Evan Vucci
- Former President Donald Trump was wounded at a rally Saturday in what is being investigated as an assassination attempt.
- Trump was seen with blood on his face as he clutched his ear in front of the screaming crowd.
- Trump was whisked to safety by the Secret Service. President Joe Biden later spoke with the ex-president.
Former President Donald Trump was wounded during a Saturday campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in an incident that is being investigated as an attempted assassination.
Trump was speaking to supporters at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally when gunshots rang out, and he was subsequently seen with blood on his face. He was then seen defiantly raising his fist before being whisked off stage by Secret Service agents.
The Secret Service said in a statement that a suspected shooter opened fire toward the stage from an "elevated position" outside the venue where Trump was holding his rally.
A representative for the FBI confirmed to Business Insider early on Sunday that the shooting suspect is Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Kevin Rojek, a spokesperson for the FBI, in a press briefing shortly after midnight on Sunday morning, said the agency had deemed the incident an attempted assassination of the former president.
Rojek and other FBI officials said in a briefing on Sunday afternoon that they are also assessing the incident as a potential act of domestic terrorism.
"We are investigating this as an assassination attempt but also looking at it as a potential domestic terrorism act. So our counterterrorism division and our criminal divisions are working, working jointly together to determine the motive," said Robert Wells, the Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division.
A bystander at the rally died in the shooting, the Secret Service said, while two others were critically injured. The Secret Service said its agents killed the gunman.
The victim killed at the rally was identified as Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company in Pennsylvania.
In a Truth Social message posted several hours after the shooting, Trump thanked the Secret Service "and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania."
"Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead."
Trump wrote that he was shot with "a bullet that pierced the upper part of my 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," Trump wrote. "Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
A Trump spokesperson called the shooting a "heinous act" but said the former president and presumptive GOP nominee was "fine."
NBC News correspondent Darren Botelho reported security at the event could be heard saying, "The shooter is down," following the incident.
David McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, had been seated in the front row of the rally and told Politico it appeared a member of the crowd behind him had been shot.
"All the sudden shots started to crack, someone behind me appears to have been shot," McCormick told Politico. "There's lots of blood, and then the Secret Service were all over President Trump."
Politicians from across the ideological spectrum were quick to condemn political violence and wish Trump a speedy recovery.
Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images
In a statement issued following the shooting, President Joe Biden said he was "grateful to hear" that Trump is safe and doing well.
"I'm praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally as we await further information," Biden's statement continued. "Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."
Biden later addressed the nation, saying the shooting was "sick" and calling on Americans to stop political violence.
"It's one of the reasons we have to unite this country," Biden said. "We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this."
The Biden campaign later said it was pulling down TV ads in the wake of the shooting. The president spoke directly with Trump on Saturday, later adding that he had a "short but good conversation" with the former president.
Biden is set to address the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana vowed in a post on X that the House would probe the "tragic events" that occurred at the rally.
"The American people deserve to know the truth," Johnson wrote. "We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP."
Johnson also weighed in on the shooting during a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Today," denouncing political violence and urging leaders to help "turn the rhetoric down" in the US.
"We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward and maintain our free society that we all are blessed to have," he said.
With the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee set to begin this week, the GOP over the past few days had been largely focused on the event as a showcase for their party. Trump so far has not changed his plans regarding his appearances at the convention.
But the shooting incident threatens to upend an already tumultuous presidential contest with the general election now less than four months away.