Former President Donald Trump sustained an injury to his ear after shots rang out at his Pennsylvania rally on the afternoon of Saturday July 13th. According to ABC News President Trump is “fine” while the suspected shooter is dead. Another crowd member is also dead while 2 people are in critical condition as of the writing of this piece.
As Trump spoke to a crowd at a Pennsylvania rally shots rang out and the President appeared to clutch his ear before falling to the ground and getting swarmed by Secret Service agents. The former President then stood up and raised a fist for the crowd while being whisked away from the scene. According to CNN, the apparent shooter appeared to take aim from a rooftop just outside the perimeter of the rally before being killed by Secret Service.
The shooting appeared to be a failed assassination attempt and is being investigated as an attempted assassination according to AP News.
This shooting comes amidst one of the most divise elections in recent history, and right as President Joe Biden faces increasing calls to drop out of the race.
President Biden, according to ABC News, did speak with Donald Trump after the shooting, and said “There is no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick,” in a quick briefing to the press after the shooting.
This story is developing, and we’ll likely not know the full story for some time. Developing stories involving issues as serious yet chaotic as shootings and possible assassinations provide the perfect mix of confusion and interest that make misinformation likely to spread. From the motivations of the shooter to the quality of the Secret Service’s protection of the former president, nothing is fully clear. Misinformation about anything and everything involving the shooting will likely be spreading from both sides of the American political spectrum.
That’s why, as this story continues to develop, it’s important that everyone practices good media literacy skills and questions all claims related to this incident until it can be verifiably proven by reliable sources.
Check out MasonVotes’ Media Literacy Citizen Brief to make sure you don’t fall for any misinformation likely to come out in the next few days or even weeks and months.
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