…Shooter Confirmed Dead
*Ex-Presidents Condemn Violence Politics
John Nwokocha
The Republican candidate in the upcoming America’s presidential election, Donald Trump has escaped death after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, agency reports have said.
The build up for the November presidential poll is sending worrying signals about potential violence and political intimidation in the country already soaked in tension, fueled by anxiety. President Joe Biden and Trump are the main candidates in the November battle for the White House.
“Trump was shot in the ear”, Reuters reportedly said.
The 78 years Trump had just started his speech when the shots rained.
Trump was rushed from the rally stage as volley of gunshots rang out, and caused panic and near stampede.
The Republican hopeful was rushed off stage smeared in blood, reports further stated.
“As bangs ran out, Trump grimaced and clutched a hand to his right ear, where blood was clearly visible across his cheek and mouth”, said reports by agencies.
It added, “Agents swarmed onto the podium, surrounded the Republican candidate and escorted him roughly off the stage, as Trump raised a fist to the crowd in defiance”.
“The former president is safe,” the Secret Service said in a post on X.
His campaign said he was “fine” and being checked at a medical facility.
“President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act. He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility. More details will follow,” said spokesman Steven Cheung in a statement.
It was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.
The incident has raised instant questions about security failures by the Secret Service, which provides former presidents including Trump with lifetime protection.
Shooter dead
However, the suspected shooter was confirmed dead, along with one bystander, US media reported.
“Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said two people are dead, including an apparent shooter,” The Washington Post reported. A second bystander may also have been hit.
Eyewitness
An eyewitness, Republican U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who was seated in the front row at the rally, said he had started to go up on stage when Trump said he would have him come up later.
“Within a minute or two, I heard the shots … It was clear it was gunfire,” he told Reuters in an interview. “It felt like it was an assassination attempt … It was terrifying.”(Reuters)
Another witness recounts, Ron Moose, a Trump supporter at the rally, said he heard about four shots. “I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked also real quick,” he said. “Then the Secret Service all jumped and protected him as soon as they could. We are talking within a second they were all protecting him.”
“Let me get my shoes,” Trump was heard saying on the microphone, as security agents helped him back to his feet.
Agents bundled the 78-year-old tycoon into an SUV, as he once more raised his fist to the crowd.
“This is an active crime scene,” Secret Service officers told reporters, ordering them out of the area.
“We saw a lot of people go down, looking confused. I heard the shots,” said John Yeykal from Franklin, Pennsylvania, who was attending his first Trump rally.(AFP)
The BBC interviewed a man who described himself as an eyewitness, saying he saw a man armed with a rifle crawling up a roof near the event. The person, who the BBC did not identify, said he and the people he was with started pointing at the man, trying to alert security.
The shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, the agency said. The FBI said it had taken the lead in investigating the attack.
CNN, citing sources, said the FBI had identified the suspected shooter, a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man.
Biden-No Place For This Kind Of Violence
United States President Joe Biden led the condemnation after his election rival Donald Trump was wounded in a shooting incident at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday that also reportedly killed at least one bystander.
Political leaders on both sides of the aisle slammed the violence minutes after the Republican candidate was rushed off stage by the Secret Service with blood running down his face.
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country… We cannot be like this, we cannot condone this,” Biden told reporters in an emergency briefing at Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
“The idea that there’s political violence, or violence in America like this, is just unheard of. It’s just not appropriate. Everybody, everybody must condemn it. Everybody,” Biden said.
He said he hoped to speak with Trump “shortly.”
Ex-Presidents Condemn Shooting
Vice President Kamala Harris said on X: “We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting.”
Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama, echoed his words in a statement, saying there was “absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy.”
“Although we don’t yet know exactly what happened, we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics,” the Democrat said.
Former president George W. Bush condemned the “cowardly” attack.
“Laura and I are grateful that President Trump is safe following the cowardly attack on his life. And we commend the men and women of the Secret Service for their speedy response,” he said in a statement.
“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, wrote on X.
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell also wrote on X: “Tonight, all Americans are grateful that President Trump appears to be fine after a despicable attack on a peaceful rally. Violence has no place in our politics.”
“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband was attacked in a home invasion in 2022, wrote, also on X.
“I thank God that former President Trump is safe. As we learn more details about this horrifying incident, let us pray that all those in attendance at the former President’s rally today are unharmed,” she continued.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Saturday that he “fully” endorses Trump after the rally violence.
“I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” Musk wrote on X, as he shared a video of Trump pumping his fist while being escorted away by Secret Service officials.(AFP)
Republicans, Democrats Decry Violence
Trump is due to receive his party’s formal nomination at the Republican National Convention, which kicks off in Milwaukee on Monday.
“This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on social media.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was horrified by what happened and was relieved Trump was safe. “Political violence has no place in our country,” he said.
Biden’s campaign was pausing its television ads and halting all other outbound communication, a campaign official said.
Americans fear rising political violence, recent Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with two out of three respondents to a May survey saying they worried violence could follow the election.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.
“For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America,” said U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, who survived a politically motivated shooting in 2017. “Clearly we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”
Trump, who served as president from 2017-2021, easily bested his rivals for the Republican nomination early in the campaign and has largely unified around him the party that had briefly wavered in support after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The businessman and former reality television star entered the year facing a raft of legal worries, including four separate criminal prosecutions. He was found guilty in late May of trying to cover up hush money payments to a porn star, but the other three prosecutions he faces — including two for his attempts to overturn his defeat — have been ground to a halt by various factors including a Supreme Court decision early this month that found him to be partly immune to prosecution.
Trump contends without evidence that all four prosecutions have been orchestrated by Biden to try to prevent him from returning to power.
Casualties
Republican U.S. Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas told Fox News his nephew had been wounded at the rally.
FBI Probing
The incident was being investigated as an assassination attempt.
Law enforcement officials told reporters they had tentatively identified a suspected shooter but were not ready to do so publicly. They also said they have not yet identified a motive.
