Donald Trump rally shooting updates: FBI agents swarm killed suspect’s home

Thank you for following our coverage of the deadly shooting and its aftermath during Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Our live coverage continues here.

The assassination attempt on Trump is prompting officials to re-evaluate security protocol at the upcoming Republican National Convention, according to the ABC News broadcaster, citing a senior US federal official.

Trump still plans to appear at the four-day convention, starting on Monday in Milwaukee, where he will formally be crowned as the party’s nominee for the presidency.

Trump is also expected to unveil his vice presidential running mate at the event.

Ivanka Trump has thanked the public for the “love and prayers for my father and for the other victims of today’s senseless violence”.

“I am grateful to the Secret Service and all the other law enforcement officers for their quick and decisive actions today. I continue to pray for our country,” she said on X.

Thank you for your love and prayers for my father and for the other victims of today's senseless violence in Butler, Pennsylvania. I am grateful to the Secret Service and all the other law enforcement officers for their quick and decisive actions today. I continue to pray for our…

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) July 14, 2024

Americans are still trying to come to terms with the extremely shocking news.

Some of them have never experienced anything like this – the last time was the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981.

But it’s clear that these types of incidents are happening with increasing frequency, and this is making Americans very nervous – the fact that the country is so divided.

Meanwhile, security has been heightened here but there have also been questions about how this even happened in the first place.

We know that when it comes to the Secret Service, they have what’s called a “No fail” mission, but we know that in this case it did fail. We also know that the FBI has taken the lead on this investigation.

The big story prior to this was the call for President Biden himself to potentially step down from the top of the ticket. What I can tell you is that all of that has been blunted in terms of the presidential race.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has added his voice to a chorus of world leaders denouncing the attempted assassination of Trump.

“We condemn this act of terror and reaffirm the positions of the State of Palestine, which has always rejected violence, terrorism, and extremism, regardless of its source,” Abbas said in a statement cited by the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry also issued a similar statement condemning the attack and wishing the former US president a speedy recovery.

Statement : Qatar Condemns the Assassination Attempt against Former US President#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/yyIfudpEEf

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) July 14, 2024

A spokesman for the Kremlin has commented on the shooting at the Trump rally.

“We do not believe that the attempt to eliminate and assassinate Trump was organised by the current authorities,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“But the atmosphere around candidate Trump … provoked what America is confronting today,” he argued.

“After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena – using first legal tools, the courts, prosecutors, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate – it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger.”

Peskov also said there were no plans for Russian President Vladimir Putin to call Trump in light of the incident.

Since the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania really, we’ve published several pieces of content – here are a few highlights:

• Timeline: Assassination attempts against US presidents, candidates
• In pictures: Photos capture shooting at Trump rally in Pennsylvania
• Global reaction: World leaders express solidarity with Trump
• Video: Front-row witness describes the scene
• Suspected shooter: Who is Thomas Matthew Crooks?

And, you can find more here.

As we’ve been reporting, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks has been named as the suspect in Trump’s assassination attempt.

Crooks, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was shot dead by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired at Trump, hitting him in the ear.

Read more about the suspect here.

It’s been about 12 hours since a gunman attempted to assassinate former US President Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• A gunman on a rooftop outside the rally venue fired multiple shots towards the stage as Trump was speaking, hitting him in the ear.
• The former president, who was shielded and rushed off stage by the Secret Service before being taken to a nearby hospital, is “doing well” and has suffered no major injury, according to his campaign team.
• One person who attended the rally was killed and two other spectators were critically wounded.
• The suspected attacker has been named as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, from the Pennsylvania town of Bethel Park. He was shot dead by the Secret Service.
• Federal law enforcement agents, including bomb squad members, have swarmed his home, according to local media reports.
• Lawmakers have expressed alarm at potential security lapses leading up to the shooting. The US House of Representatives plans to investigate the incident, Speaker Mike Johnson says.
• Biden, who was in Delaware, gave remarks condemning the shooting, which he called “sick”. He will head back to Washington, DC ahead of schedule.
  

  

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also described the assassination attempt that killed one spectator as a threat to democracy.

“The attack on US presidential candidate Donald Trump is despicable. I wish him a speedy recovery. My thoughts are also with the people who were affected by the attack. Such acts of violence threaten democracy,” he said on X.

Even hours after the attack on the former president during a Pennsylvania rally, two dozen Trump supporters remained outside the Manhattan building, “seeking solace among the shaken”, according to The New York Times (NYT) newspaper.

Christine Randall, 59, who had been watching the rally at home in Manhattan when the shots rang out, headed to the Trump Tower right away.

“I really thought maybe he was dead. I started crying,” she told the NYT. “When he stood up, I was so happy.”

The publication described those gathered at the building with a wall of police officers guarding the tower’s entrance trading stories about where they were at the moment of the incident and snapped pictures of each other’s Trump-red gear and trimmings.

“I’m going to be here all night,” Lynda Andrews, 51, told the NYT, wearing a Trump hat and a sparkling red top and holding a US flag.

A video posted by US tabloid TMZ appears to show the suspected attacker at Trump’s rally laying on a rooftop with a rifle before shots ring out.

The man, who appears to have long brown hair, is not shown firing in the published footage. But a quick succession of gunshots is heard, followed by screams from people off-camera.

“He’s turning this way, be careful guys,” a man is heard saying.

“Somebody got shot,” another voice says. “He’s right there, laying down.”

Earlier, the US Secret Service confirmed that its personnel had shot dead the suspected attacker, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur and Tron founder Justin Sun has endorsed Trump in the US presidential race.

He said on X after the assassination attempt on the former president that Trump “is a better choice for the crypto industry and can ensure fairer treatment”.

More information is emerging about the suspect in Trump’s assassination attempt, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Crooks, a registered Republican who once made a small donation to a left-wing group, lived about an hour away from where the shooting took place in Butler, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

USA Today reported that dozens of law enforcement vehicles were posted at a residence listed as Crooks’s address on his voter registration record, with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a bomb squad on the scene.

Crooks’s father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he was trying to make sense of what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before commenting on his son.

The FBI has said it was working to determine a motive for the attack.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said he is “shocked” by the assassination attempt, stressing that “NATO Allies stand together to defend our freedom & values”.

“I am shocked by the attempted assassination on former President Trump. I wish him a speedy recovery and my thoughts are with those affected,” Stoltenberg said on X.

“I condemn this attack. Political violence has no place in our democracies,” he added.

Four US presidents and one candidate have been assassinated since the founding of the US.

Read more here.

Two former FBI agents have spoken to CNN about security conditions at Trump’s rally, where a man on a nearby rooftop fired shots at the former president.

They expressed alarm that a vantage point so close to Trump – about 120-150 metres away – had not been secured.

“That building … is the closest building with a clear line of sight to where the stage was. I’m shocked that they didn’t have somebody on that roof,” former FBI field agent Bobby Chacon told CNN.

Steve Moore, a retired FBI agent and countersniper, said botched “planning or execution” may have left the roof unmonitored.

“They could have planned for that roof and maybe something happened in the planning or in the execution of the plan where it was left unguarded,” Moore told the US network, adding that there would likely be “drastic changes” to security protocol going forward.

“The Secret Service has to be right every single time, every single rally of every single candidate of every single month, every single year, they’ve got to be perfect,” Moore said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that Beijing is concerned about the attack and President Xi Jinping extended his regards to Trump.

“China is closely following the situation surrounding the shooting of former President Donald Trump,” the statement added.