On July 13, 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump was giving a speech at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, when a 20-year-old shooter opened fire from a nearby rooftop. One bullet from an AR-15-style rifle grazed Trump's right ear , leaving him bleeding as the Secret Service rushed to cover him.
In the hours after the shooting, posts on social media began to claim that Doug Mills, a veteran photographer for The New York Times, caught an image of one of the bullets on camera as it whizzed past the former president's head. "It is a moment that is unlike any in my lifetime, my job of covering the White House since 1983," Mills said in a New York Times video that was published the following day. The unannotated series of photos is available to view here .
Mills gave multiple interviews, explaining the context of the photo and sharing his experience as a witness of the attempted assassination. In the following interview with ABC News (at minute 2:43), he explains that he didn't realize he'd captured the image of the bullet until one of his editors pointed it out.
Multiple X users questioned the authenticity of the photo; many claimed it was digitally altered. "Is that even scientifically possible or is it photoshopped?" One X user replied to The New York Times' post . "You know the media lies. You know they alter photos," another wrote .
(X user @JDeLao12)
On the other hand, v arious blogs , social media users , and other news sites broke down the plausibility that Mills captured the bullet in the image , concluding that it was possible for the camera to have captured the streak of the bullet within the frame given that he was shooting with a shutter speed of 1/8,000th of a second .
As far as we are able to determine, the photo is authentic, meaning it was not digitally altered to include the streak of the bullet behind Trump's head.
The New York Times maintains a strict standard when it comes to altered images, as seen on the "Guidelines on Integrity" page of the newspaper's website:
Photography and Images
Images in our pages, in the paper or on the Web, that purport to depict reality must be genuine in every way. No people or objects may be added, rearranged, reversed, distorted or removed from a scene (except for the recognized practice of cropping to omit extraneous outer portions). Adjustments of color or gray scale should be limited to those minimally necessary for clear and accurate reproduction, analogous to the "burning" and "dodging" that formerly took place in darkroom processing of images. Pictures of news situations must not be posed.
According to an NPR story pertaining to the image, Mills' editor called him minutes after he uploaded the images asking whether he'd noticed the image in question appeared to show the bullet streak. The relevant section of the transcript is as follows:
PFEIFFER: And not until later did he realize what else his camera had recorded. He uploaded his images for his editor to review. She called him back 5 minutes later.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
MILLS: She said, there's actually a picture with a bullet going behind him. And I said, oh, my God.
SCOTT DETROW: What was your shutter speed?
MILLS: Eight-thousandth of a second.
INSKEEP: Doug Mills talking with our colleague, Scott Detrow, there - eight-thousandth of a second for the shutter speed, fast enough to capture a silvery blur - apparently, the bullet that had just touched the former president.
The New York Times explicitly vouched for the photo's authenticity, publishing an article July 14 breaking down the plausibility of the photo having captured the flying bullet. In it, they confirm that Mills was using a Sony digital camera "capable of capturing images at up to 30 frames per second." The article included an interview with Michael Harrigan, a retired FBI agent who spent 22 years in the bureau.
"If the gunman was firing an AR-15-style rifle, the .223-caliber or 5.56-millimeter bullets they use travel at roughly 3,200 feet per second when they leave the weapon's muzzle," Harrigan said. "And with a 1/8,000th of a second shutter speed, this would allow the bullet to travel approximately four-tenths of a foot while the shutter is open."
His conclusion? "Given the circumstances, if that's not showing the bullet's path through the air, I don't know what else it would be," he said.
The New York Times also published a video in which Mills addressed the circumstances surrounding the image in question. In it, the angle at which Mills was taking photographs is visible at minute 0:17.
(The New York Times)
It is unclear whether the actual bullet is visible within the frame, or only "the bullet's path," as Harrigan said . According to the former FBI agent, "it absolutely could be showing the displacement of air due to a projectile." For reference, the picture below is one example showing what a bullet looks like as a gun fires:
(Tech. Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr., U.S. Air Force)
The bottom line is that there is no evidence that Mills' image — though incredibly fortuitous — was digitally altered. Based on the fact that the photographer was shooting at a very high shutter speed and because multiple reputable outlets — including The New York Times, which originally published the image — have affirmed its authenticity, we rate this claim "True."
Hosts. 'Photo Looks to Capture the Path of a Bullet Used in Trump Assassination Attempt'. NPR, 15 July 2024. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2024/07/15/nx-s1-5039830/photo-looks-to-capture-the-path-of-a-bullet-used-in-trump-assassination-attempt. " target="blank">https://www.npr.org/2024/07/15/nx-s1-5039830/photo-looks-to-capture-the-path-of-a-bullet-used-in-trump-assassination-attempt.">https://www.npr.org/2024/07/15/nx-s1-5039830/photo-looks-to-capture-the-path-of-a-bullet-used-in-trump-assassination-attempt.
Ismay, John. 'Photo Appears to Capture Path of Bullet Used in Assassination Attempt'. The New York Times, 14 July 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/us/politics/photo-path-trump-assassination.html. " target="blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/us/politics/photo-path-trump-assassination.html.">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/14/us/politics/photo-path-trump-assassination.html.
Mills, Doug, et al. 'Video: Our Photographer on Capturing the Bullet Streaking Past Trump'. The New York Times, 14 July 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000009570661/photographer-captures-bullet-streaking-past-trump.html. " target="blank">https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000009570661/photographer-captures-bullet-streaking-past-trump.html.">https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000009570661/photographer-captures-bullet-streaking-past-trump.html.
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