Former US president Donald Trump called on Americans on Sunday to unite after he was injured in an assassination attempt, a dark new chapter in the presidential race that set an already polarised nation on edge.
The 78-year-old former president was hit in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, while the shooter and a bystander were killed and two spectators critically injured in the worst act of US political violence in decades.
With the country reeling from scenes of a bloodied Trump being rushed away by Secret Service agents, reports emerged that the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, also had explosives in his car.
“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united,” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social network, adding that Americans should not allow “Evil to win”. The Republican added that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening” and that he would “FEAR NOT.”
Trump’s wife Melania said the gunman was a “monster”, who had attempted to silence her husband’s “laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration”. President Joe Biden has already condemned the attack as “sick” and spoke to Trump afterwards.
Questions are swirling about the motive of shooter Crooks, whose body was seen in television images on a low roof of a building, near a weapon understood to have been an AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle. Investigators had found explosive material in his car parked near the scene, US media said
The FBI also searched the house of the shooter, reportedly a registered Republican and believed to be working alone. His father Matthew Crooks told CNN that he was trying to establish “what the hell is going on”.
The shooter had an account on the secure internet server Discord but a spokesman said it was “rarely utilised and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident, promote violence, or discuss his political views”.
The incident also drew criticism of security at the rally, particularly about how a presidential candidate could be targeted around 150 meters away, despite a huge Secret Service detail. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi rejected claims that it had refused additional protection for Trump.
Trump clutched his ear and fell to the ground after shots rang out at the rally on Saturday, his last appearance before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Secret Service agents surrounded him then bundled the former president off stage with blood streaked across his ear and face.
Trump said that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” and heard a “whizzing sound”. His narrow escape has sparked conspiracy theories and fingerpointing by Republicans.
Possible Trump vice presidential pick JD Vance claimed Biden’s campaign “rhetoric” had “led directly” to the attack. US politics have become increasingly hostile, with Trump building his image around inflammatory verbal assaults, and many Democrats expressing fury and disgust at Trump’s rise.
The spectator who died was named as Corey Comperatore. “The hatred for one man took the life of the one man we all love the most,” his sister told US media. “We watched him die on the news.”
Following the incident, President Joe Biden postponed a scheduled trip to the southern state of Texas, the White House said. “The President is rescheduling his trip to Texas, which was originally planned for Monday, July 15,” the White House statement said.
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