Early claims Trump hit by glass fragments after shooting were incorrect

Immediately following the attempted assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, law enforcement officials claimed to two different reporters that former Trump was not grazed by a bullet but rather by glass shards.

These claims have subsequently been found to be false. Videos captured at the time of the incident show that the teleprompters — who individuals believed to have been shattered — were intact following the shooting. Though some individuals believed a corner of the teleprompter had been shattered, Snopes later reported that it was in fact just a reflection of another object.

The claim about glass shards was reported by Newsmax's Alex Salvi and Axios' Juliegrace Brufke. Brufke later removed the tweet making the claim.

Trump himself later said in a post to Truth Social that his ear was hit by a bullet. And a photograph by New York Times reporter Doug Mills appears to show the bullet. Two other photos Mills took showed Trump being hit in the right ear by the bullet. That photo is available at this link.

The Secret Service did not immediately confirm Trump had been hit by a bullet.

Speaking to the Times, retired FBI special agent Michael Harrigan, a 22-year veteran of the bureau, commented on the photos.

“It absolutely could be showing the displacement of air due to a projectile,” Harrigan said in an interview after reviewing Mills' images. “The angle seems a bit low to have passed through his ear, but not impossible if the gunman fired multiple rounds.”

In late July, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to Congress that the bureau had accounted for all eight bullets that were fired by the shooter. Wray stated that Trump might have been hit by shrapnel and not a bullet.

“With respect to former president Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said.

Later that day, the Bureau clarified their statement, saying Trump had been hit by a “bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces.”

A New York Times analysis relying on video from the event and a 3-D model published July 26 found that Trump's ear most likely was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by Thomas Crooks.

The Times produced a 3-D model of the rally grounds to help determine the trajectory of all eight gunshots – a burst of three followed by a burst of five – and found the first shot, which apparently struck Trump, was not deflected by first striking another object that would have sprayed him with debris.

Law enforcement sources confirmed that the person suspected of firing a weapon at a Pennsylvania Trump rally had been killed, as had at least one person in the crowd.

Videos showed Trump grabbing his neck after apparent gunshots had been fired before Secret Service agents pulled him to the ground. They then took him away in an armored vehicle to a hospital where he was treated for injuries.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reference New York Times reporting on the attempted assassination attempt and later reporting by Snopes. It was updated again July 26, 2024 to include a statement from FBI Director Christopher Wray and new analysis by the New York Times.