Former President Donald Trump was injured at a campaign rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, in an incident that is being investigated as attempted murder.
The Secret Service said in a statement that a suspected shooter opened fire toward the stage from an “elevated position” outside where Trump was holding his rally.
An FBI representative confirmed to Business Insider on Sunday morning that the shooting suspect is Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Kevin Rojek, an FBI spokesman, said at a news conference shortly after midnight Sunday morning that the agency was treating the incident as an attempted assassination of the former president.
One spectator at the parade was killed in the shooting, the Secret Service said, while two others were critically injured. The Secret Service said its agents killed the gunman.
The victim who died in the demonstration 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 hours after the shooting, Trump thanked the Secret Service “and all Law Enforcement, for their swift response to the shooting that just occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
“Most importantly, I want to express my condolences to the family of the person who was killed in the protest, as well as to the families of the others who were seriously injured. It is unconscionable that such an act could happen in our country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who has now passed away.”
Trump wrote that he was shot with “a bullet that went through the top of my right ear.”
“I knew right away something was wrong because I heard a whoosh, a gunshot, and immediately felt the bullet pierce my skin,” Trump wrote. “There was a lot of bleeding, so I realized what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
A Trump spokesman called the shooting a “heinous act” but said the former president and Republican presidential nominee was “doing well.”
NBC News correspondent Darren Botelho reported that security officers at the event were heard saying, “The shooter is down,” after the incident.
David McCormick, a Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, sat in the front row of the demonstration and told Politico that it appeared a member of the crowd behind him had been shot.
“All of a sudden there were gunshots, someone behind me apparently got shot,” McCormick told Politico. “There was a lot of blood, and then the Secret Service attacked President Trump.”
Politicians across the ideological spectrum were quick to condemn the political violence and wish Trump a speedy recovery.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called on parties to “lower the temperature” following the shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images
In a statement issued after the shooting, President Joe Biden said he was “grateful to hear” that Trump was safe and well.
“I am praying for him and his family and everyone who was at the rally as we await more information,” Biden’s statement continued. “Jill and I thank the Secret Service for rescuing him. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. We must come together as a nation to condemn it.”
Biden later addressed the nation, calling the shooting “abhorrent” and calling on Americans to stop political violence.
“That’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country,” Biden said. “We can’t let this happen. We can’t have this. We can’t condone this.”
Biden’s campaign later said it would pull TV ads after the shooting. The president spoke directly with Trump on Saturday, later adding that he had a “brief but good conversation” with the former president.
Biden will address the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana promised in a post on X that the House would investigate the “tragic events” that occurred at the rally.
“The American people deserve to know the truth,” Johnson wrote. “We will ask Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other relevant officials from DHS and the FBI to appear before our committees as soon as possible.”
Johnson also responded to the shooting during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Sunday, condemning political violence and urging leaders to help “tone down the rhetoric” in the U.S.
“We need leaders from all parties, on both sides, to call for that and make sure that happens so that we can move forward and maintain the free society that we are all fortunate to have,” he said.
With the Republican National Convention kicking off in Milwaukee this week, the GOP has largely focused on the event as a showcase for their party in recent days. Trump has so far not changed his plans for his appearance at the convention.
But the shooting threatens to end an already tumultuous presidential contest with the general election now less than four months away.
