Donald Trump was minutes into his stump speech under the blue skies and blazing sun of Butler, Pennsylvania, when a volley of gunshots was fired at the former president from a nearby rooftop, nearly killing him.
Within seconds, he was crouched on the ground behind his podium. But soon enough, bloodied and shaken, he was standing again, pumping his fist in defiance as he was rushed from the outdoor venue to a local hospital by the US Secret Service.
Saturday’s shooting, which killed one person attending the rally as well as the gunmen and left two others critically injured, marked a new moment in America’s dark history of political violence. It also brings another twist in this year’s White House race between Trump and Joe Biden.