Witnesses described a chaotic scene on Saturday evening after an <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/2024/07/14/trump-assassination-attempt/" target="_blank">assassination attempt</a> against Republican presidential candidate <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/podcasts/year-of-elections/2024/07/12/us-election-2024-will-biden-and-trump-survive-their-parties-conventions/" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a>. Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/us/2024/07/14/trump-assassination-attempt-what-we-know/" target="_blank">several shots rang out</a>. He reported having been shot in the ear. “Former president Trump got up and he had some blood on his face,” a witness told reporters. At first it was unknown if the blood on Trump's face was due to a bullet, glass from the teleprompter or if it was the result of US Secret Service agents tackling him. One person was reported dead and two others were critically injured, law enforcement reported. The gunman was also killed. A witness spoke to the media about how he and others nearby had observed the gunman crawling towards the edge of the roof of a building, holding a rifle. “I'm standing there pointing at him for, you know, two three minutes, Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn,” the man told the BBC. “I'm pointing at that roof … And next thing you know, five shots.” An emergency physician was in the audience when the shooting began and described finding the person who had been killed. “I heard the shots. I thought it was firecrackers to begin with,” the man told reporters. “Somebody over there was screaming, 'He's been shot. He's been shot.' So I made my way over. I said, I'm an emergency department, physician, let me help you.” Another witness said the shooting would only cause more division in an already divided country. “It's only going to cause more division in this country because of the people who support President Trump, and it's only going to make people hate Joe Biden even more, whether he had anything to do with it or not, and whether the Democratic Party had anything to do with it or not,” the witness told Fox News. “It seems that they'll do anything to remain in power.” “They don't want this man to be president because he's trying his hardest to save America, and that's not what they want,” another witness told Fox. “They want America to fall. Yeah, they're scared.” As police were evacuating people from the area, some people shouted at members of the media, saying: “This is your fault!” Trump has been a frequent critic of the media, often calling reports he did not agree with "fake news".
