‘Should not, cannot happen;’ Political science expert provides insight on shooting at Trump rally

PENNSYLVANIA — Former President Donald Trump was injured in a shooting at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger told the AP that the suspected gunman is dead and at least one rally attendee was killed. Secret Service said two people were critically injured.

As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the shooting is now being investigated as an assassination attempt, according to the AP.

University of Dayton Associate Professor of Political Science Chris Devine said many Americans have probably never seen anything like this before.

“Last time, as far as I can remember, last time there were really shots taken at a president, current or former, I believe would have been May of 1981 when Ronald Reagan came basically within an inch of his life,” Devine said.

>>PHOTOS: Former President Donald Trump rushed off stage after shots fired at rally

“And as far as a presidential candidate, someone not currently holding the office but running fairly, seriously, for it, the last one I think of was over 50 years ago, in 1972, when George Wallace was running for the Democratic nomination,” he said.

Devine said security at these kinds of events is very high.

“It’s hard to say, what would have been different today, we just assume what’s normally done would have been what’s done. And in fact, we saw a very quick response from the Secret Service agents when Trump was injured,” Devine said.

Regardless, Devine said this shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

“This is clearly and exactly the kind of thing that should not, cannot happen in American politics,” Devine said.

Based on past violent incidents involving political figures, Devine said people will likely be working to learn why this happened.

News Center 7 will continue to follow this story and provide updates with the latest information.

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