Trisha Majumder
Trump was addressing at an election rally in Butler town on Saturday when bullets shot at him. He could be seen grabbing his ears and quickly dropping on the floor in viral video
Secret Service agents immediately piled on top of Trump to shield him from further harm. They rushed him off the stage like that.
While the agents shielded and rushed off the stage, a defiant Trump boldly pumped his fist into the air and told the crowd to “fight!”
The gunman, who fired multiple shots at the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue was was killed by Secret Service personnel soon after the firing.
The gunman was identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park. He was registered to vote as a Republican.
The shooting left one spectator dead and two others critically injured. The police is investigating the shooting as an attempted assassination.
US President Joe Biden in a post on X condemned the violent act and said that he prayed for Trump's recovery. He stated, "There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."
PM Modi in a post on X wrote, "Deeply concerned by the attack on my friend, former President Donald Trump. Strongly condemn the incident." British PM Keir Starmer said he was “appalled by the shocking scenes” at the rally. While French President Macron called the assassination attempt "a tragedy".
Three US Presidents survived assassination attempts earlier other than Donald Trump including Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. Roosevelt was shot in the chest in 1912 while campaigning for elections in Milwaukee and he survived.