Shooting at Trump Rally Comes at Volatile Time in American History

The shots rang out at 6:10 p.m. Former President Donald J. Trump clutched his right ear as blood spurted out, then ducked for cover as supporters screamed and Secret Service agents raced to surround and protect him.

Within moments, someone shouted “shooter down” and the agents, agitated but in control, began moving Mr. Trump offstage to safety. “Wait, wait, wait, wait,” he called out, then made a point of pumping his fist at the crowd and seemed to defiantly shout, “Fight! Fight!” The crowd roared and responded with chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

For the first time in more than four decades, a man who was elected president of the United States was wounded in an assassination attempt when a gunman who appeared to have crawled onto a nearby roof opened fire at Mr. Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday evening. The explosion of political violence came at an especially volatile moment in American history and further inflamed an already stormy campaign for the White House.

After Secret Service snipers killed the shooter, the former president and putative Republican presidential nominee was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and declared “fine” by his campaign. But a male spectator at the rally was killed and two other men were critically wounded, authorities said. The motivation for the attack remained under investigation.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” Mr. Trump wrote later on his social media site. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.” Mr. Trump said he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”