The BBC interviewed a man who said he was an eyewitness to the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday night, and he said he tried to warn police and the U.S. Secret Service about the would-be assassin, whom he spotted with a rifle on a nearby roof minutes before shots were fired.
Here’s a transcript of the interview:
Witness: “We came to listen to the rally. We couldn’t see [Donald Trump], but we could hear him.
“So we walked up and in probably five to seven minutes of Trump speaking — I’m estimating here — I have no idea, you know, but we noticed the guy crawling, you know, bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50, feet away from us.
“So we’re standing there, you know, we’re pointing, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof.”
Interviewer: And he had a gun, right?
Witness: “He had a rifle. We could clearly see him with a rifle. Absolutely. 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 were like, ‘Huh, what?’ You know, like, they didn’t know what was going on, you know? We’re like, ‘Hey, right here on the roof.’ We can see him from right here. We see him, you know, he’s he’s crawling.
“And next thing you know, I’m thinking to myself, I’m like, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’
“I’m standing there pointing at him for, you know, two, three minutes. Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn. I’m pointing at that roof, just standing there like this. And next thing you know, five shots ring out.”
Interviewer: So you’re, you’re certain that the shots came from that guy?
Witness: “One hundred percent, and he was up there for a couple of minutes ... at least three to four minutes. And we were telling police in the Secret Service, we were telling the police, we were pointing at him, for the Secret Service, who were looking at us from the top of the barn.
“They were looking at us the whole time. And we were standing by that tree.”
Interviewer: Could they see him?
Witness: “Probably not, because the roof, the way the slope went, he was behind where they could see. But, why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here? I mean, this is not a big place.
“I mean, obviously everyone, when the shooting started, everyone was very panicked.”
Interviewer: Did you see what happened to him at all?
Witness: “Oh, yeah. They blew his head off. ... Secret Service blew his head off.”
Interviewer: You’re pretty sure they shot the guy?
Witness: “Absolutely.”
Interviewer: And did you see them go up to him afterward?
Witness: “Yeah, they crawled up on the roof. They had their guns pointed at him make sure he was dead. He was dead, and that was it. It was over.”
The U.S. Secret Service, in a statement on Saturday night, said the shooter at the rally was outside the perimeter of the venue when an apparent assassination attempt was made:
“During former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the evening of July 13, at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue.
“U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralized a shooter who is now deceased. U.S. Secret Service quickly responded with protective measures, and the former president is safe and being evaluated. One spectator was killed, two spectators were critically injured. The incident is currently under investigation, and the Secret Service has formally notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
According to ABC News: “The shooter at the Trump rally fired as many as 8 rounds from an AR style rifle while perched on a rooftop adjacent to the venue, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The shooter was 200-300 yards away at the time of the gunfire, the sources said.”
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The AP contributed to this report. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.