San Francisco : Sandeep Sharma : Former President Donald Trump was injured in a shooting on Saturday evening during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman and at least one audience member are dead, the Secret Service said, and two other attendees are critically injured.
Trump said on social media that he was shot and hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my right ear.” The Secret Service said the former president is safe after he was rushed off the rally stage with blood on his face. A spokesperson said Trump is “fine” after the “heinous act.”
The Secret Service said the shooter fired multiple shots from an “elevated position” outside of the Trump rally before he was killed by agents. Law enforcement sources told CNN the shooter was on a building rooftop just outside the rally venue. The shooting is being investigated as an attempted assassination, according to law enforcement officials.
President Joe Biden denounced the violence in remarks Saturday night and said in a statement earlier that he’s “grateful” Trump is safe. Donald Trump was escorted off stage in Pennsylvania after possible Gunshots
After the incident Jr. Trump tweets that “He’ll never stop fighting to save America”
President Joe Biden said that “everybody must condemn” the suspected assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, adding that he hoped to speak with his 2024 presidential rival soon.
Addressing the nation about after the shooting, Biden said he was relieved that Trump is reportedly “doing well.” He said he had been unable to reach Trump before his remarks and pledged to update the public later Saturday on whether they speak as well as additional details about the investigation.
“We cannot allow this to be happening,” Biden said. “The idea that there’s violence in America like this is just unheard of.”
Biden, speaking without a teleprompter, said he was waiting for additional information before formally calling the attack an attempted assassination on the former president.
“I have an opinion, but I don’t have any facts,” he told reporters, pledging to provide updates as he learns more.
The president delivered remarks from the White House’s emergency briefing room in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which is set up whenever the president travels to allow him to deliver remarks to the country in a matter of minutes. He was spending the weekend at his beach home and was at a nearby church for mass when the shooting occurred.
Biden received an “initial briefing” from aides after he left church minutes after the shooting and then convened security officials for a more in-depth update from Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the United States Secret Service, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall.
After the shooting at Trump’s rally, the Biden campaign said it was pausing all messaging to supporters and working to pull down all of its television ads as quickly as possible, the campaign said.
Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement that she was also briefed, adding that she and her husband “are relieved” that Trump was not seriously inured.
“We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting,” she said.
