Former President Donald Trump is “extremely lucky” to be alive after a deadly assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, according to two Special Forces soldiers.
“He’s very lucky to be alive,” James Petch, a former Marine who later served as a Green Beret, said of the former president in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“I was watching this and trying to understand what happened, what happened,” he added. “It sounded like he fired five shots and then it looked like a graze.” [Trump’s] To an ear or something. … It obviously did some damage.”
Pecs, who attended the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course (SOTIC), now known as the Special Forces Sniper Course, during his time in the military, said he had “no doubt” that Trump could have been killed at the rally if the bullet had hit closer.
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Former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, following an assassination attempt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Echoing Pech, former Green Beret Chief Warrant Officer Gary Seidemann said Trump owed it all to “good fortune” to have survived the shooter’s suicide attempt.
“The biggest thing is the way he turned, the way the bullet hit him in the ear and everything else. It was just luck, that’s all,” Seidemann said. “It’s unfortunate that another person died there.”
“That means Trump [positioned]”If it had been a different angle … Trump’s head would have exploded,” he added.
Photo Gallery: Assassination Attempt of Former President Donald Trump
“This is a case of a man who was shot and killed in a shooting that occurred in Pennsylvania. He was … This is clearly someone with serious mental health issues.”
The gunmen reportedly opened fire on Trump from a rooftop about 130 yards away during a rally in the small town as Trump was addressing rally-goers ahead of this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, striking him above the right ear.
According to the agency, one attendee was killed and two were injured in the incident. Crooks was shot dead.
Pennsylvania State Police identified the victims Sunday: 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, who was killed, 57-year-old David Duch, who is in stable condition, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, who is also in stable condition.
“No matter what anyone says, no matter how mentally unhealthy someone is, there’s no way they could open fire on a group of people like that and not kill someone,” Pech said.
“It sounded like a .22-style gun, not a .223 or a 5.56. It looked like a target practice gun,” Pech added, speculating about the type of weapon Crooks may have used, “but based on the audio and other circumstances, it could have been much louder.”
Former President Donald Trump was quickly escorted off the stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Crooks is from Bethel Park. Pittsburgh Suburbs It’s about an hour south of where the assassination attempt took place.
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Crooks is a 2022 graduate of Bethel Park High School and was one of nearly 20 students from the school to receive a $500 “STAR Award” from the National Math and Science Initiative.
An online recording of the graduation ceremony shows him taking to the stage to faint applause and briefly posing with school officials. The New York Times reported.
Fox News’ Andrea Vacchiano and Scott McDonald contributed to this report.
