Editor’s note, July 14, 5:30 pm ET: This is a rapidly evolving news story that will be updated with new verified information.
On Saturday, July 13, shots rang out as former President Donald Trump addressed a crowd at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Moments later, Secret Service agents rushed the stage, and Trump was taken away — his face covered in blood.
Two people including the gunman were killed. identified by the FBI Thomas as Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania. Two more people participated in the rally was seriously injured. Trump survived—he later wrote on Truth Social that a bullet pierced his upper right ear and his campaign said He was “good”.
Amid rampant rumors and speculation, here are the facts as we know them now — and what we still need to learn to fully understand what happened at the rally.
what do we know
- The moment of the shooting was broadcast live on television and filmed by various people present: a burst of three shots followed by A burst of five shots. Trump is seen touching his ear and then has blood on his face; He was quickly swarmed by Secret Service agents and soon left the stage. here What TV viewers saw and heard.
- shot from a AR-style rifle At 6:15 p.m., shots were fired “from an elevated position outside the rally grounds,” after which the Secret Service shot and killed the gunman. statement from organization. The video shows On a nearby roof appears to be the gunman’s body.
- One person attending a Trump rally was killed and two others were seriously injured. On Sunday afternoon, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro identified the rally attendee who was killed as Corey Comparato, a father of two. Identify local news sources As a former fire chief.
- Trump himself was later brought to a local hospital for tests is released late saturday
- Trump hours after the shooting True social posts that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong because I heard a crack, a shot, and immediately the bullet was tearing through the skin. There was a lot of bleeding, so to understand I know what’s going on. God bless America!”
- The FBI has identified the attacker a statement As a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, Thomas Matthew Crooks, from Bethel Park, about an hour away from the Pennsylvania town of the rally. Crooks had Registered to vote as a RepublicanAlthough FEC records show a donation of $15 in his name On January 20, 2021, in the Progressive Voting Project, which supports Democratic voter turnout.
- Multiple major news outlets reported that Crooks was Possession of explosive devicesciting unnamed law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.
- President Joe Biden Briefly addressed the nation “This kind of violence has no place in America,” he said Saturday night. It’s sick. … We cannot accept it. Biden’s presidential campaign Ads have been temporarily pulled In the wake of the shooting, and Biden spoke with Trump on Saturday night, though details about that call were not released.
- Biden also said Sunday afternoon that he has ordered a full Secret Service review of security plans for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this week. At a news conference Sunday, the Secret Service said it does not believe the plans it already has for the RNC need to be changed.
- Biden plans to address the nation again Sunday night from the Oval Office.
- Although the motive of the attacker is not yet known, Several political allies of Trump Immediately tried to blame Democrats and the media, arguing that their criticism of Trump must have fueled the violence. “It was an assassination attempt that the far left and corporate media constantly called Trump a threat to democracy and aided and abetted.” By Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)..
which we do not know
- We don’t know the attacker’s motive.
- The identities of the other two spectators injured in the rally have not been released to the public.
- Although the Secret Service official overseeing RNC security addressed the public Sunday, the agency has yet to comment on why its security measures failed to prevent the shooter from apparently shooting the former president from a nearby rooftop.
