Sunday Marks One Year Since Trump Was Shot In Butler, PA
7 hours ago
A year has passed since gunfire interrupted a Donald Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what authorities called an assassination attempt on the former U.S. president.
Trump had just begun speaking on July 13, 2024, when shots rang out. He grabbed his right ear — grazed by a bullet — and ducked behind the podium as Secret Service agents rushed in. One supporter was killed, two others wounded, and the suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by law enforcement.
Footage showed Trump being helped off-stage, his face bloodied. Moments later, he raised a clenched fist to the crowd as he was rushed to a waiting vehicle.
Investigators later said Crooks had climbed onto a rooftop using an air-conditioning unit. A rifle, explosives, and tactical gear were recovered from the scene and his car. No clear motive has been publicly disclosed.
In a post later that day, Trump wrote: “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear... Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Then President Joe Biden called for unity in the aftermath, warning that politics “must never be a literal battlefield.”
The attack came just ahead of the Republican National Convention, where Trump appeared with a bandage on his ear and formally accepted his party’s nomination. He frequently referenced the shooting on the campaign trail, saying, “Last week I took a bullet for democracy.”
Trump had just begun speaking on July 13, 2024, when shots rang out. He grabbed his right ear — grazed by a bullet — and ducked behind the podium as Secret Service agents rushed in. One supporter was killed, two others wounded, and the suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by law enforcement.
Footage showed Trump being helped off-stage, his face bloodied. Moments later, he raised a clenched fist to the crowd as he was rushed to a waiting vehicle.
Investigators later said Crooks had climbed onto a rooftop using an air-conditioning unit. A rifle, explosives, and tactical gear were recovered from the scene and his car. No clear motive has been publicly disclosed.
In a post later that day, Trump wrote: “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear... Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Then President Joe Biden called for unity in the aftermath, warning that politics “must never be a literal battlefield.”
The attack came just ahead of the Republican National Convention, where Trump appeared with a bandage on his ear and formally accepted his party’s nomination. He frequently referenced the shooting on the campaign trail, saying, “Last week I took a bullet for democracy.”
