WASHINGTON (TND) — Authorities are investigating the circumstances leading up to an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, as the Republican Party prepares to formally nominate former President Donald Trump as its presidential candidate in a deeply divided political and election climate.
The FBI identified the suspect as Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Authorities said the motive was unknown as of early Sunday morning and they were still investigating how Crooks opened fire on Trump and other rally attendees, killing one spectator and seriously wounding two others.
According to public records, Crooks is a registered Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but he donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Trump said in a post on social media site Truth Social that he was grazed in the shooting and spent the night at his New Jersey golf club after the shooting. Footage shared by campaign staff showed Trump disembarking from a private jet surrounded by heavily armed Secret Service agents.
“A bullet went through the top of my right ear. I knew immediately something was wrong as I heard the whoosh, the gunshot, felt the bullet go through my skin,” Trump's post read. “I was bleeding profusely and realized what was going on. God Bless America!”
A campaign spokesman said Trump was OK and had been taken to a medical facility for treatment, and social media posts by Trump's children said he was in good spirits after the shooting.
The former president began firing minutes after he began speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump crouched on the ground and was quickly surrounded by Secret Service agents, but with blood running down his face, he rose to his feet, fists raised. A few minutes after the shots were fired, Trump was escorted away by security and taken to a local hospital for treatment.
A Secret Service official said Crooks carried out the attack from an elevated position outside the rally venue. Much remains unknown about the potential security flaws that allowed the shocking attack, or how the Secret Service was prepared to protect Trump during the rally.
Many questions remain about how Crooks was able to get so close to Trump with a weapon without being noticed by Trump's security detail. Asked at a late-night press conference whether authorities knew the gunman was on the roof until shots were fired, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek of the FBI's Pittsburgh field office said, “That's the assessment at this point,” and called it “amazing” that the gunman was able to fire his gun before being shot dead by Secret Service agents.
Many Republican lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the Secret Service's planning and how Trump became the target of the first presidential assassination attempt since John Hinckley shot and killed President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee announced that it has called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a July 22 hearing.
Biden spoke with Trump by phone on Saturday night, though the White House did not release details of the call. Biden also spoke with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy.
Biden cut short a trip to his home state of Delaware and returned to the White House after midnight, where he is expected to be briefed on the investigation by Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement officials on Sunday morning.
Before speaking with Trump, Biden delivered a brief address to the nation from Delaware, calling the shootings “sick” and saying the country needed to unite against the violence.
“This kind of violence has no place in America. This is sick. This is one of the reasons we have to unite our country. We cannot allow this to happen. It is unacceptable,” Biden said.
The attack came just two days before the Republican Party is to hold its national convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is expected to formally be nominated as its presidential candidate and announce his running mate. Republican National Committee and campaign officials said the convention will go ahead as scheduled and that former President Trump will be in attendance.
