Alakshendra Singh, Pune
While addressing the crowd in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump got injured as a bullet hit his ear. The 20-year-old suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, has been neutralised. Trump was scheduled to go to Milwaukee for a political event but his plans are currently uncertain as he has returned to his home in New Jersey.
Law enforcement officials revealed that the guy was firing an AR-style rifle from 200 to 300 feet away. The officials further elaborated that the gunman was perched atop a shed beyond the protective perimeter established by the Secret Service.
Within seconds of the shooting, US secret service agents swarmed the former president to ensure his safety. He was then rushed to Butler memorial Hospital in his motorcade.
According to a viral video of the shooting, Trump went down with the shots and came back up with his fist in the air. One audience member has been killed and two are severely injured. Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected shooter, was almost instantaneously killed.
US federal agents, bomb squad and local PD have swarmed the shooter’s house. His motives are still unknown.
Lawmakers are concerned about possible security failings that may have preceded the shooting. Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, said the US House will look into the event. While in Delaware, Biden made statements denouncing the shooting and referring to it as, “sick.”
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh office, stated during a late-night news conference on Saturday night that officials are looking into the shooting as a potential “assassination” but he would not comment on a potential motive. The FBI is in charge of the investigation with support from state and local agencies as well as the Secret Service.
China’s foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that president XI Jinping sends his regards to Donald Trump. German chancellor Olaf Scholz has also commented that an attack like this is an attack on democracy.
Many US presidents have been the victim of assassination attempts. 4 different US presidents have been assassinated including John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. Trump is the first president to be injured in 43 years after Ronald Raegan’s failed assassination in 1981.
Trump has already authorised a GoFundMe page for the victims of the shooting.