By Hannah Lynn, World News Editor
On Saturday, Jul. 13, many Americans were left in shock as they witnessed an assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump live on video.
This assassination attempt occurred at a rally in Butler, PA, where he was campaigning in front of a group of supporters for the 2024 election season.
According to a CNN Article, the shooting took place at the start of the rally, with Trump getting in a full 6 minutes of speaking to his supporters before the crowd erupted in a panic when the shooter took his first shot at 6:11 P.M.
Once it was apparent that a shooting was taking place, Secret Service officers rushed to protect Trump and remove him from the stage. As Secret Service members were trying to rush him off stage, Trump took the opportunity to show his supporters that he was alright by lifting his fist in the air and shouting “fight, fight, fight.”
It quickly became known once he stood and faced the crowd that he was injured, and it appeared that he was shot near his face, as there was blood near his ear.
Secret Service officers were able to identify where the shooter was firing from, and the shooter was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene.
Soon after, officials were able to identify the shooter. According to NBC News, the shooter was identified to be 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a PA native. While there is no clear motive identified at the moment, it is known that he was a registered Republican, but has donated to Progressive Turnout Project, a more Democratic project, in the past.
It was also apparent once the situation deescalated, according to the same NBC News article, that the bullets meant for Trump critically injured two spectators and killed another, who was later identified as 50-year-old Corey Comperatore.
Once events were confirmed to officials, Trump received many well wishes from people such as former president Barack Obama, along with the current President and 2024 presidential candidate Joe Biden, who wrote via an “X” post, “I am grateful to hear that he is safe and doing well. I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally.”
With the Republican National Convention taking place a couple of days later on Monday, Jul. 15, many people were wondering if he would be able to make the convention given the recent traumatic event.
Through much decision-making regarding his attendance at the Republican National Convention, Trump made a post via a social media platform he created, Truth Social, “I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else.”
According to the USA Today Article, this was the first assassination attempt that caused harm to a presidential candidate since Ronald Regan, which took place on March 30, 1981.
President Biden said via an “X” post in reflection of this event, “There’s no place in America for political violence. No Exceptions. We cannot allow this kind of violence to be normalized.”
