There is no prefacing this one, so I won't bother. Around 6:00 PM Eastern Time, former President Donald Trump was rushed from the stage by his Secret Service detail after shots rang out.
Former President Donald Trump was rushed offstage after gunfire appeared to erupt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Several gunshots rang out just about five minutes into his speech shortly after 6 p.m., sending Trump to the ground as Secret Service agents jumped in to cover him.
Trump appeared to grab his ear in the moments before he was taken to the floor by the Secret Service. He was heard asking for his shoes as the guards rushed him away.
Video of the incident:
BREAKING: Shots fired at Trump rally pic.twitter.com/mHmB3oBlNY
— THAT SOUTHERN DUDE (@TSDmemes) July 13, 2024
Another video seemingly shows a significant series of gunshots, presumably from after the one above.
SHOTS FIRED AT TRUMP RALLY pic.twitter.com/3DSGs2EBH5
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) July 13, 2024
There are reports of some kind of tactical team entering the area and removing someone from the bleachers behind where Trump was speaking, though we do not know who that was or why they were escorted away.
A New York Times report suggests that while Trump may have grabbed at his ear or the back of his head, it doesn't appear that he sustained any significant injury and signaled to the crowd that he was well.
After a brief pause, Mr. Trump rose, surrounded by a group of uniformed Secret Service members. He pumped his fist to the crowd, and then was rushed off the stage and ushered into his motorcade, which quickly left the venue, the Butler Farm Show.
Photo of Trump after shooting: pic.twitter.com/RIjTjun7PU
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 13, 2024
Note the blood on Trump's face. It does appear that he was injured in the shooting, though again not significantly.
Now, this situation just happened a short time ago. It's still extremely fluid and what you've read above pretty much accounts for everything we know at this early stage. As of this writing, the incident happened less than an hour ago. Even if law enforcement knows everything, the odds of everyone having a coherent picture of what transpired is slim to none.
However, in a live report, an NBC reporter Dasha Burns notes that she was told to leave the rally location as it was now considered a crime scene. She also notes that to her knowledge, no one in the
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a statement on the incident, as reported in the New York Times:
Gov. Josh Shapiro, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that he had been “briefed on the situation” and that the state police were on the scene working with federal partners. “Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” Shapiro said. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States.”
For once, I agree with Shapiro completely.
Now, how did this happen? That's a question we're going to see asked a lot in the coming days. Right now, there's no answer to that, though the fact that Trump wasn't rushed from the stage and was visible at all after the incident suggests that the shooter may well have been taken down moments after the incident happened, which is entirely possible
Let's remember, though, that these events have extensive security. There's a perimeter that people can see and layers further out. There are snipers stationed all over the place and they're not watching Trump. If the shooter was visible at all--and unless he or she was a trained sniper who understands how to be invisible while firing, they probably will be--then those layers are likely to put the shooter down permanently.
That may well be what happened here, but as of this moment, this is just speculation on my part based on what I've seen.
Obviously, this story is going to be a big one and we'll be keeping an ear out for any additional news, including how it may impact the Second Amendment debate in this nation going forward.
[Update at 7:21 Eastern] Longer video of the incident. At 0:58, voices can be heard saying "shooter down."
[Update at 7:47] It seems that the shooter is, indeed dead.
Unfortunately, there are reports of at least one other person dead as well.
The shooter and at least one attendee are dead following gunfire at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
According to a local prosecutor, the two people are confirmed dead.
Again, we will continue to keep an eye on the situation.
[Update at 8:06] From Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin:
PRESIDENT BIDEN STATEMENT:
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 13, 2024
“I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania. ⁰ ⁰I’m grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information.⁰ ⁰Jill…
President Joe Biden is saying the things expected, but this is one of those moments where more than a written statement would probably make some sense. Then again, that might be planned for when there is more information. I doubt it, but it's possible.
Also, Townhall's Matt Vespa has a piece taking a well-deserved shot at the media's so-called reporting on the shooting. Their headlines aspire to the lofty levels of hot garbage.
[Update at 8:38] The NY Post is reporting that not only is the shooter down, but he has been identified as a "Chinese national."
The shooter, identified as a Chinese man, was in a sniper position located hundreds of yards away from Trump’s podium in Butler, Pa. as he spoke to a campaign crowd, sources said.
[Update at 8:45]
Sean Davis of The Federalist posted this on X a short time ago:
BREAKING: A source familiar with Trump’s security detail tells @FDRLST that the former and future president’s detail has been asking for beefed up protection and resources for weeks, but has been rebuffed time and again by Biden’s DHS.
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 14, 2024
DHS, which oversees Secret Service…
If this turns out to be true, that's huge. Trump is, to put it mildly, a polarizing figure who has gotten a lot of death threats, among other things. The idea that the detail has been asking for more resources and has been denied is going to be hard to answer for in light of today's events.
[Update 5:58 AM] About that whole, "the shooter is a Chinese national" thing?
Wrong. This is why some people use a 48-hour rule. It was a 20-year-old guy from Pennsylvania.
Law enforcement authorities have identified the man who made an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The FBI said the shooter, who is dead, was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. A motive was not clear.
The gunman was immediately “neutralized” by the Secret Service, chief of communications Anthony Guglielmi said.
Bethel Park is a predominantly white, relatively well-to-do city in the southern reaches of greater Pittsburgh. The site of the rally, Butler, is about an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania voter records listed a Thomas Matthew Crooks with the same address and birth date as a registered Republican, though it was not clear from the records when that was put in place.
Now, the fact that he's a registered Republican means a few different things. One, he was someone who wanted to take a shot at Trump in hopes of boosting him in the election. It's also possible that he's someone who loathes Trump enough to register as a Republican in hopes of keeping him out of the general election. Or he's just a Republican who hates Trump. It's not like we've never seen one of those before.
Honestly, right now, there's enough speculation going on. I'm personally done with it. What we know is that it's a 20-year-old guy, probably white, and who has at least some records suggesting he's part of the former president's party.
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