Tag: trump shooting

LIVE: Acting Secret Service boss says he ‘cannot defend’ why roof in Trump shooting was unsecured

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The Secret Service’s acting director told lawmakers on Tuesday that he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was unsecured, faulting local law enforcement for not circulating vital information to federal authorities.Ronald Rowe testified that he recently visited the shooting site and said, “What I saw made me ashamed.”The testimony from Rowe amounted to the most detailed catalogue to date of law enforcement failings and miscommunications, with the Secret Service boss accepting blame for his own agency’s mistakes while also criticizing local law enforcement for not sharing information that a gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had been spotted on a roof near the rally site in the minutes before the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.That information, he said, had been kept “siloed” among the local officers on the scene.“It is troubling to me that we did not get that information as quickly as we should have,” Rowe said. “We didn’t know that there was this incident going on.”The FBI, meanwhile, disclosed new details about Crooks, with Deputy Director Paul Abbate saying a social media account believed to be associated with the gunman suspected in the assassination attempt espoused political violence and included antisemitic and anti-immigrant sentiment. The posts were from the 2019 and 2020 timeframe, when Crooks would have been in high school.Rowe became acting director of the Secret Service last week after Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of a House hearing in which she was berated by lawmakers of both major political parties and failed to answer specific questions about the communication failures preceding the Trump rally shooting.Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said if something like this happened in the military, “a lot of people would be fired. And if a lot of people are not fired, the system failed yet again.”He added: “Nothing’s going to change until somebody loses their job.”The hearing came a day after the FBI released new details about its investigation into the shooting, revealing that the gunman had looked online for information about mass shootings, power plants, improvised explosive devices and the May assassination attempt of the Slovakian prime minister.The FBI also said that Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has agreed to be interviewed by agents as a crime victim. The bureau said last week that the former president had been struck in the ear by a bullet or a bullet fragment. Trump, who appeared at events over the next few days with a bandage on his right ear, said he expects the interview to take place on Thursday.Most of the questions Tuesday were expected to be directed at Rowe as lawmakers demand answers about how Crooks was able to get so close to Trump. Investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots in Trump’s direction from an AR-style rifle after scaling the roof of a building of some 147 yards from where Trump was speaking.One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.At Cheatle’s hearing last week, she said the Secret Service had “failed” in its mission to protect Trump. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and vowed to “move heaven and earth” to get to the bottom of what went wrong and make sure there’s no repeat of it.Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting at the rally. She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.Cheatle said she apologized to Trump in a phone call after the assassination attempt.In a Monday night interview on Fox News Channel, Trump defended the Secret Service agents who protected him from the shooting but said that someone should have been on the roof with Crooks and that there should have been better communication with local police.“They didn’t speak to each other,” he said.He praised the sniper who killed Crooks with what he said was an amazing shot but noted: “It would have been good if it was nine seconds sooner.”

WASHINGTON —

The Secret Service’s acting director told lawmakers on Tuesday that he considered it indefensible that the roof used by the gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was unsecured, faulting local law enforcement for not circulating vital information to federal authorities.

Ronald Rowe testified that he recently visited the shooting site and said, “What I saw made me ashamed.”

The testimony from Rowe amounted to the most detailed catalogue to date of law enforcement failings and miscommunications, with the Secret Service boss accepting blame for his own agency’s mistakes while also criticizing local law enforcement for not sharing information that a gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had been spotted on a roof near the rally site in the minutes before the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.

That information, he said, had been kept “siloed” among the local officers on the scene.

“It is troubling to me that we did not get that information as quickly as we should have,” Rowe said. “We didn’t know that there was this incident going on.”

The FBI, meanwhile, disclosed new details about Crooks, with Deputy Director Paul Abbate saying a social media account believed to be associated with the gunman suspected in the assassination attempt espoused political violence and included antisemitic and anti-immigrant sentiment. The posts were from the 2019 and 2020 timeframe, when Crooks would have been in high school.

Rowe became acting director of the Secret Service last week after Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of a House hearing in which she was berated by lawmakers of both major political parties and failed to answer specific questions about the communication failures preceding the Trump rally shooting.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said if something like this happened in the military, “a lot of people would be fired. And if a lot of people are not fired, the system failed yet again.”

He added: “Nothing’s going to change until somebody loses their job.”

The hearing came a day after the FBI released new details about its investigation into the shooting, revealing that the gunman had looked online for information about mass shootings, power plants, improvised explosive devices and the May assassination attempt of the Slovakian prime minister.

The FBI also said that Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has agreed to be interviewed by agents as a crime victim. The bureau said last week that the former president had been struck in the ear by a bullet or a bullet fragment. Trump, who appeared at events over the next few days with a bandage on his right ear, said he expects the interview to take place on Thursday.

Most of the questions Tuesday were expected to be directed at Rowe as lawmakers demand answers about how Crooks was able to get so close to Trump. Investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots in Trump’s direction from an AR-style rifle after scaling the roof of a building of some 147 yards from where Trump was speaking.

One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.

At Cheatle’s hearing last week, she said the Secret Service had “failed” in its mission to protect Trump. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades and vowed to “move heaven and earth” to get to the bottom of what went wrong and make sure there’s no repeat of it.

Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting at the rally. She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.

Cheatle said she apologized to Trump in a phone call after the assassination attempt.

In a Monday night interview on Fox News Channel, Trump defended the Secret Service agents who protected him from the shooting but said that someone should have been on the roof with Crooks and that there should have been better communication with local police.

“They didn’t speak to each other,” he said.

He praised the sniper who killed Crooks with what he said was an amazing shot but noted: “It would have been good if it was nine seconds sooner.”

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July 30, 2024
Failure of communication: Beaver County SWAT team details account of Trump assassination attempt

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The local SWAT team assigned to help protect former President Donald Trump on July 13 had not had any contact with the Secret Service agents in charge of security before a would-be assassin opened fire, those officers told ABC News.

It was a critical part of the planning and communications failures that ended with a gunman killing one man, critically injuring two more and wounding Trump as he delivered a speech just days before accepting the Republican presidential nomination.

“We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived, and that never happened,” said Jason Woods, lead sharpshooter on the SWAT team in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

“So I think that was probably a pivotal point, where I started thinking things were wrong because it never happened,” Woods said. “We had no communication.”

In their first public comments since the assassination attempt, the SWAT team on the ground that day and their supervisors spoke exclusively with ABC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Aaron Katersky. It is the first time any key law enforcement personnel on-site on July 13 have offered first-hand accounts of what occurred.

They explained that they did what they could to try to thwart the attack but now have to live with the failure.

The episode last week led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. And, in the wake of the assassination attempt, a series of law-enforcement, internal and congressional probes have been announced – with communications and coordination a key focus of investigators’ attention.

RELATED: FBI says bullet struck Donald Trump’s ear during assassination attempt at rally

The Secret Service, whose on-site team was supplemented as usual by local, county and state law-enforcement agencies, was ultimately responsible for security at the event.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi declined to respond directly to the comments from Woods and his colleagues. He said the agency “is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again. That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations.”

Woods told ABC News he would have expected to have seen more coordination with the Secret Service and to have had greater communication between their team on the ground that day and the agents with Trump’s detail. The first communication between their group and the Secret Service agents on the scene that day, he said, was “not until after the shooting. By then, he said, “it was too late.”

Woods and the rest of the Beaver County sniper team were in position by mid-morning July 13, hours before Trump was set to take the stage at the Butler Farm Show grounds, outside Pittsburgh. The site is studded by a complex of warehouses, some clustered just outside the position where metal detectors were set up that day.

Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, sparked suspicion among the Beaver County SWAT team but was still able to evade law enforcement and take position on the roof of the very building where county snipers had been posted. Though their sniper had taken pictures of Crooks and had called into Command about the suspicious presence — Crooks later opened fire on the former president less than 200 yards from the stage.

RELATED: FBI seeking to interview Trump as part of assassination attempt investigation

Beaver County Chief Detective Patrick Young, who runs the Emergency Services Unit and SWAT team, said collaboration is key when lives are on the line.

“I believe our team did everything humanly possible that day,” Young said. “We talk a lot on SWAT that we as individuals mean nothing until we come together as a team.”

Copyright © 2024 ABC News Internet Ventures.

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July 30, 2024
New details reveal officers left post to look for Crooks before Trump shooting

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BUTLER, Pennsylvania — A local law enforcement commissioner revealed during a House Homeland Security hearing on Tuesday stunning new details about the security failures that led to the near assassination of Donald Trump, raising more questions for the embattled US Secret Service.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris’ striking testimony comes just one day after now-resigned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee and largely declined to answer questions about the shooting at the former president’s Pennsylvania rally.

RELATED: Secret Service director tells Congress ‘we failed’ in hearing on Trump assassination attempt

Paris told lawmakers about the communications between the Secret Service and local law enforcement who initially spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin. He also described a more detailed timeline from when officers first spotted Crooks in the crowd to when the 20-year-old opened fire on Trump.

Here’s what to know from Tuesday’s hearing:

Officers left post to look for Crooks

Two local law enforcement officers left a building with vantage points overlooking the roof where Crooks took aim at the former president before he fired shots, Paris testified.

Paris said that two officers with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a tactical force with sniper capabilities, left their posts in the building to look for a suspicious individual they spotted first and alerted to other law enforcement. That person was Crooks.

The lawmakers watched video taken during a congressional tour of the rally site Monday, from the building where the ESU officers left their post, showing the roof where Crooks eventually climbed and took shots at Trump.

RELATED: Secret Service spotted shooter on roof 20 minutes before gunfire erupted at Trump rally

“So are you then saying, to your knowledge, those ESU officers left the location where they could look out the window to go in search of this person?” Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina asked.

“That is my understanding,” Paris said, adding that the officers went searching with other local officers in the area. “I don’t want to establish a timeline minute by minute because we don’t have that yet.”

Bishop also questioned whether the two officers who left their post could have seen Crooks climb on top of the roof if they had stayed put. Paris said he didn’t know.

Crooks fired eight times

Investigators believe that Crooks fired eight rounds before he was killed by counter-snipers, Paris said.

“I believe that the number is eight,” Paris told the committee. “Eight casings have been recovered.”

ALSO SEE: What Thomas Matthew Crooks did in hours leading up to assassination attempt on Trump

Officials had previously only confirmed that the shooter fired multiple times at the rally earlier this month.

Paris also told members of Congress that “several Secret Service agents” told the state police area commander during a walkthrough of the area before the rally that the Butler County Emergency Services Unit was responsible for securing the building where Crooks fired the shots.

Minutes on the roof

A municipal officer came face-to-face with Crooks during the several minutes the would-be assassin was on the roof before Crooks fired on Trump, Paris testified.

Paris said that the brief confrontation came as a pair of local officers who had learned of Crooks’ position on the roof attempted to climb up and confront the shooter. But while the officer was “dangling” from the roof, Crooks aimed his rifle at the officer and the officer fell.

Paris told lawmakers that Crooks was on the roof for roughly three minutes, but only a few seconds passed between when the officer confronted him and when he fired at Trump, correcting a timeframe he gave earlier in the hearing.

RELATED: Timeline: How the Trump assassination attempt unfolded at rally in Pennsylvania

“When the one local officer hoisted the other one up, and subsequently falls,” Paris said, Crooks was “already, I believe, close to being in his final position there. And I’m told it’s – again, sequence of events, not a timeline based on the prior criteria laid out – but seconds after that is when the first shots rang up.”

Paris said that whether, or when, the confrontation was relayed to the Secret Service or other law enforcement agencies at the rally “remains under investigation.”

Communications between Secret Service and local law enforcement

Paris also detailed communications among law enforcement about Crooks before Trump took the stage at the rally earlier this month.

According to Paris, “there was a text thread going” with members of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, some of whom initially spotted Crooks and reported him as a suspicious individual.

“At some point when he utilized the range finder, the suspicion was heightened,” Paris said of Crooks.

State Police then received a call and a text from the ESU about Crooks’ activity that they immediately relayed to Secret Service. Local, state and federal law enforcement were in a unified command post at the rally.

RELATED: Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas announces independent review of Trump assassination plot

State Police “verbally turned right around and gave it to the Secret Service,” Paris said.

(The-CNN-Wire & 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)

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July 24, 2024
In interview, RNC chair distances party from Project 2025
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Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley distanced his party from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — an administration-in-waiting crafted by the right-wing think tank — telling Spectrum News in Milwaukee on Monday that “we have absolutely nothing to do with Project 2025.”
What You Need To Know

In an interview with Spectrum News in Milwaukee on Monday, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley distanced his party from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025

Whatley’s comments come as Trump, in a separate interview taped last week and released Monday, named one of the report’s authors, Tom Homan, as someone he would appoint in a second term to help oversee his immigration policies

According to a CNN analysis, at least 140 veterans of the Trump administration, including six former Cabinet secretaries, helped craft Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership” report

Whatley also discussed the impact the assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend will have on the convention
“That project is a complete standalone entity. It has nothing to do with the RNC. It has nothing to do with the Trump campaign,” Whatley said. “There may or may not be some good ideas in there, but right now, we’re focused on our platform, which we adopted at the RNC and is going to be taken up by the convention.”

The RNC’s platform committee approved a 16-page policy document last week, far shorter than previous iterations of the party’s platform and a fraction of the size of Project 2025’s 922-page planning document — which was authored by dozens of Trump allies and former administration and campaign officials. Trump has also distanced himself from the project and some of the hard-right policies it proposes that have become a focal point of the Biden campaign.

But in an interview taped last week and that aired on Monday morning, Trump named one of the report’s authors, Tom Homan, as someone he would appoint in a second term to help oversee his immigration policies. Homan is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the first Trump administration, when he was a key figure behind the policy of separating migrant children from their parents.

“I have Tom Homan lined up, we have the greatest people,” Trump told Fox News host Harris Faulkner when discussing Vice President Kamala Harris and border policy. Trump also said “we’re bringing back Tom Homan” at a Florida rally last week.

According to a CNN analysis, at least 140 veterans of the Trump administration, including six former Cabinet secretaries, helped craft Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership” report.

In his interview with Spectrum News, Whatley also discussed the impact the assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend will have on the convention.

“I think obviously the president has said that he intends to write a new speech and have a different conversation with the voters, but our conversation with all American families really doesn’t change, because this entire convention is about speaking directly to the American people about the issues that they’re worried about, right?” Whatley said. “This is about jobs and the economy. It’s about safety. It’s about security. And certainly safety takes on a whole other connotation in light of an event like this.”

When asked if Americans would hear from Trump each of the four nights of the convention, which runs through Thursday, Whatley said “stay tuned.”

Whatley, who was handpicked by Trump to run the party after the former president successfully beat back his primary rivals, spoke of the importance of his home state North Carolina, whose state Republican Party he ran.

“We’re very proud of the role that North Carolina is playing in this convention. Both [RNC vice chair] Lara Trump and I, coming from North Carolina, obviously, have a very soft spot in our heart for it,” Whatley said. “North Carolina is a very, very critical, important battleground state and the state party down there, led by Jason Simmons, is doing a fantastic job of making sure that we’re in a position to be able to carry it for the third time in a row for Donald Trump.”
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Joseph Konig

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July 15, 2024
Man killed at Trump rally hailed by friends and loved ones
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Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief who was shot and killed at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, spent his final moments protecting his family from gunfire in the attempted assassination of the former president.

According to those that knew him, that’s just the kind of person Comperatore was; someone who lived and died helping others.
What You Need To Know

Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, was shot and killed at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday in an effort to protect his wife and daughter from gunfire

His friends, coworkers and loved ones remembered him as a hero and a man of conviction

Both President Joe Biden and Trump honored Comperatore and expressed their condolences to his loved ones

A GoFundMe for his family has received nearly $1 million in donations as of Monday afternoon
“He’s a literal hero. He shoved his family out of the way, and he got killed for them,” said neighbor Mike Morehouse, who lived next to Comperatore for eight years. “He’s a hero that I was happy to have as a neighbor.”

Comperatore, 50, was a proud Trump supporter. His quick thinking in putting his body between his wife and daughter and the bullets attempting to reach the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee rings true to those that knew him.

“In his last moments, he was shielding his family from the gunfire,” said Craig Cirrincione, Lieutenant at the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, where Comperatore was previously a fire chief. “Even if that was just a random civilian beside him, he would have done the same thing. He was a man that just wanted to protect and serve and love. He was truly a man of love.”

Firefighters placed black bunting outside the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company to honor Comperatore.

“Corey was a lifetime volunteer firefighter within our company and will be greatly missed by all who knew him,” the fire department wrote in a post on Facebook. “Corey, rest easy brother and we will take it from here. Please pray and send good thoughts to Corey’s family and everyone that knew him.”

In the front yard of the family’s Pennsylvania home, a memorial of flowers and an American flag was erected.

Comperatore was remembered as a father to two daughters, a husband and a churchgoing member of the community.

“Corey was a girl dad,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in his memory. “Corey was a firefighter. Corey went to church every Sunday. Corey loved his community. Most especially, Corey loved his family.”

“This is the last thing that this man ever deserved,” Cirrincione said.

Assistant Chief Ricky Heasley, who knew Comperatore for more than a decade, remembered him as someone who “never had a bad word.”

Both President Joe Biden and Trump honored Comperatore and expressed their condolences to his loved ones.

“He was a father,” Biden said. “He was protecting his family from the bullets being fired when he lost his life. God love him.”

A GoFundMe for his family has received nearly $1 million in donations as of Monday afternoon.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Justin Tasolides

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July 15, 2024
The Secret Service is investigating how a gunman who shot and injured Trump was able to get so close

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle was able to get close enough to shoot and injure former President Donald Trump at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, a monumental failure of one of the agency’s core duties.

The gunman, who was killed by Secret Service personnel, fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the agency said.

An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos taken at the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking. A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows the body of a man wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump’s rally was held.

SEE ALSO | Latest on Trump assassination attempt: Live updates

The roof was less than 150 meters (yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-style rifle, like that of the gunman at the Trump rally, is the semiautomatic civilian version of the military M16.

The FBI on Sunday identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

The Secret Service did not have a speaker at a late-night news conference where FBI and Pennsylvania State Police officials briefed reporters on the shooting investigation. FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said it was “surprising” that the gunman was able to fire at the stage before he was killed.

Members of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper team and counterassault team were at the rally, according to two law enforcement officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

The heavily armed counterassault team, whose Secret Service code name is “Hawkeye,” is responsible for eliminating threats so that other agents can shield and take away the person they are protecting. The counter-sniper team, known by the code name “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with sniper rifles to deal with long-range threats.

READ MORE | Man killed at Trump rally was former fire chief who ‘died a hero,’ Pennsylvania governor says

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said his department and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement to investigate the shooting. Maintaining the security of presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of the department’s “most vital priorities,” he said.

“We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today,” Mayorkas said. “We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.”

Calls for an investigation came from all sides.

Rep. Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, sent a letter to Mayorkas on Sunday raising questions about the shooting and demanding information about the former president’s Secret Service protection.

“The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated,” Green wrote in the letter.

Green also noted reports that the Secret Service had rebuffed requests from the Trump campaign for additional security. A spokesman for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, said on X Sunday that those allegations were “absolutely false” and that they had added resources and technology as the campaign’s travel increased.

SEE ALSO | Suspect in Trump assassination attempt had registered as Republican but motive unknown

Green said he would be talking with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Sunday.

James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who is the House Oversight Committee chairman, said he contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and called on Cheatle to appear for a hearing. Comer said his committee will send a formal invitation soon.

“Political violence in all forms is un-American and unacceptable. There are many questions and Americans demand answers,” Comer said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, called for investigating “security failures” at the rally.

“The federal government must constantly learn from security failures in order to avoid repeating them, especially when those failures have implications for the nation,” Torres said.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, posted on X that he and his staff are in contact with security planning coordinators ahead of the Republican National Convention set to begin Monday in Milwaukee. “We cannot be a country that accepts political violence of any kind – that is not who we are as Americans,” Evers said.

The FBI said it will lead the investigation into the shooting, working with the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will bring every available resource to bear to this investigation.”

“My heart is with the former President, those injured, and the family of the spectator killed in this horrific attack,” Garland said in a statement. “We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is an attack on our democracy.”

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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July 14, 2024
What we know and don’t know about the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally
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Come on, let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes. I got, I got you, sir. Let me get my shoes, sir. Hold that in your head buddy. So we gotta move to the pump. Let out, wait, wait, wait, wait now let me see this.
What we know and don’t know about the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally

Updated: 1:59 AM EDT Jul 14, 2024

Shots were fired at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday evening.Here’s what we know and don’t know so far.What we know Trump’s rally was interrupted after a series of loud noises rang out. Trump went to the ground as Secret Service agents rushed to cover him. Screams could be heard coming from the crowd.Trump appeared to be bleeding from his right ear as he was escorted from the stage. He clutched his ear while going to the ground as the loud bangs were going off.The Butler County, Pennsylvania, district attorney reported that two people have died: a shooter and a rally attendee. Three others were critically injured.The FBI confirmed at an early Sunday morning press conference that the shooting was an assassination attempt on the former president.The shooter was outside the Trump rally and was killed by the Secret Service. Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene of the shooting.The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, “as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump,” according to a public affairs specialist with FBI Pittsburgh.Later Saturday night, Trump said on Truth Social, “Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear… I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.” President Joe Biden addressed the nation Saturday evening, stating, “Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas issued a statement Saturday night, “DHS and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement partners to respond to and investigate the shooting. We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today. We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security” A Secret Service spokesman said, “An incident occurred the evening of July 13 at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has implemented protective measures and the former President is safe. This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available.” What we don’t knowThe identity of the victims is not known.The motive of the shooter is not known.The exact location from where the shots took place, though it was reported that it happened outside of the rally.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Here’s what we know and don’t know so far.

What we know

Trump’s rally was interrupted after a series of loud noises rang out. Trump went to the ground as Secret Service agents rushed to cover him. Screams could be heard coming from the crowd.

Trump appeared to be bleeding from his right ear as he was escorted from the stage. He clutched his ear while going to the ground as the loud bangs were going off.

The Butler County, Pennsylvania, district attorney reported that two people have died: a shooter and a rally attendee. Three others were critically injured.

The FBI confirmed at an early Sunday morning press conference that the shooting was an assassination attempt on the former president.

The shooter was outside the Trump rally and was killed by the Secret Service.

Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene of the shooting.

The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, “as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump,” according to a public affairs specialist with FBI Pittsburgh.

Later Saturday night, Trump said on Truth Social, “Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear… I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.”

President Joe Biden addressed the nation Saturday evening, stating, “Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas issued a statement Saturday night, “DHS and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement partners to respond to and investigate the shooting. We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today. We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security”

A Secret Service spokesman said, “An incident occurred the evening of July 13 at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has implemented protective measures and the former President is safe. This is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available.”

What we don’t know

The identity of the victims is not known.

The motive of the shooter is not known.

The exact location from where the shots took place, though it was reported that it happened outside of the rally.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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July 13, 2024