Electioneering campaign in the United States went below the minimum standard on Saturday as Former President Donald Trump was the target of an assasin.
Trump who was campaigning at Pennsylvania rally had to be
rushed off stage by the Secret Service after shots were fired.
He was rushed to a local medical facility where he is receiving care.
He was quickly swarmed by secret service agents and rushed off stage to a waiting vehicle. He raised a fist as he was bundled into the car.
His spokesman said the former president “will be fine.”
The suspect was shot dead at the scene by US Secret Service agents, the service’s spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said. He added that one bystander was killed in the shooting and two others were critically injured.
The attacker had fired multiple rounds from an “elevated position” toward the stage before he was killed by Secret Service agents
One person in the audience is killed and two others are in critical condition.
Trump says he was hit by a bullet in his right ear. He thanked law enforcement in his first remarks after the attack and expressed both shock and condolences for the attendees killed or wounded
He has since left the local hospital and will attend the Republican National Convention next week as planned.
Witnesses described chaotic scenes after the gunfire, with multiple people telling the BBC they believe the attacker was perched on a one-storey building near the venue.
The shooting is being investigated as an assassination attempt, according to law enforcement sources speaking to BBC’s US partner CBS News.
Already, President Joe Biden has condemned the attack.
Third-party US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is running against both Donald Trump and Joe Biden in November’s election, has called for Americans to “start treating each other with respect” in the political arena.
“My message to people is we need to all renounce violence. And we need to renounce not just violence but the hatred and vitriol,” Kennedy told US outlet NewsNation.
Kennedy’s father, Robert F Kennedy, was shot and killed as a presidential candidate in 1968. His uncle John F Kennedy was shot and killed when he was US president in 1963.
“I understand the implications that this has for our country – and probably as well as anybody does,” he said.
Meanwhile, the
Department of Homeland Security is ) is investigating the shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says in a statement.
“DHS and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement partners to respond to and investigate the shooting,” he says, adding the agency condemns the act “in the strongest possible terms.
“We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security,” Mayorkas says.
“Maintaining the security of the Presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of our omeland Security (DHS) is investigating the shooting at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says in a statement.