PENNSYLVANIA, July 15 ------ Donald Trump survived a weekend assassination attempt days before he is due to accept the formal Republican presidential nomination, in an attack that will further inflame the US political divide and has raised questions about the security lapses. Trump, 78, had just begun a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Pittsburgh when shots rang out, hitting the former president’s right ear and streaking his face with blood. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Trump mouthed to supporters, pumping his fist, as Secret Service agents rushed him away. His campaign said he was doing well and appeared to have suffered no major injury besides a wound on his upper right ear.
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect in what it called an attempted assassination. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records and had made a $15 donation to a Democratic political action committee at the age of 17. Law enforcement officials told reporters they had not yet identified a motive for the attack.
The shooting whipsawed the discussion around the presidential campaign, which had been focused for much of the past two weeks on Democrats’ questions as to whether Biden, 81, should drop out following a disastrous June debate performance. The Biden campaign had been seeking to reset its message, depicting Trump as a danger to democracy for his continued false claims about election fraud but said on Saturday it was suspending its political advertising for now. Secret Service agents fatally shot the suspect, the agency said, after he opened fire from the roof of a building about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking. An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was recovered near his body, according to sources.
One person who attended the rally was killed and two other spectators were critically wounded, the Secret Service said. “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” Trump said on his Truth Social service on Sunday.
Trump left the Butler area under Secret Service protection and later arrived at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The Secret Service in a statement denied accusations by some Trump supporters that it had rejected campaign requests for additional security. “The assertion that a member of the former President’s security team requested additional security resources that the US Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,” said Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi in a statement. “In fact, recently the US Secret Service added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail.”
Source: rappler.com
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