Former United States President Donald Trump was rushed off stage after gunshots erupted at a rally in Pennsylvania in an apparent assassination attempt, reported <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1d31jeyzlo">BBC</a>.
Video footage showed Trump grimacing and raising a hand to his right ear, before ducking as a series of shots broke out.
He was quickly swarmed by US Secret Service agents and dragged off stage to a waiting vehicle. Trump raised a fist as he was bundled into the car.
Later, in a post to his Truth Social network, Trump said a bullet pierced the “upper part” of his right ear. He wrote:
<blockquote>
I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.
</blockquote>
Blood was visible on Trump’s ear and face as US Secret Service agents rushed him away.
US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the suspect was shot dead at the scene. He added that one bystander was killed in the shooting and two others were critically injured.
Law enforcement sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the male attacker had been armed with a rifle and had fired from an elevated structure a few hundred metres away outside the venue.
FBI agents, who are leading the investigation, told reporters in Butler that they had “tentatively identified” the dead gunman, but were yet to establish a motive.
Special Agent Kevin Rojek confirmed the agency was treating the shooting as an assassination attempt.
He added that the suspect was not carrying ID and that investigators were using DNA in an attempt to formally identify him.
Trump, who is the Republican candidate for president had just started addressing his supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania when the shots started.
Several supporters holding placards and standing behind Trump ducked as the shots were heard.
Witnesses who spoke to the BBC claimed the gunshots may have come from a one-storey building to the right of the stage where Trump was speaking.
One of the bystanders, identified as Greg, told the BBC that he had spotted a suspicious-looking person “bear crawling” on the roof of the building about five minutes after Trump took to the stage. He said he pointed the person out to the police. Said Greg:
<blockquote>
He had a rifle, we could clearly see him with a rifle. We’re pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground – we’re like “hey man there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle” and the police did not know what was going on.
</blockquote>
Tim, who was also at the rally, told the BBC that he had heard a “barrage” of shots. He said:
<blockquote>
There was a spray which we initially thought was a fire hose, and then the speaker on the right-hand side started coming down.
Something must have hit the hydraulic lines [which caused it to fall]. We saw President Trump go to the ground and everyone started dropping to the ground because it was chaos.
</blockquote>
Speaking from his home state of Delaware, United States President Joe Biden condemned the attack, calling it “sick”. He said:
<blockquote>
There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. Everybody must condemn it.
</blockquote>
The White House later said President Biden had spoken with Trump before returning to Washington DC.
Trump is locked in a tight contest with President Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in a re-match of the 2020 election.
The next United States presidential election is set to be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Trump was set to accept his party’s nomination for president at the convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
Some Republicans blamed President Biden over the shooting, accusing him of stoking fears about Trump’s potential return to office.
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Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. Gunshots rang out, and he was quickly taken off stage by Secret Service agents. Trump later said a bullet hit his ear. The attacker was shot dead and one bystander was killed. The FBI is investigating. President Biden condemned the attack. Some blamed him for stoking fear about Trump's return. The next election is in 2024. Trump was about to accept his party's nomination for president. It was a scary and chaotic situation.

Donald Trump Survives Assassination Attempt At Rally

The Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is in a stable but serious condition after being shot several times on Wednesday.
Earlier Fico (59), was said to have been fighting for his life after being shot in the small town of Handlova.
Addressing a press conference, Miriam Lapunikova, director of the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Fico was admitted, said he was currently in an intensive care unit after five hours in surgery, reported <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-69019121">BBC News</a>.
Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC that Fico’s surgery had gone “well” and “I guess that at the end he will survive”.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estoka described the attack as a politically motivated assassination attempt.
Fico is said to be a divisive figure at home and controversial in the EU after he called for an end to military aid to Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.
The gunman, who was detained at the scene of the shooting, was in a small crowd of Fico supporters who were gathered outside a cultural centre in Handlova, where the prime minister had been holding a meeting.
The shooting took Fico’s security officers completely by surprise. Footage shows the prime minister after he was shot being carried by several officers, who bundle him into a car and drive him away from the scene.
The gunman fired five shots at close range and Fico was hit in the stomach and in the arm.
Fico was rushed to the hospital in an air ambulance and spent five hours in surgery, conducted by surgical and trauma teams.
Later on Wednesday, the Deputy Prime Minister told the BBC’s Newshour programme that Fico was “not in [a] life-threatening situation at this moment”.
He added the Prime Minister was shot “from very close” and that “one bullet went through the stomach and the second one hit the joint”.
Police have not yet identified the alleged suspect but unconfirmed local media reports say he was a 71-year-old writer and political activist.
The shooting came on the day parliament began discussing the government’s proposal to abolish Slovakia’s public broadcaster RTVS.
Thousands of Slovaks have protested against the proposed reform of the public broadcaster in recent weeks.
Interior Minister Estok accused the media of contributing to the climate that led to the Prime Minister’s shooting, adding that he believed “this assassination [attempt] was politically motivated”.
Slovakia’s outgoing President Zuzana Caputova said something “so serious had happened that we can’t even realise it yet”, in response to the news of the attack.
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