Did trump really get shot
Executive summary
Yes — former president Donald Trump was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, treated at a hospital and released the same day; that incident is widely described as the most serious attempt on a U.S. president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan [1] [2]. Later reported assassination attempts — including a September 15, 2024 incident in Florida — did not result in him being wounded, according to the public record summarized in the reporting provided [3].
1. The Butler, Pennsylvania shooting: what happened and how it’s reported
Reporting and public records describe a sniper attack at a July 13 rally in Butler that wounded Trump in the upper right ear, after which he was taken to hospital, treated and released the same day; the FBI later assumed lead responsibility for the investigation into the Butler incident [1] [3] [2]. Multiple accounts characterize the Butler event as the most serious attempted assassination of a president or presidential candidate since the 1981 shooting of Ronald Reagan, and note the political fallout and calls for reduced political violence that followed [1].
2. Names, wounds and public appearances cited in sources
Some summaries identify the Butler shooter (reported as Thomas Crooks in the material provided) and describe the injury specifically as a wound to Trump’s upper right ear; two days after the incident Trump made a public appearance at the 2024 Republican National Convention wearing a bandage on his ear, consistent with those reports [3] [1]. The FBI’s Butler investigation page confirms its leadership role in probing the July 13 shooting, reinforcing that federal law enforcement treated the episode as a criminal attack requiring formal inquiry [2].
3. Subsequent alleged attempts and survival without injury
Other violent plots or attempts aimed at Trump are reported in the same corpus: a September 15, 2024 incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, is portrayed as an attempted assassination that Trump survived, with no indication in these sources that he was struck in that episode [3]. The Florida episode is described as motivated by the assailant’s intent to stop Trump’s candidacy, and officials including the White House and Vice President were briefed and publicly described as relieved that Trump was safe [3].
4. Broader context: security, polarization and institutional response
Sources frame the Butler shooting not only as an isolated criminal act but as a moment that crystallized concerns about political polarization and security protocols, with commentators and politicians urging reduced tensions and many international leaders condemning the violence [1]. The FBI’s involvement in the Butler probe signals a standard federal-law-enforcement response to an attack on a presidential candidate or former president; the reporting also places these attempts alongside debates over campaign security and the wider political climate [2] [1].
5. What remains outside the provided reporting and why that matters
The materials provided do not include full forensic or medical records, the final public report of the FBI investigation, or detailed court filings that could supply a comprehensive chain-of-evidence narrative; therefore, assertions here are limited to what the cited reporting documents — public statements, contemporaneous descriptions of injuries and law-enforcement actions — and avoid claiming knowledge beyond those sources [1] [3] [2]. Where reports differ in emphasis or political interpretation, those differences are reflected in the coverage: factual reporting of an injury and hospital treatment is paired with broad commentary about polarization and aftermath [1].