A shooting at Donald Trump ’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania is being investigated as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, law enforcement officials say.
Trump called Sunday for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide reacted to the shooting.
The Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter, who attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue.
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President Joe Biden had planned to speak in Texas on the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library, the White House said.
Randy Reamer, president of the Buffalo Township volunteer fire company, called Corey Comperatore “a stand-up guy” and “a true brother of the fire service.”
He said Comperatore served as chief of the company for about three years but was also a life member, meaning he’d served for more than 20 years.
“Just a great all-around guy, always willing to help someone out,” Reamer said of Comperatore, who’s survived by his wife and two daughters. “He definitely stood up for what he believed in, never backed down to anyone. … He was a really good guy.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was scheduled to travel this week, will stay in Washington to closely monitor the investigation into the shooting at a Trump rally, a Justice Department spokesperson said.
Garland continues to receive regular briefings on the shooting and met Sunday morning with officials across the government, the spokesperson said.
U.S. Rep. Mark E. Green, the chairman of the House homeland security committee, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday raising questions about the Trump rally shooting and demanding information about the former president’s Secret Service protection.
“The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated,” Green wrote in the letter. The chairman said there were serious questions about how the “… shooter was able to access a rooftop within range and direct line of sight of where President Trump was speaking.”
Green also noted reports that the Secret Service had rebuffed requests from the Trump campaign for additional security. A spokesperson for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, said on social media Sunday that those allegations were “absolutely false” and that they had added resources and technology as the campaign’s travel increased.
The committee is demanding that the department turn over information including documents showing the security plan for Saturday’s event; any information about increases to Trump’s security detail and about how attendees were screened for the Saturday rally; documents outlining the Secret Service’s rules of engagement; and all briefing materials from after the shooting.
The man who was killed at a rally for former President Donald Trump was Corey Comperatore, according to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Comperatore was a former fire chief from the area who loved his family, Shapiro said.
“Corey died a hero. Corey dove on his family to protect them last night,” the governor said.
Shapiro declined to discuss the conditions of the two others hurt in the shooting.
The governor also ordered flags to be flown at half staff in Comperatore’s honor.
The fund was created by Trump campaign officials the page says it’s “a place for donations to the supporters and families wounded or killed” in Saturday’s apparent assassination attempt.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are receiving another briefing on the apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Sunday in the White House Situation Room.
They’re joined by Attorney General Merrick Garland Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Homeland Security Adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and Kim Cheatle, the director of the United States Secret Service.
That’s the message from Rep. Mike Kelly, the Republican congressman who represents the Butler Farm area and who was sitting off to the side behind Trump when the shooting unfolded at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Kelly says he’d brought his wife and grandchildren to the Trump rally at the fairgrounds, the same place where generations of children have shown off their farm animals and baking skills – a beloved spot he himself visited as a child.
“I am in a state of bewilderment of how and what has happened to the United States of America,” Kelly told The Associated Press.
This being Sunday, he encouraged Americans to take a day, go to a house of worship, and think of how each person can make a difference in bringing more civility to political discourse.
To his colleagues and others quickly assigning blame or calling for a congressional investigation, Kelly urged everyone to let law enforcement do its work and not turn the probe into a political one.
“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.”
GOP Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio was speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“How is it that someone could get on a roof with a superior position, with a weapon, and attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump?” he asked. “It’s just unthinkable, unfathomable. We need to know, is this a protocol failure? Is this a resources issue? Or is this just a failure of those who were on site that day?”
He added: “Along with Donald Trump, our democracy dodged a bullet yesterday.”
Law enforcement officials tell The Associated Press bomb-making materials were found inside the vehicle of the man suspected in the Trump rally shooting. There were also bomb-making materials found at his home.
The two officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
— Colleen Long and Mike Balsamo
The range from which 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired and his clothing led to early speculation that the shooter had military experience. However, all the branches of the military searched their records Sunday and said in response to a query by The Associated Press that they had no records of him serving.
In an appearance Sunday on the “Today” show, the Republican said it’s time to “turn the temperature down in this country.”
But Johnson also singled out for blame the “media,” President Joe Biden and “Hollywood elites, as culpable for the charged atmosphere and suggested that “no figure in American history” since Abraham Lincoln has been as vilified as Donald Trump.
“When the message goes out constantly, that the election of Donald Trump would be a threat to democracy, and that the Republic would end, it heats up the environment,” Johnson said. “We cannot do that. It’s simply not true. Everyone needs to turn the rhetoric down.”
Johnson specifically pointed to recent comments by Biden during a recent call with political donors in which the president said “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”
Johnson said he knows Biden didn’t literally mean Trump should be targeted, but added “that kind of language on either side should be called out.”
“We can have vigorous debate, but it needs to end there,” Johnson said.
Records show 20-year-old Thomas Matthew 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 to office.
Authorities told reporters Crooks wasn’t carrying identification so they were using DNA and other methods to confirm his identity.
Two law enforcement officials tell The Associated Press investigators believe the weapon was bought the father of Thomas Matthew Crooks, who’s been identified as the shooter, at least six months ago.
The officials said federal agents were still working to understand when and how Crooks obtained the gun and gather additional information about him as they worked to try to identify a possible motive. The investigation is focused on Crooks. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
— Colleen Long and Mike Balsamo
In the memo obtained by The Associated Press, Trump’s senior campaign advisers thanked the Secret Service and all first responders for their efforts.
The memo also said staff in Washington and West Palm Beach, Florida, should stay away from the office as they assess those locations. The memo also says they’re enhancing the armed security presence on-site.
“Our highest priority is to keep all of you on this staff safe,” the memo says.
The memo also tells staff not to comment publicly on the apparent assassination attempt against Trump and that dangerous rhetoric on social media won’t be tolerated.
The convention kicks off Monday in Milwaukee.
“I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin,” he said in his Sunday morning social media post.
In the post on his social media network, former President Donald Trump also thanked “everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as 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,” he said.
Trump also said, “Our love goes out to the other victims and their families” and he said he’s praying “for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed.”
“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,” he adds.
The FBI early Sunday named Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the shooter in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. The agency said the investigation remains active and ongoing.
The political leanings of Crooks were not immediately 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 to office.
