No weapon found after Trump scrambled off stage in rally gun scare

Members of the secret service usher Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump off the stage at a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada. John Locher / AP Photo

RENO, NEVADA // No weapon was involved in a commotion that briefly disrupted Donald Trump’s Saturday night rally and caused agents to hustle him from the stage, the secret service said.

The Republican presidential nominee had been speaking to supporters for a while when a disturbance broke out in the crowd close to the podium. Two secret service agents quickly surrounded Mr Trump, then hustled him away.

The secret service said a person in front of the stage had shouted “Gun!” but that no weapon was found after a search of the person and the immediate area. The person was apprehended, but officials did not identify the person or disclose whether the person had been charged with a crime.

The secret service said it was investigating the incident.

Upon his return to the stage a few minutes later, Mr Trump thanked the secret Service and told the crowd: “Nobody said it was going to be easy for us. But we will never be stopped. Never ever be stopped.”

The secret service said magnetometers are used at presidential campaign sites.

“All general public attending these events must go through a magnetometer screening prior to entering a protected area,” the agency said.

Mr Trump’s son and a leading campaign aide claimed that an incident at a Nevada rally was an “assassination attempt” against the candidate although no weapon was found.

Don Trump, and Dan Scavino, who runs Mr Trump’s social media operation, re-tweeted a message that read, “Hillary ran away from rain today. Trump is back on stage minutes after assassination attempt.”

At Mr Trump’s next rally in Denver, a pastor, introduced as Father Andre Y-Sebastian Mahanna, also falsely called the Reno incident “an attempt of murder against Mr Trump”.

Fr Mahanna blamed the incident on the media for inciting hate against the Republican nominee.

* Associated Press