Donald Trump had a near-death experience in Pennsylvania. The former US president was the target of an assassination attempt and was injured in the right ear.
Former US President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt on Saturday during a rally in Pennsylvania.days before he accepted the Republican nomination for president.
Gunshots sparked panic, and the bloodied former US president, shot in the ear, was surrounded by members of the Secret Service, who were providing security for the event, and rushed into his SUV as he raised his fist in defiance. A gesture of defiance immediately taken up by the crowd.
Donald Trump’s campaign team said he was running “GOOD” after the shooting, which, according to him, pierced the upper part of his right ear.
“I knew right away that something was wrong because I heard a whistle, gunshots, and I immediately felt the bullet go through the skin. I bled a lot.”he wrote on social media.
The FBI identified the shooter on Sunday as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and a registered Republican voter.
A man attending the rally was killed and two others were seriously injured, authorities said. The Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter, who is believed to have attacked from a high position outside the rally site.
It is the most serious assassination attempt on a president or presidential candidate since the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981. It has drawn renewed attention to concerns about political violence in a deeply polarized United States less than four months before the presidential election. It could also change the content and security arrangements for the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to begin Monday in Milwaukee.
The American President Joe Biden, who is running against Donald Trump, was briefed on the incident and spoke with his political opponent several hours after the shooting, the White House said.“There is no place in America for this type of violence”Joe Biden said in a public address. “It’s a disease. It’s disgusting.”
On his social network Truth Social, the Republican candidate assured that he was praying “for the recovery of those who have been injured”. “We keep in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed”he added. “I am delighted to address our great nation this week from Wisconsin. (…) It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
Moreover, Donald Trump confirms he will visit Wisconsin this weekfor the Republican National Convention, where he is to be nominated as a presidential candidate.
US authorities are still investigating the circumstances of the attack.