Former President Donald Trump appears to have been injured after loud bangs rang out at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The crowd reacted to three quick explosive sounds with screaming. As the bangs were heard, Trump crouched onstage while grabbing at his right ear. Someone yelled, “Duck, duck, duck!” as the crowd reacted, and Trump moved to the ground.
Secret Service agents then dove on top of the former president onstage, yelling, “Get down! Get down, Get down!” as another volley of popping, gunshot-like noises could be heard.
The former president soon got to his feet and appeared to be bleeding from his right ear. Trump pumped his fist to the crowd as Secret Service personnel rushed him from the stage and into a waiting vehicle.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service is calling the rally episode an “incident” and confirms that the “former president is safe.”
Tump’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung has issued a statement. “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act,” Cheung said. “He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility.”
Trump had been about 10 minutes into his speech, discussing “illegal immigration,” referring to a chart he had that claimed that he had the “lowest amount” during his presidency. “And then the worst president in the history of our country took over, and look what happened to our country, probably 20 million people. And you know, that’s a little bit old. That chart, that chart’s a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something, that said, take a look at what happened,” he said before the first loud bangs began.
The last time a sitting or former president was hit with a bullet was the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
President Biden, who is in Rehoboth, Delaware, has received a briefing on the Trump incident from the director of the Secret Service and from Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security.
The Republican National Convention, set to kick off in Milwaukee next week, will reportedly allow guns in the security zone, though not inside the convention hall.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
