Donald Trump rally witness tried to warn officials of gunman 'bear crawling' on roof before shooting
Trigger Warning: This article contains some graphic information and content that may trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA: Former President Donald Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, took a shocking turn after he was rushed off stage to the motorcade following several gunshots being fired.
A witness accounted he saw a man carrying a rifle on a rooftop minutes before the shots were fired at the Republican presumptive nominee's rally on Saturday, July 13. Greg Smith, a rally attendee, told BBC that the man crawled on top of the building that was located just outside the venue and that he alerted the police to the gunman's presence.
"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," he told the outlet.
The Secret Service agents immediately escorted away Trump. There was blood on the ex-president's face, and he later stated that a bullet had grazed his ear.
Smith said that he witnessed the Secret Service shooting the suspected shooter, and the police later confirmed he was shot dead.
According to the latest reports from NBC News, federal investigators have identified a tentative suspect, a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania, but his identity has not been revealed.
Trump rally attendee says he tried to warn authorities of gunman
Smith, who was listening to Trump's speech outside the rally, said he saw the shooter nearly five minutes after the former president started speaking. "We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50ft away," he recalled. "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."
Though Smith attempted to warn the authorities for three to four minutes. They could not see the suspect due to the roof's slope. "Why is there no Secret Service on all of these roofs here?" the attendee asked. "This is not a big place. "[It's a] security failure, 100% security failure."
"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," he added about how the Secret Service shot the gunman.
According to CBS News, the suspect was located nearly 200 to 300 feet away from the rally venue, stood on an elevated structure, seemingly a shed, and carried an AR-style rifle.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi later confirmed that the agent "neutralized the shooter" and "quickly responded with protective measures."
Investigation underway for attempted assassination of Donald Trump
FBI is leading the investigation with the help of the Secret Service and state and local agencies considering it an assassination attempt.
A rally attendee was killed, and two others were critically injured, the Secret Service confirmed.
Trump later wrote on his Truth Social platform that the bullet pierced the upper part of his right ear. "I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin," he wrote.
The shooting took place just two days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Initially, Trump planned to go to his Bedminster, New Jersey estate after the Butler rally, then head to Milwaukee.
