Trump reckons the move stopped the bullet hitting him ‘right in the head’
Donald Trump appeared to make a last second move that “likely saved his life” just before an assassination attempt at a rally.
The former US president was speaking in Pennsylvania on Saturday (July 13) when a gunman fired at him from a nearby rooftop.
Trump quickly ducked to the ground as he was swarmed by security, and when he stood up blood could be seen on his ear, which appeared to have been grazed by a bullet.
The gunman was identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. He had positioned himself on a roof approximately 200 yards away from where the rally was taking place and was shot dead by security forces.
In a statement after the event, the Republican presidential candidate said it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
But according to reports, it was a last second head movement from Trump that ended up saving his life.
He apparently explained to a former White House doctor Ronny Jackson that he turned his head to look at the big screen behind him at the rally, which was showing a chart of illegal immigration statistics.
This was just seconds before Crooks opened fire, and Trump reckons it was his late head movement that stopped the bullet hitting him “right in the head.”
He reportedly told Jackson: “That chart that I was going over saved my life. The border patrol saved my life.
“If I hadn’t pointed at that chart and turned my head to look at it, that bullet would have hit me right in the head.”
Some of those in attendance at the rally also agreed that Trump’s late head movement was what saved his life.
Speaking to NBC News, one woman, called Vanessa, said things would have turned out very different if Trump hadn’t “moved his head.”
She told the broadcaster: “We were six rows back, straight in front of him at his podium. We could see him really good.
“He was talking about his chart and he moved his head to the right to explain where they’re at in the chart.
“But as he moved his head to look at the chart up on the screen that’s when he got grazed in the ear.”
One man was killed in the attack in Saturday. Corey Comperatore, a husband and father of two, died trying to protect his family during the shooting.
The BBC reports that he was a volunteer fire chief and an “avid Trump supporter.” In a post on social media, his daughter Allyson described him as “the best dad a girl could ever ask for” and said he had “died a real-life superhero”.
A GoFundMe set up for his family has raised more than $830,000 (£640,000).
