Donald Trump was reported to be “safe” after being injured in a shooting at a rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania that killed one spectator and wounded two others on Saturday.
The Republican presidential candidate crouched to the ground after the shots were fired and was rushed offstage to his motorcade by armed Secret Service agents, pumping his fists with blood visible on his right ear and streaking his cheek.
Trump took to his Truth Social social media platform on Saturday evening to say he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”.
“Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead,” the former president said.
The US Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting current and former presidents, said that at 6.15pm local time “a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue”.
Secret Service agents “neutralised the shooter, who is now deceased”, the statement from agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi added.
The agency confirmed that one spectator was killed and two critically injured, and said Trump “is safe and being evaluated”.
Footage of the incident appeared to show a Secret Service agent saying “shooter is down”. Butler county district attorney Richard Goldinger confirmed one person standing behind Trump was killed and another rally attendee was in a serious condition in a local hospital. The shooter was killed, he said.
The apparent attempt on Trump’s life marks the first time in decades that a current or former president has been a victim in a shooting. The dramatic incident threatens to upend an already tumultuous presidential campaign, with less than four months to go until polling day in November.
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” Trump said in his post. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.” He also offered his condolences to the families of the killed and injured attendees.
The incident happened just days before the start of the Republican National Convention, when Trump is set to formally accept his party’s nomination for president.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting current and former presidents, “has implemented protective measures”, Guglielmi posted on X.
“This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available,” he said. The FBI said it would work jointly with the Secret Service on the investigation.
US President Joe Biden said in a televised address that he had been trying to get in touch with Trump but the former president was with his doctors.
“Apparently he’s doing well,” said Biden, in brief remarks from the police department in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he has a holiday home. “I hope I get to speak with him tonight.”
“I have an opinion but I don’t have any facts,” Biden said when asked if this had been an assassination attempt.
The president condemned the attack, saying: “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country.”
“You cannot allow for this to be happening. You cannot be like this. We cannot condone this,” Biden continued. “The bottom line is that the Trump rally is a rally that he should have been able to [conduct] peacefully without any problem.”
A Biden campaign official said the president’s re-election campaign was “pausing all outbound communications and working to pull down our television ads as quickly as possible”.
The incident happened just minutes after Trump began speaking at a rally of supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania, a rural town in the north-west corner of the state. A witness told CNN he heard 7 to 8 shots fired. The former president’s rallies are usually subject to airport-style security, run by the Secret Service in conjunction with local authorities.
The White House said Biden had received an “initial briefing” on the incident from Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director, Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.
Mike Johnson, Speaker of the US House, said on X that he had been briefed on the situation and was “praying for President Trump”. Others, including Trump’s former vice-president Mike Pence, expressed similar sentiments.
Several leading Democrats echoed the support for the former president.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, said in a statement that he was “horrified by what happened”, adding: “Political violence has no place in our country.”
Nancy Pelosi, the veteran Democratic US Congress member, and former president Barack Obama were among those echoing that sentiment, with Hakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat, saying he was “thankful for the decisive law enforcement response”.
International leaders also offered their support, with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among those saying they were shocked by the attack.
Elon Musk, owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX, said he “fully” endorsed Trump and hoped for a full recovery. “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt,” he wrote on the platform.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
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