(Butler) Former US President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, was evacuated from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday with blood running down his ear, after gunfire that killed at least one person in the audience.
The suspected shooter and a bystander were killed, US media reported, citing local judicial authorities.
Donald Trump “is safe,” announced a spokesperson for the Secret Service, responsible for protecting presidents and ex-presidents, while his campaign team assured that he was in good health and “examined in a medical facility” on site.
It was Donald Trump’s last rally before the Republican convention, where he is to be officially nominated as the Republican Party’s nominee to face Democratic incumbent Joe Biden in November’s election.
Donald Trump, who had just begun his speech with one of his usual tirades about migrants whom he accuses his Democratic successor of having allowed massive numbers of people to enter the country, was immediately knocked to the ground by Secret Service agents.
PHOTO REBECCA DROKE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Donald Trump leaves the stage surrounded by Secret Service agents, his ear bloody.
Shouts of terror rang out from the audience. After a few moments, Donald Trump stood up, his hair disheveled and without his red cap, surrounded by the agents. “Let me get my shoes,” he was heard telling them.
He was then escorted from the stage to his car, raising his fist in the air several times in defiance, to cheers from his supporters.
“We saw a lot of people throwing themselves on the ground, looking confused. I heard the gunshots, it sounded like something between firecrackers and a small-calibre pistol,” a sympathiser, John Yeykal, told AFP at the scene.
“No place for violence”
President Biden said he was “relieved” to hear that Trump was “safe and well,” saying there was “no place for this kind of violence in America.” Biden will speak later Saturday, the White House said.
PHOTO EVAN VUCCI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Secret Service agents threw Donald Trump to the ground.
“There is no place for political violence in our democracy,” also reacted the former Democratic president Barack Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was “horrified.”
Elon Musk responded by expressing his support for Donald Trump and wishing him a “speedy recovery.”
The consequences of this event on the campaign are still incalculable.
PHOTO BRENDAN MCDERMID, REUTERS
Officers inspect the rally site
In recent days, attention has focused on doubts about the physical and mental state of Joe Biden, 81, and his ability to face Donald Trump, 78, since their June 27 debate, marked by the Democratic candidate’s dismal performance. Some 20 lawmakers are now calling on him to step down.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been considered a possible alternative, reassured him of her loyalty and trust on Saturday, during a campaign event in Philadelphia, shortly before Donald Trump’s rally in the same key state of Pennsylvania.
“This is the most existential, most consequential, most important election of our lifetimes and we always knew it would be difficult,” she said, adding that she was nonetheless confident of victory in November.
The interested party himself repeated on Friday in Michigan (north) that he was staying in the race. “I am a candidate and we are going to win,” a galvanized Joe Biden told his supporters in Detroit.
He also received a strong endorsement on Saturday from the figure of the American left, Bernie Sanders, who in a column in the New York Times, called on Democrats “to stop the bickering and nitpicking.”