When I first saw the videos of the shooting, I was wondering why people behind Trump just stood there puzzled as to what was happening. Then we hear that Trump was hit in the ear. Conspiracy theories suddenly swirled around. Was no one else hurt? How did only his ear get hit and nothing else? Was it staged? Most times, when someone gets shot at, they just get hustled away by security and that's it. Trump does a defiant pose and gets a picture perfect moment for the cameras. WTF?
Immediately, the MAGA right started blaming the Dems.
Then the news comes out. The shooter was a 20 year old white male, registered Republican. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-rally-shooter-identified-rcna161757
He was rejected from his high school gun club because he was a terrible shooter. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-assassination-suspect-gun-record-club-b2579943.html
He and his father belonged to a local gun club, Clairton Sportsman's Club, which had a 200 yard rifle shooting range. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/15/us/thomas-crooks-trump-rally-shooting-invs/index.html
Here are maps from the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevwngjrwzno
He was shooting 430 feet away. The people injured were way short and way long from where Trump's stage was. He got 8 shots off before he was taken out by the Secret Service sniper team with one bullet.
Trump was injured in the ear. How is it possible to only be hit in the ear? There were reports that Trump had minor injuries from shattered glass from the teleprompter. I conclude that it was shattered pieces of the teleprompter that injured Trump's ear, unless it was some incredibly lucky shot that only hit his ear and not his head.
Here's what a target looks like 400 feet away, seriously small:
Videos of 50 feet to 400 feet:
The chances were he wasn't aiming at Trump's ear. The rifle range is target practice on a level field. The shooter was firing downwards at an angle that he wasn't used to. I doubt the shooter had practiced shooting from an elevated position. Also a cop climbed up to the roof and saw the shooter, so the shooter was rushed.
Considering where people were hit, I bet his shots were either too high or low, since he did target shooting at 600 feet, and he tried to adjust and wound up raking the audience with bullets instead. One of the bullets hit a transparent teleprompter and pieces of it hit Trump's ear. That's my uninformed opinion.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/timeline-trump-rally-shooting/
p.s. Apparently, Trump didn't need stitches and it was some sort of grazing wound. A day after the RNC Convention, he went golfing and wasn't even wearing a bandage. Trump has refused to release any medical reports.
Pictures of the teleprompters show them undamaged, so the stories he got hit with pieces of teleprompter are false.
FBI confirms Trump was hit by a bullet or a fragment of a bullet.
