Have there been reports which mention what the shrapnel could have come from? What object or objects were hit by bullets in order to make the shrapnel? I don’t remember hearing about any broken objects. There were people early on saying that a teleprompter was shot, but I believe that was refuted.
We know from the picture the bullet was really close.
On youtube Brandon Herrera has a video up on the assassination attempt. I’m a bit surprised there isn’t more ear damage.
The bullet may have hit one of the other people that got shot.
Or, since it seems unlikely (just a wag) a bone fragment struck Trump, perhaps it was part of one of the bleachers the people were sitting on.
Yes, when we lived in the country, I’d take the kids to school in the morning on opening day of firearms deer hunting season. We would hear lots of gun fire in the woods and it sounded much like the shots in the video. I really was puzzled by people commenting early on that it souned like airsoft or paintball guns. I’ve never heard those sorts of guns fired so I figured what did I know?
I dislike Trump with every fiber of my being but IMHO being hit with shrapnel is just as bad as being grazed by a bullet. And make no mistake, this was a minor graze. As noted, ears bleed a lot and there was relatively little blood on Trump. Also why is he hiding his medical records? He is being treated by a congressman without a valid medical license (still licensed in the military but Trump is not military). What is he hiding?
Because he’s a lying piece of crap, and it serves some nefarious plan. It also fuels his act of god bs.
I just hope the Secret Service tightens up their act. I don’t want someone I don’t hate coming that close whatever caused the creep to bleed.
Because he views anything less than perfect as a defect and I suspect that like any 78 year old man who doesn’t exercise much and has a crap diet he has some chronic problems he doesn’t want anyone to know about. I also suspect he’s the sort who thinks doctors work for him and are supposed to tell him what he wants to hear, as opposed to something like actual medical advice.
From one standpoint his injury was minor. Very little physical damage.
From another it was huge, and that’s the psychological part because he really, really understands that he almost died on that stage.
It just seems to me that, if Trump had proof it was a bullet, he would want to use that for his narrative.
Sure, releasing a full health report might be bad—since it might contain other stuff he doesn’t want people to know—and redacting some parts might seem suspicious. But a statement about the injury should be fine.
That said, I suspect that it may not be 100% clear. He could have had some shrapnel embedded, but may have also gotten some damage from the bullet. Would a bullet grazing him necessarily leave irrefutable signs?
I’m just shocked that he allowed himself to appear at his convention with what could easily be compared to a Kotex taped to his head. Did he not realize that the jokes from that would practically write themselves?
I’m surprised that no one has said that he had “blood coming out of his wherever”, especially since the last word is technically flexible enough to refer to the ear.
Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out a couple days ago that while under the aegis of the Secret Service, Presidents have been shot at before, hit before, and killed before, but this is the first time the SS director has resigned because of it.
Another first for one who scarcely deserves it.
Excellent point. John Hinckley, Jr. was a LOT closer to Reagan than Crooks was to Trump.
I’m not. He wanted to make it blazingly obvious what a close call he’d had in his heroic service to himself – er, the country. An appropriately sized bandage (likely a small Band-Aid) just wouldn’t do the job.
Were any of the other shootings in the context of an apparent total failure of the Secret Service to do its job properly?
Shinzo Abe’s assassination took place outdoors, in the middle of the street as I recall.
ETA: Oh, you probably meant Lincoln. NVM.
~Max
Here’s the sequencing. This is rough math, but there were 8 shots fired total over a total of six seconds. They came in two volleys. The first volley was of 3 shots over roughly two seconds. Then a pause of two seconds. Then the last volley of 5 shots over two seconds.
The single countersniper kill shot then came 10 seconds later (or 10 seconds after the shooter’s last shot).
This is each shot related to Trump’s injury:
1st shot - grazes Trump’s ear and hits the metal bleachers furthest away from shooter (stage left) right near a rally goer named Dutch. I suppose it’s possible shrapnel or glass or something other than the bullet hit Trump’s ear, but regardless it was this shot that caused the damage. Trump flinches and starts reaching for his ear before the second shot.
2nd shot - Hits victim Dutch near where the first bullet hit in bleachers furthest away from shooter.
3rd shot - Hit a crane (holding speakers, which drop (sag), since fluid from the hydraulics is spraying) just past Dutch / furthest bleachers.
Now is when Trump is looking at his hand with blood on it and he starts to crouch - there is a photo of this / you can also watch and listen. He is quickly covered by secret service before the next volley - within the two second pause between volleys.
(likely) From the shooter’s perspective, Trump is now on the ground / the angle to shoot his target is different / he has to adjust his line of sight.
4th shot - Hit and killed victim Comperatore. Comperatore was in the “nearest” set of bleachers. Probably because the line of site has changed to a sharper degree downwards where Trump is on the ground.
My commentary…
Nothing really “matters” after the first 3 shots (from Trump/ear perspective) since Trump was now covered after the first 3 shots and his ear was already bleeding. From when Trump got hurt, it was almost certainly due to the first shot. I don’t think an ear would change the trajectory, and all 3 shots in end up about the same place - I’m speculating here, though. Also, you can see the two teleprompters and they never appear to shatter in any way.
I also don’t see any uniformed officers near Trump. There could have been, or plain clothed, though down low off camera near the reporters or maybe “feet away” just means in the vicinity. There would certainly be debris, certainly from the crane shot and others.
*I can post cites if you want, but it might take awhile.
Allowing Hinckley to get close enough to Reagan to wound him with a shot from a handgun seems like a rather big failure, IMO.
By that standard every attempted assassination was a security failure. I don’t recall any recriminations about the Reagan (or Ford) attempts raising questions about the S.S.'s performance.