After former President Donald Trump was wounded during an assassination attempt at a campaign rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, both local and state officials have called for prayer and peace from citizens as this year’s election season continues to move forward.

During Monday’s regular meeting of the Board of Mayor and Alderman, Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said there is no room in a democracy for political violence.

“I just think we’re a better country than that,” Flaggs said. “We don’t need violence in politics and I saw where the Speaker of the House, Johnson, asked for the politicians to take the violent rhetoric out of their speeches. We need to come together. We can have the election in decent and in order.”

Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, a native of Vicksburg, also appealed to the country’s better nature, asking for prayer via social media.

“This is my President. Please pray for him,” Hosemann said in a post following Saturday’s violence. “This is an attack on the country and every citizen’s right to free and fair elections.”

The suspected gunman, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, and one person at the rally were killed Saturday. Two others were wounded.

Trump was speaking on stage just after 6 p.m. local time when multiple gunshots rang out. He put his hand to his right ear and was quickly pulled to the ground by Secret Service agents.

Trump got to his feet moments later and had blood pouring from his ear and on his face. As he rose, Trump pumped his right fist in the air and was then hustled off the stage by the Secret Service about two minutes after the shots were fired.

In a statement, Trump said he felt the bullet “ripping through skin.”

“I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” Trump said in his statement posted to his Truth Social site. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

Trump made his first public appearance after the assassination attempt Monday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Now the official Republican nominee for president, Trump has announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.