An attendee interviewed by the BBC at the Pennsylvania campaign rally where former President Donald Trump was shot Saturday said he saw a man crawling on a roof with a rifle and tried to warn authorities.
“We noticed a guy bear crawling up the roof” and he was carrying a rifle, the rally attendee told the news outlet, noting this was happening 50 feet away from him.
The witness said that he tried to get the attention of law enforcement and wondered why Trump had not been pulled from the stage, given the clear security breach.
“I’m standing there pointing at him for two to three minutes. Secret Service is looking at us,” the man recounted.
“Next thing you know, five shots rang out,” he said.
The rally attendee said he was “100 percent” certain the guy crawling on the roof had fired the shots.
BREAKING: An eyewitness who was outside the security perimeter at the Trump rally told the BBC that he informed police, Secret Service about a suspicious man on a roof with a rifle…
“We noticed a guy bear crawling on the roof with a rifle.”
“I’m standing there pointing at him… pic.twitter.com/pbKLd0eCmL
— Rachel Blevins (@RachBlevins) July 14, 2024
He said the Secret Service, from their vantage point, probably could not see the man crawling up because the roof was slanted away from the venue.
The attendee said the Secret Service did return fire and killed the gunman.
“They crawled up on the roof and made sure he was dead,” the man added.
The Secret Service confirmed in a statement the gunman was “neutralized.”
Here is the latest information from our investigation. We are grateful to the Secret Service team and our law enforcement partners for their swift action. Our thoughts go out to the families affected by this tragedy. pic.twitter.com/E8FazqtUVZ
— Anthony Guglielmi (@SecretSvcSpox) July 14, 2024
“Why was there not Secret Service on all of these roofs?” the attendee asked. “This is not a big place.”
Others wondered the same thing.
Former New York City police officer John Cardillo posted on X, “Shooter was about 150 yards from Trump on a rooftop with a direct line of sight to the stage.”
Shooter was about 150 yards from Trump on a rooftop with a direct line of sight to the stage.
It defies every security protocol ever written that this rooftop was not secured, and law enforcement personnel were not standing up there. pic.twitter.com/a1WfwMRZPA
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 14, 2024
“It defies every security protocol ever written that this rooftop was not secured, and law enforcement personnel were not standing up there.”
This is still a developing story.