Former President Donald Trump sustained minor injuries after being shot at during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday (July 13). Shots rang out while the ex-Commander in Chief was delivering remarks before the crowd gathered at the Butler Farm Show Grounds.
Video captured him reaching for his right ear as he dove to the ground. Secret Service agents were also observed hastily running to cover him. Soon after, Trump stood to his feet and raised his fist into the air as he bled from the minor wound.
In a post shared on Truth Social, the platform he launched after being banned from both Facebook and Twitter, Trump stated he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear” and that he “felt the bullet ripping through the skin.” The FBI identified the suspected shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, a registered Republican voter. He was killed by Secret Service agents who found him perched on the roof of a nearby building. One attendee was killed, and two others were critically injured during the shooting.
The last attempted assassination that left a president injured occurred on March 30, 1981, when newly elected Ronald Reagan was shot after a speaking engagement at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. He underwent emergency surgery and spent 12 days in the hospital before returning to the White House.
Moments after news broke of Trump being targeted, both President Biden and former President Barack Obama swiftly condemned the act.
“There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy,” Obama tweeted. “Although we don’t yet know exactly what happened, we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn’t seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics,” he added.
President Biden’s sentiments echoed those of his predecessor, expressing gratitude to learn his Republican opponent was safe and well following the shooting. “There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” Biden wrote in a statement shared on Twitter.
The public expressed an array of reactions across social media. Some people leaned into comedy, making light of the incident. Others questioned if the shooting was staged, pointing out Trump’s non-frenzied actions immediately after the gunfire. And then there is the outpour of those reminded of the children who have been injured and killed when gunmen opened fire on campuses across the nation.
In February 2024, Trump spoke at the National Rifle Association’s Presidential Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he vowed to undo all gun reform efforts posed by the Biden administration. “Every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated on my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day,” Trump told attendees, as reported by Politico.
A month prior to his gun law remarks, 17-year-old Dylan Butler used a pump action shotgun and pistol to carry out a mass shooting at Perry High School in Perry, Iowa. Among his victims was a sixth grader who was fatally wounded and five others who suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Butler turned the gun on himself before authorities reached him.
Three days after the tragedy, Trump held a rally where he told supporters, “It’s just horrible, so surprising to see it here. But have to get over it, we have to move forward.”
The callous commentary resurfaced in tweets posted after his near brush with death. "If you keep talking about the assassination attempt, don’t you dare tell the kids who survive school shootings and their families to ‘Just get over it.’ What happened today is unacceptable, and what happens every day to kids who aren’t the president and don’t survive isn’t either,” one user wrote.
“You know WHO really didn’t deserve to get shot? The hundreds of children killed and injured in school shootings,” another individual tweeted. “Trump survived, but 40,000 Americans every year don't. As of March 2023, the NRA has donated $27,413,008 to 'pro-gun' members of the US Congress. Bullets don't have names or party affiliations. This isn't a 'left' issue. America's gun problem came knocking on your door today,” a third person commented.
The New York businessman announced his re-election campaign in November 2022 and Biden followed suit in April 2023. Trump held the Oval Office for four years after defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
His efforts to secure a second term were upset by Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In May, the former reality TV personality was found guilty of 34 felony convictions in connection to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. He remains under investigation for his alleged role in inciting the insurrection in the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021.