On Saturday, July 13, at 6:15 pm, former United States President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, turned into a battleground and the sight of America’s latest mass shooting. Gunshots rang out six minutes into the 45th president’s speech and US Secret Service agents rushed to the stage, but not before one bullet grazed the infamous politician. Trump was seen gripping his right ear as blood started to drip. 

45 seconds after the last round of shots, agents announced over the rally microphone: “Shooter’s down.” Trump was then moved into an SUV but not before standing, fist raised into the air as he shouted out “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Crowd chants of “USA!” soon followed. 

Just hours after the shooting, Trump took to Instagram to share the message, “Unite America!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by President Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump)

The shooting, which is being investigated as an assassination attempt on the former president, is the 295th mass shooting in the United States of 2024, and the 34th since July 1. Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks left one audience member dead and two others wounded, all men. 

The FBI has reported that Crooks was the “subject involved in the assassination attempt on the former president and that an active investigation was underway.” The response of the Secret Service following Saturday’s incident is also currently under investigation. 

Investigators believe that Crooks, armed with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, opened fire on rallygoers and the former president from an adjacent rooftop building. According to law enforcement officers, a bystander reported seeing a suspicious person to police, but the reports were ignored. 

this BBC interview with a guy outside the security perimeter who claims he saw the shooter before he fired is absolutely wild pic.twitter.com/vJpKZTxSAe

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 13, 2024

On Sunday, July 14, law enforcement found suspicious devices in Crooks’ vehicle, and bomb technicians were called to the scene to investigate. 

No clear motive has been identified at this time for the 20-year-old shooter who was left dead at the scene by a Secret Service sniper. His family are cooperating with the FBI on their investigation.

Crooks worked at a local nursing home kitchen and was a registered Republican according to state voter records. In 2021, he reportedly donated $15 to ActBlue, a liberal campaign group.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump raises his fist as he is rushed off stage after an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. @apnews pic.twitter.com/VoAYqRC4QV

— Evan Vucci (@evanvucci) July 14, 2024

Although disagreeing with Trump‘s politics, the shooting has been largely condemned by queer congressional Democrats. 

The first openly LGBTQ+ woman elected to the House of Representatives (1999) and to the Senate (2013) Senator Tammy Baldwin (WI) tweeted: “Violence of this kind is never acceptable and I condemn it in the strongest of terms. My thoughts are with President Trump and his family.”

Kyrsten Sinema, the first bisexual woman to be elected to Congress and the first woman elected to Senate from Arizona, wrote: “Violence, especially political violence, is completely unacceptable. We must be a model for civil democracy and commit to the values that define us as Americans.”

Queer Senator Becca Balint from Vermont took to X and said: “I’m shocked, saddened and deeply concerned about the violence that took place at the Trump rally yesterday. I unequivocally condemn political violence of any kind. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

President Joe Biden said in a statement late Saturday evening: “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence – it’s sick, it’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”

The 46th president shared a message on Instagram, condemning the shooting and all violence in America, saying: “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence.” In the video, he references the January 6 Insurrection in 2020 just days before his inauguration. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by President Joe Biden (@potus)

Following the shooting, conspiracies have gone viral on social media platforms that must be brought into consideration with great caution. 

Well-known Democratic strategist Demitri Mehlorn believes the shooting was encouraged or possibly staged so Trump could benefit from a good photo and the backlash. 

In an email, he wrote: “Not one newspaper or opinion leader in America is willing to openly consider the possibility that Trump and Putin staged this on purpose. Ask the question, people.” However, he later apologised, saying that we must take every act of violence seriously. 

Right-wing online figure Matt Wallace shared a different perspective on X that the assassination attempt was an “inside job”.

The shooting occurred days before Trump was set to accept the 2024 presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention taking place from today, Monday, July 15, until Thursday, July 18. 

While hundreds of mass shootings occurred during Trump’s time in office, no gun reform ever came about. Following the tragic Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead and 17 injured, the US government has yet to reach a tangible solution to this kind of violence. 

A key issue for voters in the upcoming 2024 presidential election is gun reform. Vice President Kamala Harris has taken on a prominent role in combating gun violence during her term after seeing its effects on local communities.