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Donald Trump was reportedly shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally, an attack that left the Republican presidential candidate’s face streaked with blood.
This, according to a Reuters report seen by Zambia Monitor on Sunday, prompted his security agents to swarm him before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed, and two other spectators were injured, the Secret Service said in a statement.
The incident is being investigated as an assassination attempt.
Law enforcement officials told reporters they had tentatively identified a suspected shooter but were not ready to disclose the information publicly.
Former President Trump, 78, had just started his speech when the shots rang out.
He reportedly grabbed his right ear with his right hand, then brought his hand down to look at it before dropping to his knees behind the podium.
Secret Service agents swarmed and covered him.
He emerged about a minute later, his red “Make America Great Again” hat knocked off and could be heard saying “wait, wait,” before the first bump, then agents rushed him to a black SUV.
“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said later on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. “Much bleeding took place.”
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The shooting occurred less than four months before the November 5 election, when Trump faces a rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
Most opinion polls, including those by Reuters/Ipsos, show the two locked in a close contest.
The Trump campaign said he was “doing well.”
Biden said in a statement: “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”
The shooting raised immediate questions about security failures by the Secret Service, which provides former presidents, including Trump, with lifetime protection.
It was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Trump had left the Butler area under the protection of the U.S. Secret Service with the assistance of the Pennsylvania state police.
Eyewitness Ron Moose, a Trump supporter at the rally, said he heard about four shots.
“I saw the crowd go down and then Trump ducked 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.”
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