Donald Trump literally dodged a bullet. Trump, 78, had just begun his speech at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday when gunfire broke out, with a bullet grazed his ear.
Several video clips showed how Trump was attacked and covered by his Secret Service agents moments after the shooting. But now, a slow-motion video shows how a simple head tilt saved Trump from the assassination attempt. It shows Trump tilting his head seconds before the shots were fired.
Slow-motion footage shows Trump flinching as the bullet grazes his ear. pic.twitter.com/zNHPoRazzS
— David Gokhshtein (@davidgokhshtein) July 14, 2024
Another video showed the moments backstage just before and after the shooting. Two agents standing backstage were seen running to save the former president.
Another new video of the backstage moments before and after shots were fired at Trump’s rally. pic.twitter.com/eO8njBARhH
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) July 14, 2024
He grabbed his right ear and brought his hand down to look at her before kneeling behind the podium. He came out about a minute later, his face covered in blood. Fight! Fight! Fight!” he said, pumping his fist in the air.
The Secret Service said one person at the rally was killed and two other spectators were seriously injured.
The attack will likely reshape this year’s US presidential race, and raise sharp questions about the security provided to the Republican candidate.
Trump left the Butler area under Secret Service protection and later arrived at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
The Trump campaign said he was “doing well” and had no major injuries other than a laceration to the top of his right ear.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, has been identified by the FBI as the man involved in the “attempted assassination”. According to state voter records, he was a registered Republican. Secret Service agents shot him dead after he opened fire from the roof of a building about 140 meters from Trump’s speech stage. An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle was recovered from his body.
“I was shot with a bullet that went through the top of my right ear.” “There was a lot of blood,” Trump said on his Truthout social platform after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh.
The attack was the first attack on a U.S. president or major party candidate since the 1981 assassination attempt on Republican President Ronald Reagan.
The shooting came less than four months before the Nov. 5 election, when Trump will face off against Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls, including one by Reuters/Ipsos, show the two are neck-and-neck.