REBECCA DROKE/AFP
Former US president, Donald Trump was wounded in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday, in a chaotic and shocking incident that fueled tensions ahead of the country's presidential election.
The 78-year-old was rushed off the stage with blood streaked across his face after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, while the gunman and a bystander were killed and two supporters critically injured.
President Joe Biden, who is set to face Trump in November's deeply polarized election, said the incident was "sick" and added that there was "no place in America for this kind of violence."
Biden later spoke to Trump, the White House said, in their first contact since a debate just over two weeks ago in which the president gave a disastrous performance.
World leaders reacted with shock to the incident.
Presidents and prime ministers globally spoke out against political violence and expressed their support for those affected by the shooting.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Joseph Borrell, condemned the attack.
"Once again, we are witnessing unacceptable acts of violence against political representatives," the bloc's top diplomat said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday he was "appalled by the shocking scenes" at the rally.
"Political violence in any form has no place in our societies," the premier said.
Referring to "these dark hours", Hungary's nationalist leader Viktor Orban offered his "thoughts and prayers" to Trump.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was "following with apprehension" updates from Pennsylvania and wished Trump a speedy recovery.
The right-wing leader expressed her hope that "in the following months of the electoral campaign, dialogue and responsibility can prevail over hate and violence."
Argentina's President Javier Milei blamed the "international left" after the assassination attempt.
"In panic of losing at the polls, they resort to terrorism to impose their backward and authoritarian agenda," said the populist president.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the shooting "must be strongly condemned by all defenders of democracy and political dialogue."
