BBC Reporter Interviews Man Who Saw Trump Shooter Before, During, After (Full, Unedited Interview!)

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Witness Says He Saw Gunman On Roof Near Trump Rally
By Gary O'Donoghue
Senior North America correspondent, Butler County, Pennsylvania
BBC News
July 13, 2024

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4v7v2g5l1o

A man with a rifle was seen on a rooftop minutes before shots were fired at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania, a witness has told the BBC.

Greg Smith said the man had crawled on top of a building just outside the event in Butler County on Friday evening.

He said he pointed the gunman out to police.

"I'm thinking to myself 'Why is Trump still speaking, why have they not pulled him off the stage'... the next thing you know, five shots ring out."

The former president was immediately swarmed by Secret Service agents and escorted away. He was seen with blood on his face and later said a bullet had pierced his ear.

The gunman was shot dead, officials later confirmed. Mr Smith told the BBC he saw Secret Service agents shoot the man.

Mr Smith was listening from outside the rally and said he saw the gunman around five minutes into Trump's speech.

"We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50ft away," he said. "He had a rifle, we could clearly see a rifle.

"We're pointing at him, 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 did not know what was going on."

Mr Smith said he tried to alert the authorities for three to four minutes, but thought they probably could not see the gunman because of the slope of the roof.

"Why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here?" he asked. "This is not a big place. "[It's a] security failure, 100% security failure."

He said he later saw the agents shoot the gunman: "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."

Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, said agents had "neutralised the shooter" and "quickly responded with protective measures".

The incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination.

A crowd member was killed and two others were critically injured, the service added.

Mr Smith later told the BBC his child was "crying and begging me to take him home" after the shooting.

"There were a lot of kids up there with us who were terrified, they're still terrified," he said.

Another witness who was inside the event described dropping to the ground after hearing five gunshots in quick succession.

Jason, who did not give his surname, told the BBC: "We see the Secret Service jump on Trump to protect him; everyone on the ground dropped down very quickly.

Then he "stood up and put his fist up in the air".

"He was a little bloody, his ear was bleeding. He stood up and he was alive and breathing."

An emergency department doctor at the rally told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that he treated a crowd member for a gunshot wound to the head.

"I heard the shots, I thought it was firecrackers to begin with," he said.

"Someone over there was screaming 'He's been shot, he's been shot'.

"They guy had spun around [and was] jammed between the benches."

"There was a lot of blood."

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Trump Confirms Bullet ‘Pierced’ Ear During Rally Shooting
By Jack Phillips
The Epoch Times
July 13, 2024

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/trump-confirms-bullet-pierced-ear-during-rally-shooting-5685870

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday night issued a statement after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania just hours earlier.

The presumed 2024 GOP presidential candidate confirmed that a bullet had "pierced the upper part" of his ear.

"Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured," former President Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

A shooter is dead and an attendee was killed, officials said. Two attendees are critically injured. The former president's campaign says he is "fine" after being whisked off the stage and is being checked out at a local medical facility.

The former president confirmed in his statement that he was "shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear," adding that he "knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin."

"Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening," he wrote, adding that it's "incredible that such an act can take place in our Country."

During the rally, the former president was speaking to the crowd when several loud gunfire-like noises were heard as he ducked to the ground behind his podium before multiple Secret Service agents rushed to gather around him. As he got up, blood appeared to streak across former President Trump's face.

Multiple shots were fired toward the stage by presumably a shooter, who has yet to be identified. The suspect fired from an "elevated position outside of the rally venue," said the U.S. Secret Service in a statement Saturday. Agents "neutralized" the shooter who is now dead, the service added.

Former President Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., issued a statement on his father's health, saying he is in "great spirits" after the incident. He will never stop fighting to save America," he added.

Before former President Trump allowed Secret Service to whisk him off the stage, he made a conscious effort to let the crowd know he was ok with some fist pumps in the air while looking around at the crowd.

A spokesperson for New York Mayor Eric Adams told news outlets that out of "an abundance of caution," the city's police department will increase its presence across the city, including at Trump Tower and 40 Wall Street.

"While we are surging these resources, we want to be very clear that we see no nexus to NYC at this time," wrote Fabien Levy on X. Mr. Levy said the mayor "has been briefed on the incident involving former President Trump in Pennsylvania [and] continues to get updates."

Reactions

After the incident, several top Democrats, including President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama, condemned the shooting.

There is absolutely no place for political violence in our democracy," former President Obama wrote in a statement, adding that "we should all be relieved that former President Trump wasn't seriously hurt, and use this moment to recommit ourselves to civility and respect in our politics."

President Biden told reporters who were with him in Delaware, "I tried to get ahold of Donald. He's with his doctors.

"I plan on talking to him, shortly, I hope," he added.

The president added that there is "no place in America for this kind of violence," continuing, "It's sick. It's sick. It's one of the reasons we have to unite this country."

He added, "We cannot condone this."

In a formal statement, President Biden said that he is "praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information."

"There's no place for this kind of violence in America," he added. "We must unite as one nation to condemn it."

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