During a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, former US President Donald Trump narrowly avoided a bullet that grazed his right ear while addressing the crowd.
According to reports from the authorities, one individual who attended the rally lost their life, and two others suffered severe injuries.
The individual responsible for the shooting has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old registered Republican voter. He was able to access a rooftop with a view of Trump's stage.
Secret Service snipers took action by fatally shooting Crooks. Nevertheless, a security specialist condemned the security operation as a “catastrophic failure” due to Crooks' ability to infiltrate and attack.
WATCH: Donald Trump appears in public for the first time since assassination attempt pic.twitter.com/7kqAFrz98u
— BNO News (@BNONews) July 16, 2024
Prior to the shooting, a number of witnesses reported that they had made efforts to inform security about Crooks for several minutes.
Trump recently attended the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he disclosed his injury by sporting a bandage on his right ear.
This was his initial public appearance after the shooting incident, subsequent to releasing a statement earlier. During the event, he selected Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for vice president. Vance had previously criticized Trump as a “terrible candidate” in 2016 and pondered whether Trump was “a cynical asshole like Nixon” or “America's Hitler.”.
Trump refrained from speaking at the convention since his speech was planned for July 18; however, he was met with applause from the audience.
Additional GOP members addressed the gathering, stressing the importance of party cohesion while condemning Democrats as a significant threat to the nation, its principles, and its citizens. This highlighted their stance on unity not applying to their rivals.
Addressing backlash regarding a recent statement in which he mentioned it was “time to put Trump in the bullseye” and shift away from Trump's lackluster debate showing, President Joe Biden acknowledged that using the term “bullseye” was an error on his part. However, he emphasized the significance of concentrating on Trump's remarks.
Biden expressed to NBC the importance of addressing the real threat to democracy posed by a president's inflammatory statements, questioning whether staying silent in fear of inciting violence is the right approach.
In March, Trump warned that the country would experience a “bloodbath” if he did not win the upcoming election.
Trump mentioned that he would not behave like a dictator in his second term, except for the first day, and referred to illegal immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country,” a comparison that the Biden campaign likened to Adolf Hitler's rhetoric in Mein Kampf.
Trump announced in November that if he were to win the election, he would eliminate the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left extremists who reside in our country like pests.
