The photographer who captured this iconic image recounts the moment shots were fired at Donald Trump

As the FBI investigates the attack at former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally as an attempted assassination and an act of domestic terror, The Associated Press photojournalist who captured the image of a defiant Trump raising his fist after being targeted described the moments shots were fired.

“I was right in front of the stage, directly in front of stage. It was a normal rally. You know, I’ve done it hundreds of times. And, over my left shoulder, I heard several, several pops, and I knew immediately it was gunfire,” Evan Vucci, the photojournalist, told the AP. He has spent years covering Trump.

The former president, his ear covered in blood from what he said was a gunshot, was quickly pulled away by Secret Service agents.

Credit: AP

“And then as he’s walking down the ramp, he started fist pumping to the crowd and waving. And I did notice he had blood coming down his face, as you can see in the photos. The agents took him down the ramp, and they put him into an SUV. And again, as he was getting into the SUV, he also started pumping his fist again,” Vucci said.

Posting on his Truth Social media site about two and a half hours after the shooting, Trump said a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

“At the moment I heard the shots being fired I knew that this was a moment in American history that had to be documented. I mean, it’s our job as journalists to do this work,” said Vucci.

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