Former US President Donald J. Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on Saturday. 

Trump, 78, was shot in the upper part of his right ear by a lone gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who a Secret Service Assault Team Sniper subsequently killed. Crooks also shot and killed Corey Comperatore, an attendee at the rally, and injured several others.

Trump, although startled and hurt, raised a fist in defiance. 

Where?

Trump, who is looking to return to office, was attending a Republican campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, when the incident took place. Witnesses report seeing the shooter on the roof of the building and trying to notify authorities, to no avail. 

This is the second attempt at Trump’s life following a 2016 altercation at a rally in Las Vegas where a man, Micheal Steven Sandford, attempted to disarm a security officer at the rally to shoot Trump. His motive was to stop Trump from becoming president. 

What we know about the shooter: 

Crooks was a 20-year-old who lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about an hour from where the rally occurred. He lived at home with his parents and was a registered Republican voter. He worked as a cook at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre. He is described as “super smart” by a former classmate. He was one of the Math and Science Initiative Star Award recipients. Despite a 15-dollar donation to the Progressive Turnout Project, a political action committee aligned with the Democrats, Crooks never showed any sort of fascination with politics. His father, like him, is a registered Republican, while his mother is a registered Democrat. Another former classmate said Crooks had been “bullied every day.” The FBI has said that the motive for the shooting is unclear but has revealed that Crooks’ family were cooperating with investigators.

The gun used an AR-15 type of rifle, which belonged to Crooks’ father. 

Reactions:

Leaders from all corners of the world have condemned the attempt on Trump’s life. President Joe Biden, in an interview from the Oval Office a day after the shooting, called for calm. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalised,” said Biden. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa wished Trump a speedy recovery. “We unequivocally denounce this political violence and earnestly hope that the citizens and leaders of America will have the fortitude and sagacity to reject violence and seek peaceful solutions,” he said on X.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who had met Trump in Mar-a-Lago two days before the rally, said his “thoughts and prayers” are with Trump.

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said France shares the “shock and indignation of the American People.”

What now? 

Despite the attempt, Trump will this week attend the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, where the party is set to officially nominate him as the GOP’s chosen to lead the ticket. He is also expected to announce his running mate during the RNC. His speech on Thursday will set the tone for Republicans going towards November’s presidential elections. 

Writing for the New York Times, journalist Peter Baker says that the attempt would likely divide Americans even more than they already are. “Yet not since President Abraham Lincoln was shot by a Confederate sympathiser at Ford’s Theater has an assassination attempt against a president or major presidential candidate so sharply exacerbated the partisan divide,” writes Baker. 

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