TRUMP SHOT AT CAMPAIGN RALLY; WOULD-BE ASSASSIN DEAD
TRUMP WAS GRAZED IN THE EAR BY A BULLET; THREE OTHERS SHOT, ONE KILLED IN PENNSYLVANIA
Still image from live video just moments after former Pres. Donald Trump was shot during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. Photo credit: FOX News.
July 13, 2024
This is a breaking news report. Check back for updates. Last updated 12:50am, June 14.
WARNING. GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW.
An assassin shot Donald Trump in the head during a campaign speech in Pennsylvania on Fri. The former president was merely grazed by the bullet, but still literally shot out of his shoes.
"I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear," Trump said hours later in Truth Social post. "I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin."
Fully conscious, Trump pumped a defiant fist in the air as a swarm of Secret Service agents carried him off the stage to his armored motorcade and sped off to the closest hospital, video showed.
Secret Service counter-snipers stationed on a rooftop behind Trump returned fire, killing the shooter.
"During former president Trump's campaign rally, a suspected shooter fired multiple shots from an elevated position outside of the rally venue," a Secret Service news release said. "US Secret Service personnel neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased."
One spectator was killed and two were seriously injured.
"I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured," Trump said in his social media post.
Pres. Joe Biden immediately condemned the attempted assassination in an impromptu news conference. He called Trump by his first name, and said he "tried to get a hold of Donald" but he's "with his doctors."
"Apparently he's doing well," Pres. Biden added. "I plan on talking with him shortly, I hope, when I get back to the telephone."
"There's no place in America for this kind of violence," the president pleaded. "Everybody, everybody, must condemn it. Everybody."
An image posted to X, formerly Twitter, claimed to depict the assassin dead on the roof with a head wound. He appears to be a man.
The image and known facts match the sparse official account, so far.
For example, anonymous law enforcement sources told ABC News the shooter fired from the roof of a short factory-building 200 to 300 yards away from where Trump was speaking. He fired as many as eight rounds from a semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle.
The image shows the alleged shooter with missing teeth strongly suggesting he was shot in the face—as he would have been looking over the top his rifle at Trump, with the Secret Service snipers station behind Trump, as images captured by professional news photographers and bystanders alike showed.
Trump was shot on the right side of his head, which was turned sideways facing toward the sniper's roof-top position when he was shot. Video captured him grabbing the right side of his head as shots rang out.
"This evening we had what we're calling an assassination attempt against our former president, Donald Trump," Kevin Rojek, Special Agent in Charge of the F.B.I.'s Pittsburgh Field office, said during a midnight news conference. "We do not currently have an identified motive."
"Right now we need the public's help" Rojek said. "Anyone who was on scene who saw anything, or identified any information, please report that to the F.B.I. using the phone number 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at FBI.gov/Butler."
Rojek said officials were "close" to positively identifying the shooter. "As soon as we are 100% confident on who that individual is we will share it with the press."
One witness told the BBC he saw a man armed with a rifle "bear crawling" on a roof about 50 feet away from him just before Trump was shot.
The man, who said his name was "Greg," reported he was listening to the speech outside the rally site when he saw a man "bear crawling" up the roof of a building about 50 feet away with a rifle.
“We’re pointing at him," the man said. "The police are down there, running around on the ground. We’re like ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.’"
The police "did not know what was going on,” he added. "I'm thinking to myself why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?"
"Next thing you know five shots rang out."