IT HAS BEEN less than two days since a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania in an attempt to assassinate Donald Trump.
Several shots were fired towards the former US president before he was rushed off stage by Secret Service agents bleeding from his ear.
The FBI is continuing to investigate the motive of the gunman, who has been named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, and how he was able to carry out the attack.
This is everything we know so far.
Trump was addressing a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. He was speaking about immigration when bangs started ringing out after 6.10pm local time (11.10pm Irish time).
“Take a look at what happened,” he said before the first shot was heard. The former US president reached with his right hand towards the side of his head as two more shots were fired.
Shouts of “get down” could then be heard and Trump quickly ducked as Secret Service agents rushed the stage to surround him. Screams could be heard from those attending the rally as the bangs continued.
The crowd cheered as Trump got back to his feet. He pumped his fist in the air and chanted “fight, fight, fight” and there were chants of “USA, USA” before he was taken to his motorcade.
Police evacuated the site shortly after Trump left the stage.
Authorities later confirmed that one rally attendee was killed and two other spectators were critically injured.
The man who was killed has been named as Corey Comperatore. The 50-year-old was a father of two daughters and a firefighter.
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro said: “Corey died a hero. Corey dove on his family to protect them last night.”
Pennsylvania State Police identified the two men injured in the shooting as 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver. Both men are from Pennsylvania, and both are in a stable condition in hospital.
The FBI has identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, around 70 kilometres away from the site of the assassination attempt. He was shot dead at the scene.
Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. The captain of the school’s rifle team has said he tried to join, but was refused because he was a bad shot.
Another student said that Crooks was bullied at school and sat alone at lunch time. He said that other students mocked him for the clothes he wore, which included hunting outfits.
According to The New York Times, the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a facility in southern Pittsburgh that features a 200-yard rifle range, has confirmed that Crooks was a member.
Crooks worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide, a job that generally involves food preparation.
Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave money to a progressive political action committee on 20 January 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office.
The FBI has not yet identified a motive for the shooting.
US media who attended a news conference on Sunday reported that Special Agent Kevin Rojek said the FBI recovered an “AR-style 556 rifle which was purchased legally”.
It was located at the scene, immediately adjacent to the gunman, he said.
The FBI said it believes Crooks’s father legally purchased the weapon used in the shooting, but it is not yet known how he accessed the weapon and whether he took it without his father’s knowledge.
A “suspicious device” was also found in the gunman’s car during a search of his vehicle. This was inspected by bomb technicians and made safe. All of the evidence is now being analysed.
The shooting is also being investigated as potential domestic terrorism.
The Associated Press (AP) has reported that a local police officer used a ladder to climb to the roof where Crooks was after being alerted to his position by attendees at the rally.
Officers who spoke to the publication on the condition of anonymity said Crooks then pointed his gun at the officer, who retreated down the ladder. Crooks then quickly took a shot toward Trump, and was then shot by the Secret Service.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe told the AP that a local officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who turned toward him just before the officer dropped down to safety. Slupe said the officer couldn’t have wielded his own gun under the circumstances.
Meanwhile, Anthony Guglielmi, communications officer for the US Secret Service, has denied claims that Trump’s team “requested additional security resources and that those were rebuffed”.
“This is absolutely false,” said Guglielmi, who added that the Secret Service “added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo”.
In the aftermath, Trump’s campaign said the former presidenr was doing “fine” after the shooting, which he said pierced the upper part of his right ear.
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place,” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social.
His campaign is expected to resume in earnest at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which begins today.
Trump told the Washington Examiner that he had rewritten his speech for the event to focus more on national unity than on the policies of Biden.
However, there is some confusion as to whether Trump was grazed by a bullet or if his ear was cut by a shard of glass from a bullet smashing a teleprompter.
For example, a correspondent for right-wing US outlet NewsMax said that sources within the Pennsylvania police understood that Trump “was not struck by a bullet but hit by glass fragments”.
NEW: A Pennsylvania police source tells @NEWSMAX they believe Pres. Trump was not struck by a bullet, but hit by glass fragments.
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) July 13, 2024
They believe a teleprompter may have been hit, causing glass to hit the president.
“They believe a teleprompter may have been hit, causing glass to hit the president,” said Alex Salvi in a post on X.
If it were indeed a bullet that struck Trump, a very slight head movement saved him from what could have been a fatal incident.
There was a giant chart at the rally documenting illegal immigration figures into the United States.
Trump moved his head towards the chart at the moment the bullet was fired.
The law enforcement snipers were already facing the direction of the shooter seconds prior to the shooting.
— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) July 14, 2024
I am amazed they did not see the shooter crawling into position for his shots a mere 430 ft away. pic.twitter.com/oXJlWfWOMa
Republican representative for Texas Ronny Jackson spoke to The New York Times about a conversation he had with Trump following the shooting.
Recalling the conversation, Jackson told The New York Times: “He [Trump] goes, ‘The border patrol saved my life. I was going over that border patrol chart.’
Trump’s campaign manager Dan Scavino also credited this slight head movement towards the chart as the action that saved Trump.
‘Thank God last night’s rally was one in which President Trump wanted to use and reference the jumbotron, causing him to slightly move his head at the moment shots were fired,’ Scavino said yesterday.
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