Attempted assassination of Donald Trump facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Attempted assassination of Donald Trump |
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Butler Farm Show Grounds (right), 6:01 p.m. EDT, 10 minutes before the shooting
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| Location | Butler Farm Show Grounds in Connoquenessing Twp. |
| Date | July 13, 2024 6:11 p.m. (UTC−04:00) |
| Target | Donald Trump |
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Attack type
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Attempted assassination by gunshot |
| Weapon | AR-15–style rifle |
| Deaths | 2 (including the perpetrator) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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7 (3 from gunfire, including Trump, and 4 officers from debris) |
| Assailant | Thomas Matthew Crooks |
| Motive | Under investigation |
On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, a former president of the United States and then the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot and wounded in his upper right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building. Crooks also killed one audience member and critically injured two others. He was subsequently shot and killed by the United States Secret Service's Counter Sniper Team.
Video shows Trump clasping his ear and taking cover behind his lectern, where Secret Service agents shielded him until the shooter was killed. Trump was taken to a hospital, treated, and released later that same day. He made his first public appearance after the shooting two days later at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, wearing a bandage on his ear.
The incident has been regarded as the most significant security failure by the Secret Service since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, faced bipartisan calls for her resignation when she testified before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on July 22; she stepped down the following day. President Joe Biden ordered an independent review of the security arrangements. Biden also condemned the violence and called for a reduction in heated political rhetoric, emphasizing the importance of resolving political differences peacefully.
Shooting
On July 7, 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks visited the Butler Farm Show grounds, the site of a future campaign rally announced by Trump four days earlier. He spent 20 minutes there and registered to attend the rally. On July 12, Crooks went to a shooting range and practiced with his rifle, a DPMS Panther Arms-produced AR-15–style rifle with a 16-inch (41 cm) barrel, chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO, which he had bought from his father.
On July 13, the day of the assassination attempt, Crooks bought a five-foot (1.5-meter) ladder before driving to the site of the rally in the morning. According to ABC, a team of Beaver County SWAT officers, tasked with supporting the Secret Service, had taken its position at the security perimeter by mid-morning. Crooks left the rally site and bought 50 rounds of ammunition from a gun store, before driving back to the rally at 3:35 p.m. EDT, armed with his rifle and with an explosive device in the trunk of his car. Crooks did not undergo security screening, as he had been outside the Secret Service's security perimeter for the rally. Around 3:50 p.m., Crooks flew a drone for about 11 minutes, showing the scene behind his eventual firing position.
At 4:26 p.m., a local law enforcement countersniper ended his shift and spotted Crooks around the southernmost warehouse of a complex owned by AGR International, in which police countersnipers were positioned. The countersniper text-messaged his colleagues about Crooks, noting that he may know about the police presence inside the building. The New York Times retrospectively described the text messages as suggesting that Crooks aroused police suspicion more than 90 minutes before the shooting. At 5:14 p.m., one of the countersnipers still in the building saw Crooks directly underneath the warehouse and photographed him. The countersniper saw him "scoping out" the rooftop of the building and carrying a golf rangefinder, which particularly alarmed officers. The countersniper text-messaged images of Crooks to other members of law enforcement before heading outside to find him and keep visual contact while backup arrived. Crooks ran from his position and evaded a search joined by four other local police officers. Law enforcement officers spotted Crooks between 20 minutes and 30 minutes before the shooting. Multiple local law enforcement officers identified Crooks and believed that he might have been acting suspiciously near the event's magnetometer weapon detectors; they expressed their suspicions over radio, and the Secret Service was informed of this at some point.
Trump arrived onstage at about 6:03 p.m. At 6:05 p.m., he began speaking.
At 6:06 p.m., Crooks scaled an air-conditioning unit between the northernmost AGR International buildings to reach the roof of the complex, rather than using his ladder. He walked across a series of interconnected roofs to reach his eventual firing position on the southernmost roof, between 400 feet (120 meters) and 450 feet (140 meters) north of the venue stage. The building housed three police snipers tasked with covering the rally, but, because of a shortage of personnel, none of them were on the roof. Several bystanders witnessed a person on the roof carrying a rifle and alerted the police about him minutes before shots were fired at Trump.
The slant of the roof that Crooks had been on may have prevented Secret Service snipers from seeing him as he crawled into a firing position; the northern sniper team's view of Crooks's position had also been blocked by trees. Using a three-dimensional simulation of the shooting, the New York Times reported that "the gunman was largely concealed by two trees and the slope of a warehouse building roof, which he used as his perch."
At 6:08 p.m., a local law enforcement officer reported over radio, "Someone's on the roof". Police bodycam video footage has revealed that, at this point, a search operation began in which at least four Pennsylvania law enforcement officers focused on the roof Crooks was on and its immediate surroundings, attempting to reach Crooks. Hoisted by another officer, a Butler Township police officer attempted to climb to the roof of the building in search of the reported man. Crooks spotted the officer while the officer's hands were clinging to the edge of the roof and aimed his rifle at the officer, at which point the officer let go, falling 8 feet (2.4 m) to the ground and severely injuring his ankle. According to ABC, this encounter, which occurred about 40 seconds before Crooks opened fire, was "the first time any law enforcement saw that the person on the roof had a gun".
Crooks undertook the shooting immediately after the confrontation with the officer. A few minutes into Trump's speech, starting at 6:11:33 p.m., Crooks fired eight shots into the rally, striking Trump and three rallygoers, one fatally, before being killed seconds later by a sniper from the Secret Service. As the shots were heard, rally attendees yelled "Duck!" Police bodycam footage captured the movements and responses of some of the law enforcement officials at the rally to the detected threat on a rooftop, which the BBC would later describe as "moments of frustration, confusion and miscommunication". A total of two shots were fired towards Crooks. The first shot, fired by a member of Butler County's Emergency Services Unit six seconds after Crooks had started firing at Trump, hit Crooks's rifle stock, which fragmented into debris that hit his face, neck, and right shoulder, causing Crooks to stop shooting and reposition himself. Located on a building behind Trump's left shoulder, a team of Secret Service countersnipers were facing in a different direction and reoriented toward Crooks to aim the second shot at him before he could resume firing; a member of that team then fatally shot Crooks 16 seconds after Crooks had begun firing.
The upper part of Trump's right ear was grazed by the first bullet fired by Crooks. He raised a hand to his ear before dropping down on his podium behind the lectern for cover. Secret Service agents lunged toward Trump and shielded him. After the assailant was declared "down", agents helped Trump get up. As he was walked off stage, Trump told the Secret Service agents to wait and then raised his fist, pumped it at the crowd, and mouthed the words "Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd responded with cheers and chants of "U-S-A!"
Trump was then escorted to a vehicle and taken to the nearby Butler Memorial Hospital.
Aftermath
Trump was transported to Butler Memorial Hospital for examination immediately after the shooting. The Secret Service had already called hospital officials and asked that the hospital be put on lockdown, putting into action an emergency plan that was created for when Trump spoke at another nearby rally in 2020. The lockdown lasted for approximately three hours, with law enforcement from the Secret Service, FBI, Homeland Security, Pittsburgh police, and Butler police guarding the hospital's entrances. Shortly after his arrival, a Secret Service spokesperson confirmed that Trump was safe. Trump's motorcade left the hospital at around 9:30 p.m. EDT bound for Pittsburgh International Airport. Trump landed in Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in the early hours of July 14 and spent the night at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. Security at Trump Tower and the RNC was strengthened after the shooting.
Approximately two hours after arriving at the hospital, Trump released a statement on his own social media platform Truth Social:
I want to thank The United States Secret Service, and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
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Trump attended the Republican National Convention (RNC) on July 15 with a bandage covering his entire right ear.
The Trump campaign organized a GoFundMe fundraising campaign for the rally goers who were wounded or killed, raising over $2 million by July 14.
See also
In Spanish: Intento de asesinato de Donald Trump para niños
