Before gunshots erupted at former President Donald Trump‘s campaign rally on Saturday, one police officer had confronted the now identified shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof of a nearby building, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to the Associated Press on Sunday.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was speaking at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening when he was shot on stage, with a bullet hitting the upper part of his right ear. The suspected gunman, now identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as 20-year-old Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was shot and killed by the Secret Service. A rally attendee, 50-year-old former firefighter Corey Comperatore was also killed during the incident. Those injured, now identified as 57-year-old David Dutch of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, are in stable condition.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign said on Saturday that the former president was “fine” and was “being checked out at a local medical facility.” Trump was released from the hospital later that night.
The FBI has classified the shooting as an assassination attempt and is working as the lead agency on the investigation alongside the Secret Service and local law enforcement.
Although Crooks’ movements and motive leading up to the shooting are still under investigation, he was said to be positioned on top of a roof of a building nearby the rally with a rifle when he began shooting.
According to the AP, who spoke to two law enforcement officials on condition of anonymity, rallygoers noticed a man climbing to the top of the roof of the nearby building and warned local law enforcement.
This is when one local officer climbed to the roof and confronted Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder as Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump who was speaking on stage and that’s when the U.S. Secret Service counter-snipers shot him, the AP reported.
Newsweek has reached out to the Pennsylvania State Police, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the Butler Police Department via email for comment.
One rallygoer told the BBC that he noticed the shooter bear crawling on a building that was “50-feet away from us.” The rallygoer said he was trying to get the police and the Secret Services’ attention before the shooting.
“We’re standing there. We’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof…we could clearly see him with a rifle,” he said.
In response to the raised security questions, Pennsylvania State Police Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens said at a late-night news conference on Saturday, which the Secret Service did not attend, “It is incredibly difficult to have a venue open to the public, and to secure that against any possible threat, against a very determined attacker.”
While the investigation remains ongoing, Saturday’s shooting has since sparked debate about the efficiency of the Secret Service and raised questions about the level of protection Trump and other presidential candidates receive. Some have even called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in light of the incident as the Republican-led House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into the shooting and asked Cheatle to testify on July 22.
The shooting comes days before the Republican National Convention (RNC) kicks off in Milwaukee where Trump is poised to unveil his highly anticipated vice presidential pick, setting the stage for a rematch of the fiercely contested 2020 election against presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The four-day convention is estimated to bring upward of 50,000 delegates, politicians, and official guests.
In two Truth Social posts on Sunday, Trump confirmed he is still attending the convention, writing that while he initially planned to delay his arrival, he decided he “cannot allow” a potential assassin to force him to change his plans. He added that he’d be leaving for Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon as planned.
Meanwhile, Biden announced that he directed the head of the Secret Service to “review all security measures, all security measures, for the Republican National Convention.”
The president expressed gratitude to the agents who risked their lives for the protection of Trump in yesterday’s shooting and expressed his condolences to Comperatore’s family. Biden also emphasized that Trump “already receives a heightened level of security,” because he’s a former president and the presumed Republican nominee.
“I’ve been consistent in my direction of the Secret Service to provide him with every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety,” Biden said.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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