Ouagadougou: Former US President Donald Trump, injured in the ear, escaped an assassination attempt on Saturday during a meeting of a now-disrupted electoral campaign. Donald Trump, aged 78, was evacuated on bloodied face, after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania (north-east). Before officers led him to a large black vehicle, he raised a fist at the crowd in defiance.

The shooter and a bystander were killed and two bystanders were seriously injured, all adult men, according to police.

The FBI identified the shooter as ‘Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania,’ according to a statement cited by NBC and CBS television.

‘I was hit by a bullet that pierced the top of my right ear,’ Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Democratic President Joe Biden, who faces Donald Trump in the November election, said he was relieved to learn that the Republican was apparently in good health while condemning “such violence”. Joe Biden spoke with Donald Trump, the White House said.

Unverified foo
tage shows the body of the alleged attacker lying on the sloping roof of a low building from which he fired, sparking terror and panic among onlookers.

During a press conference on Saturday evening, the FBI confirmed that the shootings were indeed an ‘assassination attempt’.

Multiple witnesses said they saw the shooter before the shooting and alerted Butler police, who said they “responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity,” without providing further details.

– ‘Let me take my shoes’ –

This meeting in Butler, Pennsylvania (northeast), was the last before the Republican convention which begins Monday in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and at the end of which Donald Trump must be officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.

His campaign team confirmed on Saturday evening that the ex-president intends to go there after undergoing a medical examination at the hospital as a precaution.

He was seen getting off his plane unassisted, a few hours after escaping the assassination atte
mpt, according to a video posted on social media by his deputy communications director.

The Republican candidate, who had just started his speech with one of his usual tirades on migrants, accusing Joe Biden of having let them enter the country en masse, was immediately tackled to the ground by Secret Service agents.

In the audience, cries of fear erupted, spectators threw themselves to the ground. After a few moments, Donald Trump stood up, his hair disheveled and without his red cap, surrounded by the agents. ‘Let me get my shoes,’ he was heard telling them.

He was then escorted from the stage to his car, repeatedly raising his fist in the air in defiance, as his supporters cheered.

‘It is incredible that such an act could take place in our country,’ Donald Trump declared on Truth in the hours that followed, at the risk of further inflaming political rivalries.

‘I immediately knew something was wrong because I heard a whistle, gunshots, and I immediately felt the bullet tearing the skin,’ he detailed.

‘
I realized at that moment what was happening.

The US Secret Service said in a statement that the suspected shooter had ‘fired several shots towards the scene from an elevated position (located) outside the gathering’ before being ‘neutralized’ by the agents.

– ‘International shock wave’ –

The attack sent shock waves across the planet, with the leaders of Britain, Israel, Japan and many other countries expressing outrage.

Joe Biden cut short a stay at his Delaware beach house to return to Washington. He will receive updated information from security services on Sunday morning, the White House said.

The assassination attempt has already reignited political tensions and right-wing conspiracy theories have flooded social media.

Senator JD Vance, one of Donald Trump’s putative running mates, claimed that Joe Biden’s “rhetoric” had “directly led” to the attack on Donald Trump.

The consequences of this event on the campaign could be immense.

In recent days, attention has focused on doubts about the physical
and mental state of Joe Biden, 81, and his ability to confront Donald Trump since their debate on June 27, marked by the disastrous performance of the Democratic candidate. Around twenty parliamentarians are now calling on him to step down.

The person himself repeated Friday in Michigan (north) that he remained in the race.

He also received strong support on Saturday from the figure of the American left Bernie Sanders who, in a column in the New York Times, called on the Democrats ‘to stop the bickering and nitpicking’.

Source: Burkina Information Agency