Donald Trump ducks as loud bangs heard during rallyScreenshot. To watch video go to: BBC

From BBC

Summary

• Donald Trump has posted a new statement after he was injured in an attempted assassination at a rally on Saturday
• “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand united,” he says, adding that “we will fear not”
• Trump says he was shot in the ear, describing a “bullet ripping through skin”
• The FBI has named the gunman as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks – he was shot and killed by the Secret Service
• At a news conference, an FBI agent said it was “surprising” the attacker was able to open fire
• A witness told the BBC he saw a man with a rifle crawling on a roof before shots rang out, and that he tried to warn police
• The Oversight Committee in the US Congress has summoned the Secret Service director, saying “Americans demand answers”
• One spectator was killed at the rally and two others were critically injured

Live Reporting

Edited by Owen Amos with Gary O’Donoghue and Bernd Debusmann Jr reporting from Pennsylvania

1. Weapon allegedly used by gunman was his father’s, AP reportspublished at 14:5414:54Law enforcement officials believe the weapon used to shoot at Donald Trump was purchased by Thomas Crook’s father, the Associated Press news agency reports.Speaking on condition of anonymity, two officers told the AP that Crooks’ father purchased a weapon at least six months ago.Federal agents have not disclosed a motive for the attack, but authorities are treating the shooting as an “assassination attempt”.Share
2. ‘We can’t move on like this’: As America wakes up, politicians reactpublished at 14:5114:51Laura Blasey
   Reporting from Washington DCOn US Sunday morning news shows, lawmakers and political figures sought to make sense of last night’s shooting. There was bipartisan condemnation of the violence.”For me, this isn’t about an opportunity for politics or strategy,” Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat, said in an interview on CNN. “This was an incredibly dark day for Pennsylvania but for our nation, too.”On NBC’s Today Show, House Speaker and Republican Representative Mike Johnson said: “Obviously we can’t move on like this as a society.”Like Fetterman, he called for leaders of both parties to turn “the temperature down” in their rhetoric. But he went on to criticise Democratic leaders and their supporters for their language surrounding Trump – claiming he had been “villified” and “persecuted” in the lead up to the attack.IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERSImage caption, Mike Johnson, pictured last monthShare
3. High school confirms Thomas Crooks graduated in 2022published at 14:3914:39Our partners in the US, CBS, have received a statement from the school that gunman Thomas Crooks attended.”Bethel Park School district can confirm that the alleged shooter in the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on former President Donald J Trump is a graduate of Bethel Park High School,” the statement says.”Thomas Matthew Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High with the Class of 2022. “The school district wishes to express its sincere wishes for a speedy and full recovery for Mr Trump and for those in attendance at the Saturday event who may have been physically harmed or emotionally impacted by these tragic events.”Share
4. Police block access to gunman’s Pennsylvania homepublished at 14:3414:34Bernd Debusmann Jr
   Reporting from Bethel Park, PennsylvaniaIMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGESImage caption, Police are blocking the roads around the gunman’s house in Bethel ParkI’m now in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, just blocks from the home of the suspect in yesterday’s shooting.It’s still very much the scene of an active investigation into what took place. Trucks are blocking the roads near to his home, and police officers and guards in bright yellow vests are shooing away reporters, dozens of which seem to be combing the area.Otherwise, it’s quiet. Nearby businesses remain shut, and a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post two blocks away sits quietly. The neighborhood is hilly and a lush green – in another scenario it strikes me as it would be an idyllic place to live.One of the few businesses open nearby is a Dollar Tree, where staff members told me area residents are growing increasingly uncomfortable with the attention.”So many people have been in here asking about the Butler guy,” one lady told me in the lot. “You’re already getting annoying.”Share
5. How the investigation will unfoldpublished at 14:2914:29Frank Gardner
   Security correspondentThere are essentially two strands to the urgent investigation already under way into this event – the first involves FBI and police detective work. Having established the identity of the shooter, detectives need to investigate his motive, his recent movements, who he has been in contact with. Importantly, they need to find out if he had accomplices, either physically or online. Was he acting for any kind of group or organisation, especially one overseas? They will be going through any tech they can seize at his address, sifting through his digital history to see what websites he was on, what chat groups he belonged to, who he was in touch with.Then there is the awkward question of how was this massive lapse of security allowed to happen. The buck stops with the 7000-strong Secret Service whose primary job is to protect US presidents, both serving and former. Guns are easy to come by in America – there are roughly three for every member of the population – but how was it the shooter was able to bear-crawl along a rooftop, armed with a rifle, to get to within 130m of Donald Trump? Why were warnings from the public ignored or not acted on? And why, people will ask, when a highly charged presidential election is just four months away, did the Secret Service not do a better job of protecting the man many believe will be America’s next president?Share
6. Injured victims remain in critical conditionpublished at 14:1914:19The two victims injured at Donald Trump’s rally remain in critical condition, BBC’s news partner CBS has just reported.The victims, whose identities remain unknown, were taken to Allegheny General Hospital after Saturday’s shooting. As a reminder, another spectator died in the attack, and the shooter himself was killed by the Secret Service.Share
7. I saw the shooter move from roof to roof – witnesspublished at 14:1214:12Let’s bring you another witness account from last night’s rally.Ben Macer told KDKA-TV he saw the gunman “move from roof to roof. [I] told an officer [the shooter] was on the roof”.”When I turned around to go back to where I was, it was when the gunshots started, and then it was just chaos, and we all came running away, and that was that.”He’s not the only witness we’ve heard from today. 
   • One woman told the BBC she heard “pop, pop, pop” sounds before people started running at her. She said the scene was chaotic
   • Warren and Debbie were to the right of the former president when they heard shots. Debbie said there was a little girl beside them crying, saying she didn’t want to die
   • Another witness told our reporter Gary O’Donoghue that he saw a gunman on the roof before the shooting – watch that video below:
   https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.53.8/iframe.htmlMedia caption, Watch: Witness tells BBC he saw gunman on roofShare
8. Democrats knew what they were doing with Hitler comparison, says Trump Jrpublished at 14:0714:07In the past half hour, Donald Trump Jr has posted on X that Democrats and “their friends in the media knew exactly what they were doing” by implying Trump was “literally Hitler”.As we reported earlier, former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and potential Trump running mate JD Vance, are among those who have questioned the rhetoric around the former president.Share
9. What we know about the casualtiespublished at 13:4313:43In addition to the gunman, who was shot and killed by Secret Service, there were three other casualties involved in last night’s attack.One adult male was killed while standing in the audience, Michael T Slupe, the Butler County sheriff, said.Two other people, also confirmed by authorities as men, were critically injured. Details about their injuries have not been released.A GoFundMe page, organised by the Trump campaign’s national finance director Meredith O’Rourke, was set up in the hours after the attack with donations going to the families of the injured.It has so far raised more than $340,000 (£267,000).IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERSShare
10. Pennsylvania reels after assassination attemptpublished at 13:2613:26Bernd Debusmann Jr
    Reporting from PennsylvaniaIMAGE SOURCE, REUTERSImage caption, The aftermath of the shooting in ButlerGood morning from Pennsylvania, which is still reeling from yesterday’s shooting at the Trump rally in Butler. I’m currently in the town of Cranberry, a town over from Butler. The sense of disbelief here is palpable, and it’s plainly evident that something significant has happened. The hotel where I stayed last night – an unremarkable, nondescript roadside in a strip mall – is abuzz with activity. The world’s media have descended on the area, and on my way out I ran into European and Japanese news crews that have rushed here from bureaus in DC and New York. Many locals seem to still be processing what took place.”I can’t believe this is happening,” a young woman told me at a petrol station a few moments ago. “This doesn’t feel real.”I’m now going to head to Bethel Park, where gunman Thoms Crooks lived. Share
11. Secret Service: ‘Untrue’ that Trump’s team asked for extra resourcespublished at 13:0713:07Some more comments now from the Secret Service, who have released a new statement.Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the agency, says there is an “untrue assertion” circulating that a member on Donald Trump’s security team had requested extra security “resources” and that request was “rebuffed”.”This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” Guglielmi says.Share
12. Trump thanks God for preventing ‘unthinkable’published at 12:5012:50BREAKINGDonald Trump has thanked his supporters for their “thoughts and prayers” in his second public comments since the attempt on his life yesterday. “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” the former president wrote in a post on Truth Social.”We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed,” he said, adding that it was more important now than ever “that we stand United”.”I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”Share
13. Photo appears to show bullet fly past Trump’s headpublished at 12:4812:48We’ve just received this picture from the New York Times, which appears to show a bullet pass Donald Trump’s head at last night’s rally.IMAGE SOURCE, DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINEShare
14. What we know about gunman Thomas Matthew Crookspublished at 12:3112:31IMAGE SOURCE, TMZImage caption, Video showed a gunman on a roof near the rally
    • The FBI named 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks as “the subject involved”
    • He was shot dead by the Secret Service
    • Crooks was from Bethel Park in Pennsylvania, around an hour from where the rally took place
    • He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records 
    • But according to Reuters, when he was 17, he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians
    • He graduated in 2022 from Bethel Park High School, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He received a $500 “star award” from the National Math and Science Initiative, the paper adds
    • His father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before speaking
    • Law enforcement officials said on Saturday Crooks carried no identification to the site of the shooting and had to be identified using other methods
    • A motive has not been identified, but authorities are treating the shooting as an “assassination attempt”
    Share
15. Some supporters burst into tears, others were angry at the Secret Servicepublished at 12:2512:25British journalist Tom Newton Dunn – who was at Saturday’s rally – has just spoken to our colleagues on the BBC News Channel.He describes supporters “in carnival mode” before the event started, adding that Trump was over an hour late but that they “didn’t mind that at all”. Trump was “just getting into the meat on illegal immigration” when the shots were fired, he says.Newton Dunn says a lot of people weren’t aware what was happening – it was only as shouts to get down rang out that it started to sink in.”Some people burst into tears […] one lady next to me was crouching on the ground saying ‘Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, oh Jesus, they got him’…”Others reacted in anger […] some blaming people for it, blaming the Democrats for it, blaming Biden, blaming CNN […] and they were angry at the Secret Service.”Newton Dunn adds there was a digital billboard outside the event – within an hour of the shooting, it said: “Democrats attempted assassination, President Trump” and “Praying for President Trump”. 
    • As a reminder you can watch the full interview on iPlayer or follow along live by clicking Play above. 
    IMAGE SOURCE, TOM NEWTON DUNNShare
16. Panic as gunman seen crawling on roofpublished at 11:5711:57Here’s another look at footage we brought you earlier, showing the gunman crawling on the roof of a building near Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
    • Warning: the video contains distressing content
    https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.53.8/iframe.htmlMedia caption, Video shows Trump rally shooter on roofShare
17. Secret Service had one job last night – and failed spectacularlypublished at 11:4911:49Frank Gardner
    Security correspondentThe FBI may be leading the investigation into how this could have happened, but the finger of blame points clearly at the Secret Service. They have one job – to protect America’s presidents, both current and former – and in that they failed spectacularly last night. It has been 43 years since the last assassination attempt on a serving US president when Ronald Reagan was shot in the lung but survived. Today US politicians, and the public, want to know how a would-be assassin was able to crawl onto a rooftop vantage point, armed with a rifle and loose off four shots towards the podium, all in an area that was supposed to have been cleared. The investigation already underway involves the FBI, the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. The Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, has been summoned to testify before the US House of Representatives on 22 July.IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGESImage caption, Kimberly Cheatle has served as director of the US Secret Service since September 2022Share
18. Secret Service under scrutiny as Oversight Committee summons directorpublished at 11:3611:36The Oversight Committee – the main investigative board of the US House of Representatives – has summoned US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing on 22 July.”Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump,” the panel said in a statement on social media.At a news conference earlier, FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said “it is surprising” that the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before the Secret Service killed him. But when asked if there was a failure of security, he said they were “not gonna make that assessment” with an active investigation. The Secret Service was not at the news conference.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.53.8/iframe.htmlMedia caption, Donald Trump thanked Secret Service agents for their “rapid response” after the shootingShare
19. How did the night unfold?published at 11:0511:05Donald Trump was speaking at a campaign event in the city of Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday night when a gunman attempted to assassinate the former president. Here’s a breakdown of how that all unfolded. All times are local:
    • 17:00: Trump was scheduled to start addressing the crowd
    • 18:03: He takes the stage to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA”
    • 18:11: Just a few minutes into his campaign speech, loud shots ring out
    • 18:12: Secret Service agents swarm the former president before he is rushed off stage with blood near his ear and on the side of his face
    • 18:14: Trump’s motorcade leaves the rally
    • 18:42: Secret Service issues a statement, external, confirming that Trump is safe and there is an active investigation into the incident 
    • 19:03: Trump’s campaign says he’s “fine”
    • 19:45: Law enforcement confirms that the suspect is dead, along with an audience member
    • 20:13: Biden condemns the attack and says during a briefing that he is trying to speak with Trump over the phone as soon as possible 
    • 20:42: Trump shares his first account of what happened, saying a bullet pierced his upper part of his right ear 
    • 21:33: The FBI Pittsburgh says it is the lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation
    Share
20. Tulsi Gabbard says shooting ‘a consequence’ of comparing Trump to Hitlerpublished at 10:4510:45IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGESTulsi Gabbard – a former Democratic congresswoman – has also questioned the rhetoric around Donald Trump. She said the shooting is a “logical consequence of repeatedly comparing” the former president to Adolf Hitler.”After all, if Trump truly was another Hitler, wouldn’t it be their moral duty to assassinate him?” said Gabbard, adding that she was praying for Trump, “and our country”.

For much more on this story with live updates go to BBC