Donald Trump defiant as assassination attempt rocks America

RELATED: Trump assassination attempt – what we know so far

Former US president Donald Trump was shot through the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday in an assassination attempt that sent shock waves through America.

The Republican presidential candidate was left streaked with blood but quickly rose to shout “Fight! Fight! Fight!” with a raised fist as Secret Service agents mobbed him.

The suspected gunman – identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, by the FBI – had fired several rounds from a rooftop at the open-air rally in the town of Butler. He was shot dead seconds later by law enforcement marksmen on the roof of an adjacent building. A spectator was killed and two others were critically injured.

Moments earlier as he spoke to the cheering crowd, Trump, 78, was seen slapping his right ear before ducking behind the podium as members of the audience screamed.

Blood appeared to be coming from the right side of his face. More gunshots could be heard as agents tended to him and bundled him into an SUV.

He took to his Truth Social platform after the shooting and thanked the Secret Service and law enforcement for their rapid response.

Trump said that he “was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”. He ended the message with “GOD BLESS AMERICA”.

The shooting took place less than four months before the November 5 election, when Trump faces an election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden. Most opinion polls show the two locked in a close contest.

Police said there were no further threats recorded after the rally incident.

The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, which Trump will attend, will inevitably be held amid heightened security, while political aides to President Joe Biden said the assassination attempt may postpone discussions on replacing Mr Biden as the party's presidential nominee.

Trump "looks forward to joining you all in Milwaukee as we proceed with our convention to nominate him to serve as the 47th president of the United States. As our party's nominee... [he] will continue to share his vision to Make America Great Again," read a statement from his campaign and the Republican National Committee.

As the investigation at the rally ground in Butler began, US media quoted law enforcement as saying that an “AR-style” rifle was recovered at the scene.

Images shared on social media, which were not released by the authorities, showed the dead gunman as a young man with long blonde hair.

Reports said the gunman was perched about 120 metres from Trump – a bit more than the length of a football field.

“The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former president Donald Trump on 13 July,” the FBI said early on Sunday.

“This remains an active and ongoing investigation.”

Questions are being asked about how prepared the Secret Service and local police were, with some spectators apparently spotting the gunman before law enforcement did.

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Weekend programme, senior Trump campaign adviser Stephen Moore said the shooting was an exceptionally close call.

"It appeared from the video that he’d only been grazed by this bullet but what’s so frightening to all of us is that if that bullet had been one inch further towards his head this would have been an assassination," he told the show.

Mr Moore said "certainly Trump needs more protection - there’s a lot of inquiry now about whether the Secret Service was totally prepared".

A witness told the BBC he had seen the gunman climb on to the roof of a low-rise building right outside the security perimeter with a rifle and that he had shouted to nearby police officers to alert them to the potential threat.

Police initially seemed confused and did not immediately respond to the warning, he said.

The spectator who was fatally injured - who has not been publicly named - appeared to have been caught in the crossfire, a witness told NBC.

"It seemed like the man was in the way of the shots between whoever was shooting the gun and the president," he told the outlet. "The man who was hit, it seemed like he was in the crossfire."

The witness, who gave his name as Joseph, said the man was shot from behind between benches as people fled the scene.

A doctor attending the rally said the man was shot in the head.

A fundraising page for the victims, authorised by Trump, garnered over $170,000 overnight, NBC reported.

Trump, after his spokesman Steven Cheung said he was in good condition, later boarded a flight to New Jersey and was seen walking down the steps of the plane on arrival.

Police began vacating the fairgrounds shortly after Trump left the stage in what local officers described as a crime scene.

“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,” President Joe 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.”

Mr Biden later said that he had spoken with Trump.

"We cannot be like this, we cannot condone this," he said.

Following the incident, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr said that he had spoken to his father and described him as in “great spirits”. He also posted a photo of his father with his fist raised on X saying that he will “never stop fighting to Save America”.

His daughter, Ivanka Trump, described the attack as "senseless violence" and said she was praying for the country.

"As you saw today, my father is a fighter and he will continue to fight for you and the USA," said other daughter Tiffany Trump.

The Trump campaign later said that the former president was “doing well” and would still attend the Republican National Convention, which will take place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next week.

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X that he was praying for Trump.

Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, quickly issued a statement that “political violence of any kind is never acceptable”.

“My thoughts and prayers are with former president Trump. I am thankful for the decisive law enforcement response,” Mr Jeffries wrote on X.

Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House whose husband survived a politically motivated attack at their home, also expressed deep concern for the former president.

“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know first-hand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” she said. “I thank God that former president Trump is safe.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that “violence has no place in our politics”.

Trump's former vice president Mike Pence, whom the former president has blamed for agreeing to certify Mr Biden's electoral win in the 2020 election, tweeted that he and his wife Karen “are praying for president Trump and urge every American to join us”.

Senator Josh Hawley called the incident an assassination attempt and called for a congressional investigation.

“The nation needs to know who did this. And why. And we need a full, public investigation by Congress into HOW it happened,” he wrote on X.