Former President Donald Trump was rushed offstage with blood on his ear and face after a shooting during his Saturday evening rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Secret Service said in a statement that Trump is “safe.”
The shooting is being investigated as a possible assassination attempt, according to law enforcement officials.
The shooter was killed by the Secret Service, and a rally attendee was also killed, according to a Secret Service source. Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said a second spectator is in serious condition.
“An incident occurred the evening of July 13 at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has implemented protective measures and the former President is safe. This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available,” Secret Service chief spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Three law enforcement sources said that the shooter was outside the venue at the Trump rally. Two of those sources said that the shooter was on a roof outside of the venue. Multiple law enforcement sources have referred to this individual as a sniper, although additional details are not yet clear.
Goldinger, the Butler County DA, said he was told by his chief detective that the shooter was on a building adjacent to the property and had no additional details on the person.
“It would have required a rifle,” he said. “It was several hundred yards.”
President Joe Biden was briefed in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on the shooting, the White House said. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall are part of the team briefing the president.
“There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick,” Biden said at Rehoboth Beach.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement: “President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act. He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility. More details will follow.”
A senior Trump adviser in Milwaukee told CNN in the immediate aftermath of the shooting that the team was working to gather more information on the former president’s condition. The adviser was heartened by Trump’s gestures as he was led off the stage before entering his SUV.
“We pray he is OK,” the adviser said.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle quickly weighed in to express their horror at the incident, condemning all political violence.
“I have been briefed by law enforcement and am continuing to monitor the developments. This horrific act of political violence at a peaceful campaign rally has no place in this country and should be unanimously and forcefully condemned,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.
“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Former Trump campaign adviser David Urban told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he had spoken with Dave McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate from Pennsylvania, who was sitting in the front row of the rally. Trump told McCormick to “come up here onstage,” Urban said, at which point he heard a few “pops” that sounded like “firecrackers.”
McCormick dropped to the ground at that point, and when he got up, he said that Secret Service agents were “around everybody and they were scattering,” according to Urban.
McCormick wrote on X that he and his wife, former Trump administration official Dina Powell, “are praying for President Trump and all who were injured today in Butler PA.”
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Pamela Brown, Zachary Cohen, Kristen Holmes, DJ Judd, Gregory Krieg, Jamiel Lynch, Phil Mattingly, Hannah Rabinowitz, Raja Razek, Morgan Rimmer, Emma Tucker, Whitney Wild, Ryan Young and Gregory Krieg contributed to this report.
