UPDATE: This article was published in the very early minutes immediately after the shooting when few details were known or confirmed about what precisely had happened. More up-to-date reports can be viewed here and here.
The shooting of US presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania is being investigated as an assassination attempt according to law enforcement officials.
According to the Associated Press, the shooter is dead and an attendee at the rally was killed. Trump’s campaign says he is “fine” and that the shot was just a graze.
Shortly after Trump began speaking at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, gunshots rang out, causing him to grimace, raise his hand to his face, and drop to the ground as secret service agents swarmed the stage repeatedly saying “Get down!” Screams could be heard from the crowd as he fell.
Trump ducked behind the podium as he was surrounded by armed officers, at which point he stood up, with blood visible on the side of his face, raising a defiant fist to the crowd, and was escorted away from the scene and into a vehicle, which took him to a nearby medical facility for evaluation.
“The Secret Service has implemented protective measures, and the former president is safe,” a Secret Service spokesperson said on social media site X, referring to the incident.
“This is now an active Secret Service investigation, and further information will be released when available.”
CNN has reported that Trump was injured but did not elaborate on the nature of the injuries.
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., said that his father is “in great spirits,” adding: “He will never stop fighting to save America, no matter what the radical left throws at him.”
This is a breaking story which will continue to develop.