Gunshots were fired at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, prompting panic as Secret Service agents leaped on the former US president.
A Secret Service spokesperson said on X that “the former president is safe”, and an investigation was under way.
Trump himself said he was “fine” in a statement and was being checked at a medical facility.
The local district attorney, Richard Goldringer, told NBC News that both the suspected shooter and one spectator were dead Saturday. A third person – a spectator as well – is injured, Goldringer said.
A spokesperson for the former president added that Trump thanked “law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act”.
Video from NBC News captured more than a dozen shots, with later ones apparently coming from agents protecting the president.
A voice could be heard saying: “Get down, get down, get down!” Agents arrived to throw themselves on top of Trump as the gunfire continued and screams were heard from the crowd.
Audio from the network captured agent’s voices saying: “Shooter’s down. Shooter’s down. Are we good to move? We’re clear, we’re clear.”
As agents tried to move Trump off the stage at the rally, he said: “Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.” Agents can be heard telling the former president: “I got you. Hold on. Your head is bloody. We’ve got to move.”
Trump replied: “Wait, wait.” He then pumped his fist, mouthed the words: “Fight, fight, fight.”
And the crowd at the rally responded with cries of: “USA! USA! USA!”
Armed troops in uniform soon arrived as some spectators shouted abuse at the media.
Agents then whisked Trump away from sight.
Video showed blood on Trump’s ear. There were also snipers on a roof near the stage where Trump was standing, the Reuters news agency reported.
Joe Biden said he was not briefed on the reported shooting. The president spoke to reporters as the he walked out of a church in Delaware.
NBC News, citing two senior law enforcement officials, reported there was growing concern among investigators that the shooting at the Trump rally “may have been a serious attempt on his life”.
One rallygoer who described himself to CBS News as an emergency room physician recounted walking toward a voice saying: “He’s been shot.” The rallygoer, whose shirt was bloodstained, said he saw a man with a bullet wound to the head who had been spun around ended up “jammed between the benches”.
He said he had tried to perform CPR on the wounded man, who at the time was about to be loaded into a medical helicopter.
The scenes from the rally prompted a flood of reactions, including support for Trump from Republican allies such as former president George W Bush as well as US senators Marco Rubio of Florida and JD Vance of Ohio.
Source: The Guardian
