Bloody-faced Trump rushed off stage, shooter dead in assassination attempt at rally (2024)

Donald Trump has thanked Secret Service agents who rushed him off stage during a shooting at a campaign rally that left an audience member dead and two others critically injured.

Mr Trump said a bullet grazed his ear before he was taken away, with his fist in the air and blood on his face, during the incident in Butler, in western Pennsylvania.

The shooter, who the FBI named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed, authorities said.

Screams tore through the crowd and Mr Trumpgrabbed at the side of his face and ducked behind a riser during the shooting, which is now being investigated by the FBI and Secret Service as an assassination attempt.

In the early hours of Sunday, local time, the FBI confirmed the identity of the shooter as 20-year-old Crooks.

Earlier, the local county district attorney, Richard Goldinger, told America's ABC News the shooter had been on the roof of an adjacent venue, so did not go through security screening.

FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek said investigators were working to identify a motive.

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There was no reason to believe there was any ongoing threat, Pennsylvania State Police Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens said.

"We are absolutely not taking for granted that this was a lone wolf attack," he said. "And so we would be looking at additional information that could point us to anyone else that may have had a hand in this."

In an earlier statement, the Secret Service said "multiple shots were fired from an elevated position outside of the rally venue".

"US Secret Service personnel neutralised the shooter, who is now dead," it said.

TheTrump campaign released a statement shortly after the shooting thatsaid he was "fine".

Later, Mr Trump posted to social media:

"I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of law enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania.

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"Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured.

"It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.

"Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead.

"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 realised then what was happening.

"GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

US President Joe Biden has spoken to Mr Trump, the White House said.

Earlier, the president described the attack as "sick".

"It's one reason we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening.

"The idea that there's political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of.

"Everybody must condemn it."

Mr Trump has left hospital, according to US media.

It's the first apparent assassination attempt on a US president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

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'All of a sudden some shots rang out'

Police began vacating the area shortly after Mr Trump left the stage. Some attendees were in tears.

Republican congressman Ronny Jackson said his nephew was wounded at the rally.

"He was grazed in the neck. A bullet crossed his neck, cut his neck and he was bleeding," he told Fox News.

Bryant Brzozowski described the scene as "crazy".

"I was behind the former president, so I didn't see what happened. We just got down, and I covered two little girls when other people covered my fiance," Mr Brzozowski told the ABC.

He said he saw police and paramedics attending to a man, dressed in a shirt displaying an American flag, who was lying on the ground.

"I don't know if it was a shooter or somebody who got shot," he said.

"All I saw was he was holding his stomach when the other two paramedics or cops were attending to him."

Corey Cumisckey, who was at the event with his wife and children, told the ABC nothing seemed out of the ordinary before the shots were heard.

"Trump was talking and all of a sudden some shots rang out, or what sounded like shots, and then there was some return fire," he said.

"I kind of got up to see what was going on. And they had the president on the ground. And then, you know, a couple of seconds possibly later, they came up with him and off the stage he went."

Mr Cumisckey said his wife was "extremely upset" and questioned whether her children should have been at the event.

"I disagree. I think you should be able to bring your kids to an event like this and it's unacceptable for something like this to happen," he said.

"It's really unfortunate that things have heated up to this level."

Mr Trump is due to be endorsed as the Republicans' presidential candidate at the party's national convention in Milwaukee, which begins on Monday. The rally in Butler was the last one scheduled before the convention.

The convention will go ahead as planned.

"President Trump looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47^th president of the United States," a statement from the Republican National Committee said.

His son, Donald Trump Jr, tweeted a photo of his father shortly after the shooting.

His daughter, Ivanka Trump, thanked well-wishers for their "love and prayers for my father and for the other victims of today's senseless violence".

"I love you Dad, today and always," she tweeted.

Republican congressman Steve Scalise, who survived a shooting in 2017, blamed Democrat leaders for "fuelling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America".

Former president Bill Clinton said he and wife Hillary, who ran against Mr Trump in the 2016 election, were "heartbroken for all those affected".

Australia's ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, said it was a relief Mr Trump was safe.

"All Australians are shocked by the attack on former president Trump at his campaign rally this evening in Pennsylvania," he said.

"Violence has no place in our democracies."

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on social media that he was praying for Trump.

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ABC/wires