On July 13, 2024, U.S. presidential candidate and former U.S. president Donald Trump was injured during an assassination attempt.
On this fateful Saturday afternoon, Americans were left in shock after seeing the video of Trump rushing off the stage visibly bloody and secret services scrambling to cover Trump to carry him to safety. As blood streamed from his right ear, Trump was conscious, and insisted on putting his shoes on before exiting the stage. He was also seen pumping his fist a few times and waved to the supporters at the rally, showing he was ok.
This dramatic event occurred just a few minutes into his Pennsylvania rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Around 6:15 p.m. ET, 78-year-old former President Donald Trump was targeted by a shooter with multiple shots, he sustained injuries and blood poured from his right ear. From the images surfacing on social media, one photo shows a bullet narrowly flying by his head. Despite the assassination attempt, Trump maintained his high spirits, raised his hand as the crowd rallied around him, chanting, “USA, USA.” Trump appeared to have blood running down his face as he was rushed to the local hospital for treatment.
Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania was one of the witnesses who was backstage watching Trump’s speech. He said to CBS: “Everything was calm, then a couple shots rang out, shots just rang out. Everyone saw the president go down. He was watching from just a few steps away as secret service agents fell on top of former president Trump.”
He then said everybody just dropped in the stage area, and affirmed: “a lady who was next to him was hit. Other people were hit as well.” He is worried that other people were hit by the bullets. He believes they were bullets, and this was some type of shooting. He said security kept everybody tight. He saw the former president raise his hands multiple times. “Everyone just goes down,” congressman Kelly said people just fell to their knees. It took a long time for security services to clear the scene.
Joe was at the rally with his mother, and he said: “we were watching the president, we heard the gunshots go off. We saw two people were shot, we saw they were carried out. One didn’t look ok. I hope the other one looks ok.” His mother, Dawn recalled:” Nobody was talking, nobody was moving.” Her son was holding her hand and they were trying to get up to get out of here. Some gentlemen said “No, you stay down.” Dawn continued, “then we finally heard everyone get out of here.”
The U.S. media abruptly changed their Saturday program to get the live coverage. Three rally goers were also shot, one of them died at the scene. The shooter was killed by the law enforcement.
About two hours after the shooting, Trump posted a statement thanking Secret Service agents and law enforcement. “I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response to the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
Trump’s assassination attempt instantly sent shockwaves throughout the political spectrum.
Following the shooting, Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, publicly endorsed Donald Trump, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk posted on his social media platform X. “The martyr lived,” he wrote in a later post. Musk later posted a photograph of Trump at the event, followed by: “Last time America had a candidate this tough was Theodore Roosevelt.”
At the same time, President Biden pulled his reelection campaign ad from all channels and instead delivered an on-camera statement, “It’s sick,” he said. “We cannot allow for this to be happening, we cannot condone this.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer who visited Washington D.C. two days ago also condemned the assassination attempt via his X account: “I am appalled by the shocking scenes at President Trump’s rally and we send him and his family our best wishes. Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack.”
Trump survived this time, can he also survive in the upcoming U.S. presidential race?