Trump safe, two dead after assassination attempt at Pennsylvania rally

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump was wounded Saturday evening while speaking onstage at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in an incident that’s being investigated as an assassination attempt from a shooter on a roof near the rally site.

Trump was in the middle of delivering his rally speech – turned toward the right with his hands on his lectern – when the sound of multiple gunshots suddenly rang out at approximately 6:15 p.m. ET. He said later on social media he was shot in the ear.

Trump grabbed his right ear and dropped to the ground as Secret Service agents told him to get down and rushed to the stage, protecting the former president while several more gunshots could be heard.

While Trump remained on the ground, there was one last round of shots and loud screams from the crowd. About 45 seconds after the former president was shot, agents were heard on the rally microphone saying, “Shooter’s down.”

“Are we good to move?” one agent asked.

“Are we clear?” asked another.

“We’re clear!” a Secret Service agent said as Trump was lifted to his feet, his face and ear bloodied.

The agents prepared to move Trump offstage into his nearby SUV, but he told them to wait. Trump lifted his fist in the air, prompting a loud cheer from the crowd at the rally, and he mouthed the word “fight” three times while pumping his fist. The crowd then chanted “USA!” as the former president was taken down the stairs by several agents and into his vehicle.

One of the rally attendees was killed in the shooting, and and two rally-goers were critically injured, according to the Secret Service. All of the victims were male, according to the FBI.

The shocking episode that threatened Trump’s life raises grave questions about security and how the former president was shot at, with lawmakers already calling for an investigation into the Secret Service’s handling of Saturday’s rally. The shooting comes right before Trump is set to accept the 2024 presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention this coming week.

President Joe Biden condemned the shooting, saying it was “sick,” in remarks from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday evening, and the White House said he later spoke to Trump by phone.

Shooter fired multiple times outside the rally venue

A law enforcement source and a police officer at the scene told CNN that the shooter was positioned on a building rooftop just outside the venue where Trump was holding his rally, located to the right of the event stage. There was a heavy law enforcement presence around the building.

The shooting is being investigated as a possible assassination attempt, according to law enforcement officials.

The Secret Service said the shooter fired “multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue.” The shooter was killed by Secret Service agents, the agency said in a statement.

Video posted to social media showed the suspected Trump shooter lying down on the roof of a building, appearing motionless.

The FBI is “close” to identifying the shooter in what they are calling an assassination attempt against Trump, FBI special agent in charge Kevin Rojek said at a press briefing hours after the shooting.

Rojek said investigators are close to confirming the identity of the shooter but are not yet releasing the name at this time. Authorities said they believe there Is no other threat.

Rojek added that they have not yet identified the shooter’s motive.

Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday evening, describing the shooting and thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement for their response.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

Map: The distance between the suspected gunman and where Trump was shot is approximately 400-500 feet.

‘It was a bloody scene’

Rep. Dan Meuser, a Pennsylvania Republican, was sitting in the front row of Trump’s rally with Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick and Rep. Mike Kelly. The congressman told CNN the spectator, who was fatally shot and killed, was “no more than 20 feet behind” them.

“Everybody started, certainly, screaming, asking for a medic, and honestly, it was a bloody scene,” Meuser said.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said he was told by his chief detective that the shooter was on a building adjacent to the property.

“It would have required a rifle,” he said. “It was several hundred yards.”

Rico Elmore, a former Pennsylvania legislative candidate who was a speaker at Saturday’s rally, had blood all over his white shirt and was walking away from the rally stage as he spoke to CNN and described jumping over the barrier and putting his hand on the head of an attendee who was shot and bleeding.

“All we know is shots were fired and then I jumped over the barrier and put my hand on the guy’s head that was profusely bleeding,” Elmore said. He said he didn’t know the attendee and he was “just a stranger.”

Elmore was visibly shaken up but said he was not harmed. He said he only saw one attendee hit and did not see what happened to Trump.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Texas Republican, told Fox News that his nephew was injured during the shooting. Jackson said his nephew “was grazed in the neck, a bullet crossed his neck, cut his neck and he was bleeding.”

Jackson’s nephew was in “the friends and family pen, which is to the president’s right, down a little bit lower,” during the rally.

The Texas congressman called it a “horrific, horrific experience.”

Biden: ‘It’s sick’

Biden was briefed in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on the shooting. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall were part of the team briefing the president.

Biden spoke by phone with Trump Saturday evening after the shooting, according to the White House. He also spoke to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy.

“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence – it’s sick, it’s sick,” Biden said before returning to the White House late Saturday evening. “It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle quickly weighed after the shooting Saturday expressing their horror, condemning the political violence. Leaders around the world sent their well wishes to the former president.

“I have been briefed by law enforcement and am continuing to monitor the developments. This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.

“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Former Trump campaign adviser David Urban told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he had spoken with McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate from Pennsylvania, who was sitting in the front row of the rally. Trump told McCormick to “come up here onstage,” Urban said, at which point he heard a few “pops” that sounded like “firecrackers.”

McCormick dropped to the ground at that point, and when he got up, he said that Secret Service agents were “around everybody and they were scattering,” according to Urban.

McCormick wrote on X that he and his wife, former Trump administration official Dina Powell, “are praying for President Trump and all who were injured today in Butler PA.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Pamela Brown, Zachary Cohen, Kristen Holmes, Alejandra Jaramillo, DJ Judd, Gregory Krieg, Jamiel Lynch, Phil Mattingly, Hannah Rabinowitz, Raja Razek, Morgan Rimmer, Alayna Treene, Emma Tucker, Whitney Wild and Ryan Young contributed to this report.

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