A witness who claimed to have seen the gunman open fire into former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, said Secret Service agents encountered the shooter immediately afterward and “blew his head off.”
The BBC spoke with an unnamed witness who was outside the crowd standing by a nearby building in the vicinity who said he and another individual attempted to flag local and federal police about a suspicious individual who was “crawling” onto the back of a roof with a rifle.
“They blew his head off,” the witness told a BBC reporter at the rally. “The Secret Service blew his head off. They crawled up on the roof. They had their guns drawn at him.”
“Other than he was in muted colors, tan type clothing, we saw the rifle flinging around as he was trying to crawl,” the witness added.
The BBC reporter warned the interviewee to “be careful” about what he was stating given that police had not issued a statement detailing the incident.
The witness said he and others had been on site all day and were further away in the field, though it was not clear if they were within the area where attendees had gone through metal detectors.
Roughly five minutes into Trump’s remarks, the witness said he and others “noticed a guy crawling army, you know, bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us,” the witness said. “We’re pointing at the guy climbing up the roof. … You could clearly see him with the rifle. The police are down there running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey man, there’s a guy up there with a rifle.’
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking?’” the witness said. “‘Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ I’m sitting here pointing at him. Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn, and next thing you know five shots rang out.”
The witness said he did not think local police or the Secret Service were aware that the shooter was on the roof despite his attempt to draw police attention.
“Because the way the slope planked he was behind” police could not see him from behind the slanted roof, he said.
The witness questioned why Secret Service had not been “on all these roofs,” as he motioned to nearby buildings.
Trump was injured during the shooting, later confirming that he was shot in the ear. The Secret Service has confirmed that Trump was “safe” after being taken away in a vehicle.
The shooter was killed by Secret Service, according to Butler County Attorney General Richard Goldinger during a CNN interview on-air Saturday evening.
“The shooter is dead,” Goldinger said. “I don’t know how he would have gotten to the location where he was, but he was outside the grounds.”
According to the latest update from the Secret Service, released roughly more than two hours after the shooting, one attendee was killed and two other spectators were wounded.
The Secret Service preclears event sites and security plans with local police and officials before every rally for Trump and President Joe Biden. Attendees must go through metal detectors to enter the stands and standing area where Trump will speak.
The rally took place at the Butler Farm Show Grounds.
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A woman interviewed live on NBC News after the incident, identified as Erin, said she was standing directly in front of Trump in the audience and witnessed the shooting up close.
“I heard four pops,” she said. “Pop, pop, pop, pop. The four Secret Service immediately jumped on the stage. We saw them push President Trump down. I could see the blood from the top of the ear to the bottom. It wasn’t gushing, but it was covered.”
