The assassination attempt on former President Trump occurred at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania where the shooter left hundreds wounded.
At least one person is dead and two others are “critically injured,” according to the U.S. Secret Service, which said that shots were fired from an “elevated position” at the Pentagon bus platform in Arlington, Virginia – just outside Washington D.C., after a man jumped off a Metrobus then killed himself with his weapon.
Up to five shots rang out as Trump spoke. The ex-president’s eyes had rolled back into his head as he clutched at his right ear, and then slouched to the ground but by this time agents from the Secret Service surrounded him.
Fox News and others interviewed witnesses described the mayhem.
At the rally, Brandon Christie said that at first he thought the sound was just a loudspeaker going out but quickly realized it was something much worse as people began to scream. He and family members ducked as a Secret Service officer allegedly shot at the gunman. ”There was just blood everywhere,” he said.
On stage, Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo recounted the quick turn from celebration to chaos. “I’m speechless,” he told Fox News’s Alexis McAdams. “All I can think of right now is this is representative of the vitriol and the hate a lot of people in the United States seem to have for people with conservative ideals and principles behind them, and I’m just sorry it’s come to that.”
Another witness said they heard something that sounded like firecrackers before people attending the concert were told to get down. “We huddled and we just started praying,” the eyewitness said. “The lady in front of me that laid on top of me, she was crying. I just said, ‘It’s going to be OK, honey.'”
When Trump reappeared with his fist in the air, she said: “Like as a true leader, he was like, leading us.”
Semaj Blake, a delegate who was near Trump when the shots rang out, said at first he thought it might be a “prank” or that someone had set off fireworks. “When I looked back towards the president, the Secret Service was actively tackling him to the ground, and at that point, I heard some other sounds, and I thought, well, this is gunfire,” he said.
A man outside the rally said he noticed a person with a gun in his hand before the shots and tried to alert law enforcement. He told BBC News: “We noticed a guy crawling – bear crawling – up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us,” the man told BBC News, adding, “You could clearly see him with a rifle.”
“Next thing you know, five shots ran out,” he said, telling the BBC reporter he was “100 percent” sure the shots came from the man he saw.
That night, Trump tweeted that he just had a shot in the ear and then thanked the Secret Service for their efforts to handle it. He also sent condolences for the other victims, with a simple message: “GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
