(7th LD) Trump suffers gunshot wound to ear during campaign rally

(ATTN: CHANGES dateline; ADDS more info in 4th para)
By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Yonhap) -- Former President Donald Trump was injured as a gunshot struck his ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, just days before the Republican Party is set to formally crown him as the GOP standard-bearer for the November presidential election.

Video footage showed Trump hunkered down behind a podium on the stage in Butler, a city near Pittsburgh, following multiple gunshots and was then rushed off the stage by his security guards. With blood on his ear and face, he pumped his fist in the air in a message to his supporters.

According to the U.S. Secret Service, a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside the rally venue. The shooter is dead now, while one spectator was killed and two others critically injured.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the lead agency in the ongoing investigation, has identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect involved in what it described as an assassination attempt.

In a social media post, Trump said he was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear.

"I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin," he wrote on Truth Social. "Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

He extended his condolences to the family of the dead spectator and that of another, whom he said was "badly injured."

"It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country," he wrote. "Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead."

The incident came as soon as he touched on the border security issue, saying, "Take a look at what happened."

When sounds of gunshots were heard, Trump lowered his body behind the podium with his security guards trying to shield and safeguard him. Some attendees at the rally started to scream in shock.

Having been briefed on the incident, President Joe Biden spoke to Trump, according to a White House official. Biden will receive an updated briefing from homeland security and law enforcement officials at the White House on Sunday morning, the official said.

In a statement, Biden condemned the act of violence.

"I'm grateful to hear that he's safe and doing well. I'm praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information," Biden said.

"Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it," he added.

Later in a press conference, Biden declined to answer a reporter's question of whether the incident was an assassination attempt as an investigation is under way.

"I don't have any facts. So I want to make sure we have all the facts before I make some comment," he said.

He also said that Trump appears to be "doing well" while renewing his criticism of the shooting.

"The bottom line is that the Trump rally was a rally that he should have been able to conduct peacefully without any problem," he said. "The idea that there is political violence or violence in America like this is just unheard of. It is just not appropriate."

In a separate statement, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that the entire Department of Defense condemned the shooting, which he said has "absolutely no place in our democracy."

"This is not the way that we resolve our differences in America -- and it must never be," he said. "I'm relieved that reports indicate former President Trump is safe, and I am praying for him and his family and everyone affected by this appalling incident."

In a social media post, House Speaker Mike Johnson called the shooting "horrific."

"I have been briefed by law enforcement and am continuing to monitor the developments," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned."

Despite the shooting, Trump's campaign said that the Republican National Convention will "proceed" and that the former president looks forward to joining it, according to the Associated Press.

The convention is slated to take place in Milwaukee in the battleground state of Wisconsin from Monday through Thursday -- an event to formally nominate him as the GOP nominee for the Nov. 5 general election, where he is to face Biden.

Despite his conviction in a hush-money trial, Trump has been expected to appear at the convention on a relatively robust footing at a time when Biden has been under mounting pressure to step aside following the octogenarian's woeful debate performance last month.

In a sign of his supporters coalescing behind a wounded Trump, Elon Musk, the CEO of Telsa, publicly endorsed him.

"I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," he wrote on X.

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has invited U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing on July 22.

"Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump," the committee said in a post on X.

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