In an attempted assassination, the Republican candidate Donald Trump was shot in the upper part of his right ear on Saturday, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by the US Secret Service. The man, from Pennsylvania (Bethel Park, near Pittsburgh) and apparently registered as Republican, fired the gun – an AR-15-style – from a building about 140 meters from the stage. 

Former President Trump grabbed his bloody ear and immediately fell on the ground behind his podium while security gathered around him and then rushed and scouted him to a bullet proof car, while he was showing the crowd his fist.

The gunman fired multiples shots and killed a person that was sitting in the crowd behind the podium. Two other people, during the shooting were also  critically injured, according to the US Secret Service. 

The former President was checked at a hospital and he is now safe and sound.

“There is going to be a long investigation into exactly what took place and how the individual was able to get access to the location,” FBI special agent Kevin Rojek.

The shooting will likely reshape this already complicated campaign towards the Presidential Election which is scheduled for November 5th.