Butler, Pennsylvania: Early on Sunday, the FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the “subject involved” in what it termed an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Crooks, a registered Republican according to state voter records, was shot dead by Secret Service agents during the incident. One rally attendee was killed, and two others were critically wounded.
The attack occurred during a campaign rally on Saturday, shaking the political landscape and raising serious questions about the security provided to the Republican candidate.
Trump was shot in the ear, causing him to momentarily drop to his knees behind the podium. His security team quickly covered him, but he emerged moments later, his face streaked with blood, and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Following the attack, the Trump campaign reported that he was “doing well” and had not suffered any major injuries. “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump later said on his Truth Social platform. “Much bleeding took place.”
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Trump left the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service and later arrived at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. This incident marks the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
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The FBI has taken the lead in investigating the attack. Law enforcement officials have not yet identified a motive. The shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, prompting immediate scrutiny of the security measures in place. The Oversight Committee in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives summoned U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22. “Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump,” the panel said in a statement.
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Witnesses at the rally described the chaotic moments following the gunfire. Ron Moose, a Trump supporter, said he heard about four shots. “I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked, also real quick,” he recalled. “Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as they could. We are talking within a second they were all protecting him.”
A man interviewed by the BBC, who described himself as an eyewitness, said he saw a man armed with a rifle crawling up a roof near the event. He and the people with him tried to alert security by pointing at the man.
The attack occurred less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, where Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Opinion polls, including those by Reuters/Ipsos, show the two locked in a close contest. Investors predict that the attack and Trump’s defiant response will likely increase his chances of winning back the White House.
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Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” Biden said in a statement. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed this sentiment, stating, “This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned.”
Biden’s campaign paused its television ads and halted all other outbound communication following the attack. The incident has heightened concerns about potential political violence during the presidential campaign and after the election.
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Some of Trump’s Republican allies believe the attack was politically motivated. “For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America,” said U.S. Representative Steve Scalise. “Clearly we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”
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Trump, who served as president from 2017-2021, has been a polarizing figure, unifying his party around him despite legal challenges, including four separate criminal prosecutions. He contends, without evidence, that these prosecutions are orchestrated by Biden to prevent him from returning to power.
