Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is helped off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Two dead, two critically injured after gunfire abruptly ends Trump rally in Butler County
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Oliver Morrison/WESA -
Chris Potter/WESA
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is helped off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Donald Trump’s rally in Butler County came to a shocking end Saturday when shots were fired at Trump in front of thousands of supporters a few minutes into his speech at the Farm Show grounds.
The former president was “fine” after the shooting at 6:11 p.m., according to a campaign spokesman. But Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger told The Associated Press that the suspected gunman was dead and at least one rallygoer was killed during the gunfire. At least two other people were critically injured and were being treated Saturday night at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, according to a hospital spokesperson.
“A suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement late Saturday. “U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased.”
Trump was whisked from the rally stage after the shooting and was examined at a hospital, according to the campaign statement, which added: “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act.”
Later Saturday night, Trump posted on his Truth Social media site that a bullet “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,” he said in the post. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
In his post, Trump thanked the Secret Service and other law enforcement officers “for their rapid response” to the shooting. He also extended condolences to the family of the person who was shot to death and the wounded victims, adding: “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our country.”
FBI investigators were on the scene Saturday night and were working jointly with the Secret Service to investigate the shooting, FBI spokesman Bradford Arick said. Pennsylvania State Police also were on the scene, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Trump was a little more than six minutes into his speech, decrying President Joe Biden’s record on immigration, when the shots rang out. The former president was showing a graphic about immigration trends on a big screen and then said the data was old.
“If you want to really see something that’s sad, take a look at what happened — oh,” Trump said. He then appeared to reach toward his right ear as if stung, while a cluster of three shots could be heard.
About two seconds later, another cluster of shots were audible. Secret Service agents ran to protect Trump, who could be seen briefly pumping his first but seemingly had a smear of blood on his face.
“I heard the gunshots, I saw Trump go down,” said rallygoer Mark McEvoy of Weirton, West Virginia. “But then he got back up. … What I saw was he got up and he raised his hand. A lot of people were ducking.”
U.S. Secret Service agents respond as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded on stage by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
McAvoy and other witnesses said they heard between eight and 10 shots. It was not immediately clear who fired them, or from where, as eyewitness accounts differed.
“Somebody had a small-caliber gun on this side of the bleachers, on the left side, [and ] shot what looked like at Trump but missed and hit somebody on the right side of the bleachers, maybe two people … He might have gotten hit, I don’t know,” said John Myers of Karns City in Butler County. “It looked like there was a little bit of blood on the stage, but they had him hunkered down pretty good.
“I was sitting right behind President Trump, and the first one that popped — I thought that somebody got a firecracker in here … that’s all it sounded like, was a small-caliber firecracker,” Myers added. “But then, chaos started happening on the right side [and] then the secret service jumped in and … got Trump down… [It’s] Very sad. They had a lot of security, so I don’t know how they got that weapon in.”
Rick Ivanisin of Butler said he saw at least one law enforcement sniper return fire from atop a metal building near the rally stage.
“The guys up on the roof over there, on that metal building — he kept looking with binoculars … towards that water tower,” before mounting his weapon on a tripod and returning fire, Ivanisin said. “The shots came from over there [and] hit the people on the stage” as well as a structure that held up large speakers to amplify the speech.
Police snipers return fire after shots were fired while Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump was speaking at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
When people in the crowd realized what was happening, “They were mad,’” he added “We just come here to have a good time, and they ruined it.”
Minutes after the shooting, other members of the crowd could be heard shouting angrily. “You wanted political violence, now you got it,” one attendee said.
“This is the America you want,” said another. “You’re going to get it.”
The White House said President Biden had “received an initial briefing on the incident at former President Trump’s rally,” and Biden himself later posted on social media that he was “grateful to hear that [Trump was] 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 said in a tweet. “[First Lady] 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.
A campaign rally site for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is empty and littered with debris Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Earlier in the evening, Jill Biden was in Pittsburgh to speak at an Italian Sons and Daughters of America dinner at Rivers Casino.
Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro, in a statement on social media, also said he had been briefed on the shooting and that Pennsylvania State Police troopers were working with federal and other state law enforcement officers at the rally site.
“Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” the governor added. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States.”
In a tweet, Allegheny County Republican Committee chair Sam DeMarco also condemned the violence, calling it a “haunting reminder of how extreme rhetoric and political hatred, can rob a nation of its civility and shared purpose.”
“The incident in Butler County has made a few things clear. First, Donald Trump is a fighter who left the stage reluctantly and will come back stronger and even more prepared to fight to make America great … I hope this will remind Mr. Trump’s haters that words matter.”
The incident disrupted what had drawn enthusiastic crowds earlier in the day to the Butler County Farm Show grounds to Trump speak — a visit that comes just days before Republicans hold their national convention next week.
It was Trump’s first Western Pennsylvania stop in the 2024 campaign, and supporters drove in from all around the region so as not to miss it.
Donald Schamus said he was attending his first Trump rally because he didn’t think Trump would return to the area this year. His 24-year-old son Ronnie said he drove from Pleasant Hills to support a candidate who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. Nobody wears a Biden shirt, Ronnie Schamus said, unless it’s derogatory.
Democrats have “tried whatever they possibly can” to stop Trump, he said, “by removing him off the ballot, sending him to court, trying to throw him in jail, because they’re scared, because they know the revolution that’s coming.”
Similar themes were sounded from the stage as a series of speakers addressed the crowd before Trump’s appearance, which is expected to take place after 5 p.m.
“Can you feel the tide turning?” asked Sean Parnell, a former U.S. Senate candidate and conservative media personality. “We are on the verge of taking back our country from the Biden crime family and the rest of the corrupt Democrats who are destroying America.”
Parnell denounced Biden for a range of sins, ranging from “the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan — we surrendered there” to crime rates: “Our community is less safe because of Soros-funded prosecutors made possible by the Biden crime family,” said Parnell. (District attorneys are elected locally.)
Parnell offered a familiar litany of conservative complaints about the purported use of “lawfare” and impeachment proceedings to thwart the president. And he added a new charge: That talk within Democratic circles about replacing Biden as the nominee after a disastrous debate performance in late June amounted to “rigging their own elections.”
“They’re trying to remove their candidate from the ballot because he’s getting destroyed,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, in whose district the rally took place, said prior to Trump’s speech that when the campaign told him about its travel plans, “I said, ‘How many people are you expecting?’ They said, ‘Six to seven thousand.’ I said, ‘You’ve never been here.’
“This election is about America’s last chance,” Kelly added then. “We cannot endure another four years of what we’ve gone through. The ‘Hate America’ group has got to go into retirement.”
After the shooting, Kelly posted on Facebook that, while he and his family were safe, “We are praying for Mr. Trump and everyone involved. We will not tolerate this attack from the left. Thank you to law enforcement and first responders for their quick action.”
Julia Zenkevich of WESA contributed to this report.
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