US - Shots fired at Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania as former president is seen with blood across his face, 13 July 2024

[JennieM]

Trump leaves hospital

BREAKING

Christal Hayes
US reporter

Donald Trump has left a local hospital after being shot in the ear, two sources have told the BBC's US news partner CBS News.
It is not clear where Trump is heading. He was scheduled to go to his estate in Bedminster, New Jersey today after the rally.
The former president is also scheduled on Sunday to go to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the start of the Republican National Convention on Monday.

Live updates: Bandaged Trump gets rapturous welcome at Republican convention

The former president makes his first public appearance since the attempted assassination, arriving with a bandaged ear to cheers and applause.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[MassGuy]

While we wait for information on the shooter, this is a fantastic read about a Secret Service study into assassins.

Secret Service Challenges Assassin Stereotypes (Published 1998)

New Secret Service study on assassins challenges stereotypes of assassins; study, Preventing Assassination, examined all 83 people who attacked or tried to attack an American political figure or celebrity in last 50 years; agents and psychologists analyzed lives and actions of Lee Harvey Oswald...

www.nytimes.com

-The results, recently made available, challenge several stereotypes. Fewer than half of the assassins showed symptoms of mental illness. Many shifted from one target to another, valuing the act more than the victim. Not one had communicated a direct threat to the target or to law-enforcement authorities.
The good news, the Secret Service says, is that assassins are recognizable, not by who they are, but by what they do. Though assassins fit no physical or psychological profile, most share a pattern of behavior. Assassination is not a spontaneous event, but a trail of action that can lead to discovery.

''It is far more productive, and ultimately more accurate,'' the Secret Service concluded, ''to examine a chain of thinking that leads a person to see assassination as an acceptable or necessary action, and to attend to behaviors that may precede an attack, than to simply label assassins and assassination as 'irrational' or 'crazy.' ''

-What does seem clear is that, for almost all subjects, attacks or near-lethal approaches occurred after a period of downward spiral in their lives,'' the Secret Service found.

The most frequent motive that assassins gave for attacking a public figure was to achieve notoriety or fame. Only a few wanted political change or acted in a group. Other assassins wanted to avenge a perceived wrong, to end their pain by being imprisoned or hospitalized or killed, to save the country or the world, to achieve a special relationship with the target, or, rarely, to obey voices ordering them to attack.

Assassins seeking fame usually chose a prominent victim. Feelings about the target were irrelevant.

''I would have voted for him if I hadn't been in jail charged with trying to kill him,'' one unidentified attacker told the researchers.
One-third of the assassins considered more than one target. Oswald, for example, fired a shot at a retired general less than a year before killing President Kennedy in 1963. And Mr. Hinckley stalked President Carter and the actress Jodie Foster before shooting President Reagan in 1981.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

*"A man in the bleachers to the right of me took a gunshot wound to the head and was killed. Another woman got hit in the forearm and hand, it looked like," he said

 

[JennieM]

1 min ago

Law enforcement sources say shooter was positioned on building rooftop just outside rally

From CNN's Evan Perez and Alayna Treene

A law enforcement source and a police officer at the scene told CNN the shooter was positioned on a building rooftop just outside the venue where former President Donald Trump was holding his rally.

The source said the building was the same one where CNN observed a heavy police presence. The building is positioned over where the former president’s right shoulder was during the rally.

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-biden-trump-07-13-24/index.html

 

[JennieM]

1 min ago

Biden closely tracking rally shooting, White House says

From CNN's MJ Lee & Arlette Saenz

President Joe Biden’s chief of staff sent a brief note to White House staff Saturday evening, saying the president is “closely” tracking the situation around the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally, according to the note obtained by CNN.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients also shared with his team the brief statement Biden sent earlier in the evening.

“Hi team – I wanted to share President Biden’s statement on the shooting that occurred today. The President is tracking this closely and will continue to provide updates,” Zients said.

President Biden’s statement, included in the brief note, said:

“I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania. 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.”
“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.”

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-biden-trump-07-13-24/index.html

 

[Betty P]

surprised this shooter got access to an adjacent roof; SS usually checks out everything

Yes, they usually arrive a day or two before the event to survey everything and set up a plan. ICBW, but they don’t allow anyone to be in adjacent buildings during outdoor rallies.

 

[Ghostwheel]

No. Building is about 100 yards away, 2 story building. Trump was on an elevated stage. JMO

I always had to aim slightly up to hit a target 100 yards away. Which would mean the bullet was on its way back down when it hit the target. I acknowledge that I was shooting a Winchester .22 , but I could get a pretty good grouping with it. But it started to droop around 50 yards, so I had to angle ever so slightly up to get a proper spot at 100 yards. That is why it looks odd to me, but it could just be the angle of the picture..

 

[Love Never Fails]

I have already cancelled my evening out plans. I have no desire to be at the pub when people start drinking and arguing. I will not participate in violence when I can simply stay home and stay safe


I foresee a lot of violence heading our way because of this.

I’ve cancelled a lot of plans in the past few years, especially when some leaders are allowed to publicly tell their supporters to punch the others in the face each time they encounter them.
I wasn’t raised with violence, don’t believe in it and I am hoping these so-called leaders are made to answer for inciting violence in the future.
Someone went out to a rally on a beautiful day to support the candidate of their choice and because some idiot decided he didn’t like the candidate decided to shoot him, instead killing the innocent.
Just sickening.

 

[Artis]

Can you imagine how hard this must be for RFK, Jr? The horrible memories he must be having breaks my heart.

He has repeatedly been denied SS protection by Alexander Mayorkis.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[HmmMysterious]

I’ve cancelled a lot of plans in the past few years, especially when some leaders are allowed to publicly tell their supporters to punch the others in the face each time they encounter them.
I wasn’t raised with violence, don’t believe in it and I am hoping these so-called leaders are made to answer for inciting violence in the future.
Someone went out to a rally on a beautiful day to support the candidate of their choice and because some idiot decided he didn’t like the candidate decided to shoot him, instead killing the innocent.
Just sickening.

We don't know the shooter's motives yet. Could be an act of mental illness/

 

[MassGuy]

Could be because the photographer probably took the photo looking upwards at Trump.

Yes. I thought it was fake myself, but it’s posted on the NYT page, and taken by one of their photographers.

There are 3 in a sequence, with that one being first.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Trump rally: Witness says he saw gunman on roof This guy says the police ignored him and others as they pointed out the shooter for several minutes. They let Trump get shot before they killed the shooter.

Sounds ominous.

 

[MassGuy]

Where at the stage where innocent people are going to be accused of being the shooter, or fake information will circulate in regards to his identity. This happens after every mass shooting.

Be careful.

 

[JennieM]

Trump is "doing well" and looks forward to the RNC in Milwaukee, advisers say

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-biden-trump-07-13-24/index.html

 

[Betty P]

Trump is "doing well" and looks forward to the RNC in Milwaukee, advisers say

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/election-biden-trump-07-13-24/index.html

I bet he’ll have a hard time sleeping tonight. I would.

 

[Artis]

If this witness is correct about what he saw - I'm very surprised that shop roof-top he fired from was not part of the radious covered by the secret service. It seems obvious, but I don't have a full perspective of the layout yet.

Some else posted an aerial view:

https://www.websleuths.com/forums/attachments/gsz5fpewuaavq52-jpg.517633/

 

[tricia]

Next poster that posts some random wild rumor as fact will be removed.

 

[vls12345]

Is there a map that has been published or a link to Google maps that shows the rally location as well as the location where the shooter was? I am trying to get a feel for the layout. TIA.

 

[JennieM]

Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene of the Trump rally shooting, AP source says

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

Trump survives assassination attempt at campaign rally, as it unfolded

Law enforcement officials are working to learn more about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

apnews.com