
As the first pop rang out, Trump said, “Oh,” and grabbed his ear as two more pops could be heard and he crouched down. More shots were heard then.
Someone could be heard saying near the microphone at Trump’s lectern, “Get down, get down, get down, get down!” as agents tackled the former president. They piled atop him to shield him with their bodies, as is their training protocol, as other agents took up positions on stage to search for the threat.
Screams were heard in the crowd of several thousand people. A woman screamed louder than the rest. Afterward, voices were heard saying “shooter’s down” several times, before someone asked “are we good to move?” and “are we clear?” Then, someone ordered, “Let’s move.”
Trump got to his feet moments later and could be seen reaching with his right hand toward his face. There appeared to be blood on his face. His motorcade left the venue moments later.
The perils of campaigning took on a new urgency after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in California in 1968, and again in 1972 when Arthur Bremer shot and seriously hurt George Wallace, who was running as an independent on a campaign platform that has sometimes been compared to Trump’s.
That led to increased protection of candidates, even as the threats persisted, notably against Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008. Presidents, particularly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, have even greater layers of security. Trump is a rarity as both a former president and a current candidate.
