(HorizonPost.com) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening after a man with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire on the former president, killing one Trump supporter and wounding another.
The 20-year-old assassin, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
The former president was addressing the crowd when he suddenly reached up to touch his ear and dropped to the ground as the sound of cracks was heard. Secret Service agents quickly rushed in to surround Trump before removing him from the stage.
As he was being hustled away, Trump, his face smeared with blood, raised his fist in the air, signaling to the terrified crowd that he was unharmed.
The former president later said that the bullet hit the upper part of his ear.
According to Trump, he heard “a whizzing sound” along with a gunshot and immediately felt the bullet rip through his ear.
The Secret Service later confirmed that the former president was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released.
FBI officials said the gunman was likely a lone actor but the investigation into the shooting continues.
Crook had positioned himself on the roof of a building outside of the security perimeter surrounding the rally area, roughly 400 feet away from the stage where Trump was speaking.
Several Trump supporters who attended the rally told reporters that they spotted the gunman as he was making his way to the roof and alerted law enforcement.
Killed in the shooting was Pennsylvania resident Corey Comperatore, a firefighter from Buffalo Township in Butler County.
In a press conference on Sunday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro described Comperatore as “the very best of us.” Shapiro said he died while protecting his wife and daughter from the gunfire.
Trump initially planned to delay his trip to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention but later changed his mind.
The former president, who arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday, said in a post on Truth Social that he would not allow a potential assassin to force him to change his scheduling “or anything else.”
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