FBI investigating Trump rally attack as potential act of domestic terrorism

By Julie Carr Smyth, Jill Colvin, Colleen Long, Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker And Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press on July 14, 2024.

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) – Former President Donald Trump called for unity and resilience Sunday after an attempt on his life added fresh uncertainty to an already tumultuous presidential campaign and raised sharp questions about how a gunman was able to open fire from a rooftop near a Pennsylvania campaign rally.

A full day after the shooting, the gunman’s motive was still a mystery, and investigators said they believe he acted alone. President Joe Biden ordered an independent security review of the attack, which left one bystander dead and two others critically wounded. The FBI was investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism.

The attack shook the firmament of the American political system, causing a reassessment and a detente – at least temporarily – of the heated 2024 presidential campaign that has grown increasingly vicious.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said the upper part of his right ear was pierced by a bullet. His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well, and he headed to Milwaukee to the Republican National Convention that begins Monday.

“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 on his social media site. “Much bleeding took place.”

In a subsequent social post Sunday, Trump said: “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”

The rallygoer who was killed was identified as Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief from the area, according to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who added that Comperatore “died a hero.”

“His wife shared with me that he dove on his family to protect them,” Shapiro said. He declined to discuss the condition of two others who were wounded.

Biden, meanwhile, spoke briefly with Trump and was to address the nation Sunday evening. The president said the country would continue to debate and disagree, but stressed: “We must unite as one nation to demonstrate who we are.”

FBI investigates shooting as possible domestic terrorism

The FBI identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the scene of the shooting.

The gunman had his father’s AR-style rifle and was perched atop a nearby roof when some rallygoers pointed him out to local law enforcement, said two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal probe.

A local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and found Crooks, who pointed the rifle at the officer. The officer then retreated down the ladder, and the gunman quickly fired toward Trump, the officials said. That’s when U.S. Secret Service gunmen shot him, the officials said.

Questions abounded about how the gunman could have gotten so close in the first place. Kevin Rojek, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said “it is surprising” that the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before the Secret Service killed him.

Bomb-making materials were found inside both Crooks’ vehicle and at his home. FBI described the devices as “rudimentary.”

His motive remained unclear. Crooks wasn’t on the FBI’s radar, and he was believed to have acted alone. Investigators are combing through his social media feeds and his home, but so far have not found any threatening writing or posts. His family is cooperating.

Crooks’ political leanings were also not clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in as president.

The absence of a clear ideological motive added to the deepening questions about the shooting, denying the public any swift or tidy conclusions about the shocking crime.

Biden urged Americans to stay patient. “I urge everyone – everyone, please, don’t make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations,” he said.

Most serious assassination attempt since 1981

The attack was the most serious attempt to kill a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It drew new attention to concerns about political violence in a deeply polarized U.S. less than four months before the presidential election.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said agents are seeing increasingly violent rhetoric online since the rally and have seen people posing online as the shooter, who is dead.

“We’re also focused on the continuing efforts – which were already substantial, given that they’re national security special events – to conventions in Chicago, in Milwaukee,” he said.

Biden on Sunday ordered a security review of operations for the Republican National Convention, which is proceeding as planned. The Secret Service said they were “confident” in the security plan for the RNC, and no additional changes were planned.

Trump flew to New Jersey after visiting a local Pennsylvania hospital, landing shortly after midnight in Newark. Video posted by an aide showed the former president leaving his private jet flanked by Secret Service agents and heavily armed members of the agency’s counterassault team, an unusually visible show of force by his protective detail.

Biden, who is running against Trump, said the two men had a “short but good” conversation Saturday night. Biden returned to Washington from his Delaware beach home where he met with leaders in the Situation Room about the attack. He said during an address Sunday afternoon that “there is no place in America for this kind of violence.”

“We cannot allow this to happen,” Biden said.

Yet many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that sustained attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment. They pointed in particular to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”

A person familiar with those remarks said the president was trying to make the point that Trump had gotten away with a light public schedule after last month’s debate while the president himself faced intense scrutiny from many even within his own party. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to more freely discuss private conversations.

In the donor call, Biden said: “I have one job and that’s to beat Donald Trump … I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that.”

Biden continued then: “So, we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye. He’s gotten away with doing nothing for the last 10 days except ride around in his golf cart, bragging about scores he didn’t score “¦ Anyway I won’t get into his golf game.”

But it’s not clear yet whether Biden will be forced to recalibrate a campaign that’s largely focused on Trump as a threat to democracy. It is a situation the U.S. has not seen since Teddy Roosevelt was shot a month before the election in 1912 while campaigning trying to regain the White House as a third-party candidate.

A rally disrupted by gunfire

Trump was showing off a chart of border crossing numbers when the gunfire began after 6:10 p.m.

As the first pop rang out, Trump said “Oh” and raised his hand to his right ear and looked at it, before quickly crouching to the ground behind his lectern. The people in the stands behind him also crouched as screams rang through the crowd.

Someone could be heard near the microphone saying, “Get down, get down, get down, get down!” as agents rushed to the stage. They piled atop the former president to shield him with their bodies as other agents took up positions on stage to search for the threat.

Afterward, voices were heard saying, “Shooter’s down” several times, before someone asked, “Are we good to move?” and “Are we clear?” Then someone ordered, “Let’s move.”

Trump got to his feet moments later and could be seen reaching with his right hand toward his face, which was streaked with blood. He then pumped his fist in the air and appeared to mouth the word “fight” twice to his crowd of supporters, prompting loud cheers and then chants of “USA. USA. USA.”

His motorcade left the venue moments later. Video showed Trump turning back to the crowd and raising a fist right before he was put into a vehicle.

In a statement Sunday, former first lady Melania Trump said that when she saw her husband wounded, “I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” referring to their son. She said she was grateful to Secret Service agents and other law enforcement officers, and offered her “sincerest sympathy” to the families of the other victims.

Witnesses heard multiple gunshots and ducked for cover

When the firing began, “everybody went to their knees or their prone position, because we all knew. Everyone becoming aware of the fact this was gunfire,” said Dave McCormick, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, who was sitting to Trump’s right on stage.

As he saw Trump raise his fist, McCormick said, he looked over his shoulder and noticed someone had been hit while sitting in the bleachers behind the stage.

Eventually, first responders were able to carry the wounded person out of a large crowd so he could get medical care, McCormick said.

Reporters covering the rally heard five or six shots ring out and many ducked for cover, hiding under tables. After the first two or three bangs, people in the crowd looked startled, but not panicked. An AP reporter at the scene reported the noise sounded like firecrackers at first or perhaps a car backfiring.

When it was clear the situation had been contained and Trump would not return to speak, attendees started filing out of the venue.

Police soon told the people remaining to leave the venue and Secret Service agents told reporters to get “out now. This is a live crime scene.”

Political violence again shakes America

The perils of campaigning took on a new urgency after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in California in 1968, and again in 1972 when Arthur Bremer shot and seriously hurt George Wallace, who was running as an independent on a campaign platform that has sometimes been compared to Trump’s. That led to increased protection of candidates, even as the threats persisted, notably against Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Presidents, particularly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, have even greater layers of security, and Trump is a rarity as both a former president and a current candidate. The sniper teams who fired on the shooter, for example, do not usually travel with former presidents.

Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who represents the area where the shooting occurred, attended the rally with his wife and grandchildren and was just behind Trump when he was wounded. Kelly said he was “in a state of bewilderment of how and what has happened to the United States of America.”

“I just wish people – tone it down,” he said. “Quit trying to find, to blame somebody. The blame lies somewhere in the psyche of America.”

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Colvin, Balsamo and Price reported from New York. Long reported from Washington. Tucker reported from Westport, Connecticut. Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Michael Biesecker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Lisa Mascaro and Tara Copp in Washington, and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

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