An attendee at former President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania claimed that he and others warned authorities about a man he said was armed with a rifle and climbing up a roof just moments before opening fire, in an apparent assassination attempt Saturday evening.
The witness, who was standing with others just outside the event in Butler, told BBC News that he saw the shooter crawling onto a nearby roof shortly after Trump began speaking at the rally.
“We noticed a guy crawling, army – bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us,” he said. “We’re standing there, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof.”
He told the BBC that he could “clearly see him with a rifle,” though he could not tell what type due to the distance. He described the gunman as wearing muted, tan-type clothing.
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The witness detailed how he and others tried to warn police and the Secret Service.
“We’re pointing at him,” he said. “The police are down there running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.’ And the police were like, ‘Huh, what,, you know, like they didn’t know what was going on.”
The witness said that they continued to point out the gunman, saying they could still see him crawling on the roof.
“I’m standing there pointing at [the gunman] for two to three minutes,” he said. “Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn. I’m pointing at that roof … and next thing you know five shots ring out.”
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He said that Secret Service agents who were on top of a nearby barn were looking in their direction with binoculars, but likely could not see the gunman due to the way that the roof he was on sloped, obscuring the shooter’s body.
After the initial shots were fired, the witness detailed seeing the Secret Service respond.
“They blew [the gunman’s] head off,” he said. “Secret Service blew his head off.”
He went on to question why Trump was not pulled off the stage after they pointed out the gunman, and why the Secret Service was not present on every roof in the nearby area.
Trump, who appeared bloodied as the Secret Service rushed him off the stage and into a waiting SUV, later posted a statement on Truth Social, saying that he “immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.”
The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the shooter. Bethel Park is a Pittsburgh suburb about an hour south from where the assassination attempt took place.
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At least one rally attendee was killed and two spectators were critically injured, authorities said. All were identified as men.
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