Former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a pre-election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July in what the FBI is calling an “attempted assassination,” according to Reuters, BBC and CNN.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy conveyed his relief upon learning that Donald Trump was now safe and extended his wishes for Trump’s quick recovery, emphasizing that such acts of violence have no justification and should not occur anywhere in the world.
“I wish America emerges stronger from this,” he wrote.
The shooting occurred less than four months before the 5 November presidential election in the US, where Republican Trump is set to face Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump was speaking at the event when shots rang out, causing panic among the crowd. Secret Service agents quickly swarmed the former president, who emerged with a bloodied face and said he was shot in the ear.
Trump later described feeling “a bullet ripping through skin” and hearing a “whizzing sound,” according to BBC.
Covered up by his security agents, Trump quickly reappeared from under the podium, pumping his fist in the air and mouthing, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The Trump campaign stated that he was “doing well” following the attack, Reuters reports.
The FBI identified the gunman as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who shot from an elevated position outside the rally venue. The Secret Service confirmed they killed Crooks in the incident, according to Reuters.
One spectator at the rally died from the shooting, and two others were critically injured. All three were adult men, according to CNN.
A witness told the BBC they saw a man with a rifle crawling on a roof before the shots were fired, raising questions about security measures at the event.
The incident marks the first shooting of a US president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
Donald Trump has already returned to his home in New Jersey after the incident.
President Joe Biden condemned the attack, calling on Americans to denounce such “sick” violence. The White House later said the president had spoken to Mr. Trump.
Biden expressed relief upon learning that Trump was safe and in good condition and said he was praying for Trump, his family, and all those present at the rally as more details emerged.
“There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” he wrote on X.
In a brief email to supporters following the shooting incident, Trump defiantly declared, “I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!” sent together with his signature and portrait, according to CNN.
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