Donald Trump said he was shot in the right ear during the horrific assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally and knew something was wrong when he heard a “whooshing” sound.
The former president said in a statement from the hospital just hours after the terrifying scene that he immediately felt the bullet “tore through his skin.”
The 77-year-old was dragged off stage by the Secret Service, his face covered in blood, before yelling “fight, fight, fight” as gunfire rang out in front of thousands of MAGA fans.
The gunman and a crowd member were killed and two others were taken to hospital in critical condition after the shooting at 6:15 p.m. Saturday night.
The suspect fired at least eight shots from outside the gathering’s security zone after witnesses said a man was seen crawling across a roof with a gun.
“I was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew something was wrong because I heard a whooshing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet tear through my skin. There was a lot of bleeding, so that’s when I realized what was happening,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social account.
Donald Trump said he was shot in his right ear at his rally
Trump was rushed to the hospital after gunshots were heard at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one spectator.
Photos show the former president holding his ear as shots ring out, with blood seen trickling down his face.
The shots rang out shortly after Trump began addressing the crowd in the crucial state.
In the moments after the shooting, screaming voices could be heard as Secret Service agents pushed Trump to the ground and covered him.
The 45th president was found to have blood coming from his ear.
Seconds later, the bloodied lawmaker raised his fist to signal he was okay as Secret Service agents surrounded him before being led away.
In his statement, Trump thanked the Secret Service and offered his condolences to the family of the person killed at the meeting.
The gunman who shot Trump at least eight times, wounding him, is dead. A rally attendee was also killed in Saturday’s horrific carnage.
“I want to express my condolences to the family of the person who was killed at the Rally, and also to the family of another person who was seriously injured. It is unbelievable that something like this could happen in our country. There is no information at this time about the shooter, who is now dead,” Trump said.
Officials said the incident was being investigated as an attempted murder.
Trump was halfway through his sentence, saying, “Look what happened,” when shots rang out shortly before 6 p.m. ET. Terrified screams filled the air as he and bystanders dove to the ground.
An extraordinary photo shows Donald Trump on the ground at Butler Show Grounds in Pennsylvania on Saturday after he was injured in a shooting that left two people dead
Donald Trump is seen with his fist in the air beneath a Stars and Stripes flag after Saturday’s shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, which left the president injured and the shooter and a bystander both killed.
Bystanders are seen after the shooting. The man in the blood-stained white T-shirt is an ER doctor who told CBS News he was trying to help a bystander who was killed in the shooting. The dead bystander was on the ground, just behind the man in the blood-stained white T-shirt.
Dramatic footage seen around the world showed popping sounds as the 2024 presidential candidate took to the stage to address a large crowd of supporters.
Trump was seen ducking as shouts rang out and fans in MAGA shirts stood behind him and threw themselves to the ground.
Secret Service agents rushed to the stage to protect the president, eventually leading him off the stage and into his motorcade.
Trump was also heard repeatedly asking, “Let me just get my shoes.”
It took two minutes from the moment the first shot was fired before Trump was put into a waiting SUV.
The attack, carried out by a gunman who law enforcement officials say was subsequently killed by the Secret Service, was the first attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The Secret Service’s anti-sniper team took out the shooter, who they said was outside the show grounds, several hundred yards from the stage.
“During former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on the evening of July 13 at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected gunman fired multiple shots into the stage from an elevated position outside the rally venue. U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralized the gunman, who has since died,” U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
Blood can be seen coming from Donald Trump’s ear, where he says he was shot
The location of the Trump rally at the Butler County Show Grounds is pictured before Trump took the stage. The president spoke onstage just below a raised American flag with a crowd behind him.
President Biden is seen addressing reporters after Saturday’s shooting. He called the incident “sickening” and said he was “grateful” to hear the former president was “safe and doing well”
Both Trump’s allies and Democratic opponents condemned the incident.
President Joe Biden said there is no place for “sick” political violence in America and said he was grateful that Trump is safe.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick,” he said.
“It’s one of the reasons we need to unite this country.”
The president said he was trying to reach Trump.
