The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, it said in a statement on Sunday.
Former US President Donald Trump was seen walking down the stairs of his aircraft after landing in New Jersey early on Sunday, according to a video posted on social media website X by the Trump campaign.
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Trump, 78, had just started his speech when the shots rang out. He grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium before Secret Service agents swarmed and covered him. He emerged about a minute later, his red “Make America Great Again” hat knocked off, and could be heard saying “wait, wait,” before agents ushered him into a vehicle.
“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. “Much bleeding took place.”
The shooter’s identity and motive were not immediately clear. Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence.
The Trump campaign said he was “doing well.”
The shooting occurred less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls including those by Reuters/Ipsos show the two locked in a close contest.
Biden said in a statement: “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
The shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed and two other spectators were injured, the Secret Service said in a statement. The incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt, a source told Reuters.