In an incident that has shocked the world, former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear while addressing supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
It is the first assassination attempt on a presidential candidate since the shooting of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
The chaos unfolded just six minutes into Trump’s speech in Butler when he suddenly stopped speaking, clutched his face, and dropped to the ground amid loud bangs, sending the crowd into a panic.
Dramatic footage from the scene shows the 78-year-old being swiftly protected by Secret Service agents as he grasped his right ear and crouched behind the lectern. Blood could be seen streaming from his ear as additional shots were fired to “neutralise” the attacker.
One spectator was killed and two others critically wounded during the incident.
The shooter
The shooter has now been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. He is believed to have been shot by law enforcement officers while he was positioned on a rooftop over 130 yards away.
He has been labelled a “lone wolf” while the FBI continues its thorough investigation to determine his motives and background.
It is believed that the alleged attacker used an AR-style rifle to target Trump, which was subsequently recovered by officers after he himself was shot down. The assailant, Crooks, hailed from Bethel Park – a small village in Pennsylvania roughly 40 miles south from the location of the Butler rally.
Based on state voting records, Crooks was a registered Republican voter.
On Sunday morning, the FBI formally identified Crooks as the individual involved in the attack.
Information gathered suggests that he was positioned on the rooftop of a factory, close to where Trump was delivering his speech to the crowd in Butler.
Current President, Joe Biden, denounced the terrifying attack as “sick”, telling Bloomberg: “We cannot be like this, we can not condone this. Everybody must condemn it.”
Biden also cut his weekend trip to Rehoboth Beach short and returned to the White House, where he had a conversation with Trump.