Former US President Donald Trump shot during campaign rally (Video)

Former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear Saturday while campaigning in Pennsylvania in an attack that drew condemnation from Republican and Democratic leaders as well as world leaders.

The shooting, which US National Security Agency agents said was an assassination attempt, sparked panic among thousands of people attending a rally in the Pennsylvania town of Butler, according to the BBC.

News media say the FBI has identified the gunman who was immediately shot and killed as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Trump’s campaign, in a statement Saturday night, said the Republican presidential candidate was “doing well” after the shooting, which the former leader said hit him above his right ear.

Other media reports said at least one spectator was killed and two others were critically injured.

“The shooting occurred after Trump, 78, had just begun his speech. The former president held his right ear with his right hand, then lowered his hand to look at it before kneeling behind the podium,” the report said.

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“Secret Service agents then swarmed Trump, before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air, chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” He was then taken off the stage and escorted to a vehicle.”

The former President, who was treated and discharged from the hospital, wrote on his Truth Social platform:

“I was shot by a bullet that went through the top of my right ear. There was a lot of bleeding.”

FBI spokesman Kevin Rojek called the attack an attempted assassination and said the agency was leading the investigation, adding that the motive was not yet clear.

A US political analyst said the attack on Trump was the most serious assassination attempt on a US president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.

“This comes amid a highly polarized political climate, just four months before the presidential election and days before Trump is officially named the Republican presidential nominee at his party’s convention – which his campaign says will go ahead as planned,” he said.

Former US President Donald Trump Shot During Campaign (Video) first appeared on Latest Nigeria News | Headlines from Ripples Nigeria.