Donald Trump shot in right ear at campaign rally, shooter dead

Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally, causing blood to streak across his face. His security agents quickly surrounded him, but he emerged shortly after, pumping his fist in the air and appearing to mouth the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The shooter was dead, one rally attendee was killed, and two other spectators were injured, the Secret Service said in a statement. The incident is being investigated as an assassination attempt, a source told Reuters.

Trump, 78, had just started his speech when the shots were fired. He grabbed his right ear with his right hand, looked at his hand, and then dropped to his knees behind the podium before Secret Service agents swarmed and covered him. He emerged about a minute later, his red “Make America Great Again” hat knocked off, and could be heard saying “wait, wait,” before agents ushered him into a vehicle.

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform following the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh. “Much bleeding took place.”

The shooter’s identity and motive were not immediately clear. Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence.

The Trump campaign said he was “doing well.”

The shooting occurred less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls, including those by Reuters/Ipsos, show the two locked in a close contest.

Biden said in a statement: “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”

Republican U.S. Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas told Fox News his nephew had been wounded at the rally.

“He was grazed in the neck. A bullet crossed his neck, cut his neck and he was bleeding,” Jackson said.