Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday – with the former president bundled off stage with his face bloodied after a bullet hit his ear.
The gunman was killed by Secret Service agents after he fired at the crowd from outside the perimeter. A person in the crowd was killed and two others were injured.
The FBI has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the “subject involved” in the shooting.
The assassination attempt happened 15 minutes after Trump went on stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening, with around seven or eight popping sounds heard.
The former president dropped behind a podium as his Secret Service team swarmed around him. He was hoisted and removed from the stage by several agents with blood on his right ear and down his cheek.
A post on Trump’s Truth Social account says that he “was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”, adding: “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.”
In remarks from Delaware, President Joe Biden said that “there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick.”
Key points
- FBI names 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as the ‘subject involved’
- Donald Trump says he’s ‘fine’ after being rushed off stage
- Trump says he felt bullet ‘ripping through skin’ of his ear
- Audience member killed and two in critical condition
- Gunman was registered as a Republican voter
- Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was registered as a Republican voter, but donated to a Democratic-aligned group
According to public records, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who the FBI has identified as the “suspect involved” in the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, was registered as a Republican voter, according to a listing in Pennsylvania’s voter database that matched his name, age, and the address linked to Crooks in public records, CNN reported.
However, federal campaign finance reports show that he had made a $15 contribution to a Democratic-aligned political action committee called Progressive Turnout Project on 20 January 2021, the report added.
Matthew Crooks lived in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bethel Park.
Doctor covered in blood describes treating Trump audience member shot at rally
10:41 , Andy Gregory
A doctor covered in blood said he treated an audience member who was shot at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
“The guy has spun around was jammed between the benches. He had a head shot here. There’s lots of blood and he had brain matter there,” he told CBS News.
