![Former US President Trump Survives Assassination Attempt At Campaign Event](https://nayadaur.tv/digital_images/large/2024-07-14/former-us-president-trump-survives-assassination-attempt-at-campaign-event-1720949891-4531.jpg)
Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign event on Saturday in an attempted assassination, an act that will undoubtedly transform this year's presidential contest while raising serious concerns about the Republican candidate's security.
Trump was surrounded and covered over by his security officers shortly after the gunshot. He emerged immediately, his face covered with blood, and pumped his fist in the air while mouthing the words, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The Trump team later stated that he was "doing well" and did not appear to have sustained any serious injuries.
Early on Sunday, the FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the "subject involved" in an attempted assassination. State voting records show that he was a registered Republican.
Earlier, the Secret Service stated that agents shot the man dead. One person was killed at the rally, while two others were badly injured.
Law enforcement authorities told reporters that they had not yet determined the reason for the attack.
Trump, 78, had hardly begun his address when the gunfire rang out. He grasped his right ear with his right hand and pulled it down to examine it before collapsing to his knees behind the platform, where Secret Service personnel were covering him.
He appeared about a minute later, his red "Make America Great Again" hat knocked off. He could be heard shouting "wait, wait" and then pumping his fist in the air. Agents then hurried him into a black SUV.
"I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear," Trump later stated on his Truth Social platform after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, some 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh. "Much bleeding took place."
Trump departed Butler under the protection of the US Secret Service and arrived at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The incident was the first shooting of a US president or major party candidate since Republican President Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination in 1981.
It generated immediate concerns about the Secret Service's security failings, as the agency offers lifetime protection to former presidents, including Trump.