Prime Minister and Botany MP Christopher Luxon has publicly condemned the attempted assassination today, July 14, of former United States President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump was addressing an audience at an outdoors event when several gunshots were heard.
He grabbed at his right ear before ducking to the ground as US Secret Service agents rushed to surround him on the stage.
Trump had blood on his ear and face. He was escorted off the stage to a vehicle and taken to a nearby medical facility.
The former US President, who’s campaigning for re-election, wrote on social media following the incident that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”.
His post said he “knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin”.
The suspected shooter is reported to have been shot and killed at the scene.
At least one Trump supporter at the rally was killed also and several others were injured.
Luxon has posted a statement on Facebook this afternoon about the shooting, saying: “I’m shocked by the events at Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally today.
“My thoughts are with the former President, his family, and the victims of this attack.
“No country should encounter such political violence.”
