From our perspective a scant 50 miles from the shots heard ’round the world Saturday, we join Americans of all political stripes in expressing our shock, dismay and disbelief over the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.

First, our prayers and concerns go to Trump and his family. Fortunately, the former president was not seriously injured in this most brazen act of political violence. We mourn the senseless loss of life of Corey Comperatore, loving husband, father, church leader and former fire chief. And we wish speedy recovery for those seriously injured in the attempted assassination.

Our thanks go to the Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police and others overseeing security at the event for promptly protecting the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican Party nominee for president from additional harm, or worse. The shooter perched atop a nearby rooftop was quickly neutralized, shot dead by Secret Service sharpshooters. Also, security staff did a commendable job at controlling the crowd in the pandemonium and confusion in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

Today, however, is also a time for a better understanding of how this first attempted assassination of a national leader in this country in 43 years played out.

Far too many questions remain unanswered. Among them:

•   How was the 20-year-old shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., able to elude all security protocols to climb atop a building within 200 yards of the president to take aim at him and the crowd of his supporters?

•   What motivated this young man, barely out of high school, to commit such a heinous act?

•   What added protections could the Secret Service and other security personnel have taken in the immediate outskirts of the perimeter of the rally site?

•   What, if any, additional safeguards should be taken for presidential candidates when making public appearances in this year’s campaign and in any future campaigns?

To his credit, President Joe Biden wisely ordered an immediate independent investigation into security measures at the rally and into the would-be assassin with the findings reported fully to the public. To that end, the review must be conducted as expertly, as impartially and as rapidly as possible.

The longer the mysteries behind the shooting remain unanswered, the longer misguided conspiracy theories and partisan wrangling can deepen the mammoth political divide that no doubt helped trigger Saturday’s tragedy.

It should also proceed in a climate of far less political acrimony, a climate that invites even more senseless political violence.

With that in mind, we are heartened that Biden and Trump have condemned the violence in the harshest terms possible.

“No matter how strong our convictions, we must never descend into violence,” Biden said in a national address Sunday night.

“This is a chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” Trump said Monday in Milwaukee, where he will be attending and speaking at this week’s Republican National Convention. In addition, Trump should be credited for reportedly rewriting his entire convention acceptance speech to remove any overly heated political rhetoric.

Closer to home, U.S. Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Salem, similarly commented, “We are a nation built on democracy, and violence has no place on our soil.”

Others must now follow their call for unity. If there is one constructive lesson to be learned from Saturday’s calamity in rural western Pennsylvania, it is that extreme divisiveness, heated partisanship and threatening rhetoric in the name of achieving narrow political ends have no place in our broad representative democracy.

To be sure, rational ideological disagreements will always play out in American politics — as they should. But we must commit ourselves to never again let those disagreements spiral out of control into wanton and senseless violence.