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Trump Rally Shooting, says bullet struck his ear; gunman and audience member dead

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1 Trump Rally Shooting, says bullet struck his ear; gunman and audience member dead

Trump Rally Shooting, says bullet struck his ear; gunman and audience member dead

Former President Donald Trump was swiftly taken offstage following Trump rally shooting during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday evening, in what he described in a social media post as sustaining an injury from a bullet grazing the upper part of his right ear. The Secret Service confirmed Trump’s safety and reported that he received medical evaluation at a local hospital before departing a few hours later. Donald Trump Jr. informed CBS News’ Robert Costa that his father is ‘doing fine.’

According to the U.S. Secret Service, two fatalities occurred — the gunman and an audience member — with two other spectators critically injured. State police disclosed that all shooting victims were male, withholding their identities.

“The shooter, now deceased, was neutralized by U.S. Secret Service personnel,” stated the agency. Witnesses recounted hearing multiple shots as Secret Service agents swiftly intervened. Video footage captured by CBS News showed Trump touching his ear and then taking cover on the ground, with visible blood on his face.

Trump was evacuated in a motorcade, briefly raising his fist as he entered an SUV. The FBI identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in an early Sunday statement. Kevin Rojek, FBI Pittsburgh’s special agent in charge, declined to speculate on motives during a late Saturday news conference, but affirmed that the incident is being investigated as an ‘attempted assassination.’ A law enforcement official stated Sunday morning that there are no apparent ties to foreign terrorism, and the suspect was not previously under law enforcement scrutiny, though investigations are ongoing.

Multiple law enforcement sources reported that the gunman used a semiautomatic AR-style rifle. ATF is currently tracing the firearm. Sources indicated that the gunman fired from atop a shed outside the Secret Service’s security perimeter, approximately 400 feet away.

CBS News learned from law enforcement sources on Sunday that suspicious devices were discovered in the gunman’s vehicle. Additionally, the gunman possessed equipment capable of activating these devices, which was commercially available according to The Wall Street Journal’s initial report.

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