Witnesses recount chaos and confusion after attempted Trump assassination at Pennsylvania rally

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The shooting began six minutes into Donald Trump’s speech, as he lambasted U.S. President Joe Biden for the country’s illegal immigration levels.

“And then, the worst president in the history of our country took over, and look what happened to our country,” he told the crowd. “Probably 20 million people. And, you know, that’s a little bit old, that chart. That chart’s a couple of months old. If you wanna really see something, they said, take a look at what happened –”

A loud pop. Another pop. Mr. Trump winced and reached for his right ear. Screams rang out from the crowd as he fell to the floor. Microphones on the stage, still live, captured the next several moments.

“Get down! Get down! Get down!” Secret Service agents shouted at the former president as they swarmed the stage, covering him with their bodies. Several more shots rang out. For more than a minute, the protective detail surrounding Mr. Trump kept him cocooned below the podium.

“Come on, sir, come on,” an agent said as the former president got up, blood splattered across his cheek.

“Let me get my shoes on, let me get my shoes on,” Mr. Trump said. Then: “Wait, wait, wait, wait.” Still swaddled by the Secret Service and staring into the crowd, he raised his arm. The audience erupted with cheers. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Mr. Trump mouthed, pumping his fist. The rally broke into a chant. “USA! USA! USA!”

Eighty-three seconds after the shooting began, Mr. Trump was escorted off stage and into a vehicle.

Location of assassination attempt:

Butler Farm Show grounds

Butler

HWY. 68

MERIDIAN RD.

PENNSYLVANIA

PENN.

1 km

Butler Farm Show grounds

Law enforcement

snipers

125 metres

MAIN ST.

Roof where suspected

gunman’s body

was located

Stage area where

Trump was injured

john sopinski/the globe and mail, Source: openstreetmap;

new york times; nbc news; google earth image

Location of assassination attempt:

Butler Farm Show grounds

Butler

HWY. 68

MERIDIAN RD.

PENNSYLVANIA

PENN.

1 km

Butler Farm Show grounds

Law enforcement

snipers

125 metres

MAIN ST.

Roof where suspected

gunman’s body

was located

Stage area where

Trump was injured

john sopinski/the globe and mail, Source: openstreetmap;

new york times; nbc news; google earth image

Location of assassination attempt:

Butler Farm Show grounds

Butler

HWY. 68

MERIDIAN RD.

PENNSYLVANIA

PENN.

1 km

Butler Farm Show grounds

Law enforcement

snipers

125 metres

MAIN ST.

Roof where suspected

gunman’s body was

located

Stage area where

Trump was injured

john sopinski/the globe and mail, Source: openstreetmap;

new york times; nbc news; google earth image

The investigation has only just begun, but authorities have already determined the shooter to be Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, a resident of Bethel Park, Penn., an hour’s drive from the farm show grounds near Butler, Penn., where Mr. Trump was attacked Saturday. Mr. Crooks, who positioned himself with a rifle atop the roof of a manufacturing plant 140 metres from the rally, was killed by Secret Service agents shortly after he began firing.

The areas around the manufacturing plant and rally grounds, now a crime scene, have been swarmed by officials seeking to determine how Mr. Crooks managed to get so close to Mr. Trump.

The minutes immediately before and after the attempted assassination of the presumptive Republican nominee are now the focal point in a rapidly unfolding investigation that is set to consume the Secret Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation, raising questions about the Secret Service’s security protocols and law enforcement’s ability to establish a safe perimeter around Mr. Trump.

Witnesses have described a frenzied and chaotic scene in the aftermath of the shooting.

One of those witnesses was Greg Smith. In an interview with the BBC on Saturday, he said he tried for several minutes to warn police that a man with a rifle, wearing muted colours and tight clothing, was crawling around on the roof of a building near the rally.

“We noticed a guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us. So we’re standing there, we’re pointing, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof,” said Mr. Smith, who wore a novelty “Make America Great Again” hat topped with a shock of Trump-like hair. “He had a rifle. We could clearly see him with a rifle.”

“I’m thinking to myself: Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage? I’m standing there pointing at him for two or three minutes. The Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn,” he said. “And next thing you know, five shots rang out.”

Immediately after the shooting began, the Secret Service “blew his head off,” Mr. Smith said, adding that the roof was then quickly stormed.

“They crawled up on the roof. They had their guns pointed at him, made sure he was dead – he was dead. And that was it. It was over.”

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Barbara Williams, a long-time Trump supporter who lives in Maryland and has attended five previous rallies, said she was sitting behind the former president when shots rang out.

At first, she thought it was firecrackers, then realized it was gunshots directed at Mr. Trump.

“That bullet just tapped him and went right by him – and I just – like God stepped in on that,” Ms. Williams, who wore head-to-toe Trump gear, said as she parked her truck on Butler’s main street.

“I mean, to witness an attempted assassination of a former president – that is unbelievable that there are people so evil in this country that they would do that.”

Ms. Williams also questioned why no Secret Service agents or snipers were on the nearby roof.

“Somebody should have been stationed on top of it. I don’t understand that.”

Michael Stigamire attended the rally with his girlfriend, Christine Kortes. Mr. Stigamire is a long-time Trump supporter, but this was the first time he had ever seen the former president speak.

He and Ms. Kortes found a spot under a water tent about 150 metres from the stage. Although they could make out Mr. Trump’s figure, they were watching his speech on the large screens. But then, all of a sudden, there were a series of loud noises – maybe seven or eight, he said – followed by three or four rapid ones.

“At first, I thought it was a Roman candle going off. Then I heard the rapid fire, and I’m like, oh no, this is gunshots,” Mr. Stigamire said.

Mr. Trump immediately ducked, and the screens went black. Mr. Stigamire said that, for some reason, he took off running toward where he thought the shots were coming from – a low structure off the side of the stage with what looked like a tin roof.

“There’s multiple of us guys who were running toward the shots,” he said. “Then I heard over Secret Service that they got him and he was on the rooftop … they confirmed that, like, ‘We got him, we got him in the head, he’s dead.’”

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Mr. Stigamire said he didn’t understand how someone was able to climb up on the roof and get so close to Mr. Trump. “The building was really close,” he said.

Ms. Kortes said that upon entering the grounds everyone passed through a metal detector, but there was no further screening.

She said she was still shaken up about everything. In those first seconds, it wasn’t clear if the gunman was firing just at Mr. Trump or into the crowd as well.

She usually doesn’t talk about her politics openly, she said, because she doesn’t have the appetite for “social-media drama.” But after the rally she went online and declared her unwavering support for Mr. Trump. The attempted assassination had only strengthened her resolve.