Donald Trump called for national unity in the face of “evil” as more details came to light about the shooter who tried to assassinate him at a US presidential campaign rally on Saturday.
The Republican candidate was injured in what the FBI are investigating as domestic terrorism and an attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening. The brazen act of political violence has transformed the 2024 race and threatens to further polarise the country with less than four months to go until polling day in November.
“We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” the former president posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
“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 added, saying: “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening”.
The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a town in the battleground state about 40 miles from where the rally took place.
Authorities at this stage have not identified “an ideology associated with” the gunman, who apparently acted alone, said FBI agent Kevin Rojek.
The weapon used in the attack was an AR-style 556 rifle purchased legally by Crooks’ father, according to Rojek. It was unclear if the firearm was taken without the father’s knowledge.
Law enforcement officers searched Crooks’s car on Sunday, where they found a “suspicious device” that was inspected by bomb technicians and “rendered . . . safe”, Rojek said.
Authorities are focusing on accessing Crooks’s phone, he added.
Trump was travelling on Sunday to take part in the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he will be formally selected as the party’s nominee for president this week.
In brief remarks from the White House on Sunday, US President Joe Biden called unity “the most elusive goal” for the country after the assassination attempt. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence,” he said.
The president, who received an update in the Situation Room of the White House on Sunday from homeland security and top law enforcement officials, added that he had directed the Secret Service to review all of its security measures for the RNC. “An independent review” of security at the rally would be made public, he added.
Both Republicans and Democrats called for an investigation into apparent security lapses.
Speaking to NBC on Sunday, House speaker Mike Johnson said he had asked “pointed questions” to Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service, about the surveillance measures put in place at the rally, including whether drones were in use. The Secret Service is responsible for protecting current and former US presidents.
“We need to know how an individual could be at that elevation that was seen by apparently bystanders on the ground,” he said. “How could that not be noticed by the Secret Service?
“Ruben Gallego, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Arizona, wrote to Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle calling on “all those responsible for the planning, approving and executing of this failed security plan to be held accountable and to testify before Congress immediately”.
Shots were fired towards the stage shortly after Trump began his rally from outside the venue in Butler, western Pennsylvania.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief, was killed, while 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver were wounded, according to police. Both were in stable condition on Sunday.
After the shots, Trump crouched and was surrounded by Secret Service agents. They rushed him offstage with blood streaming down his right ear and streaked across his face. He pumped his fist in the air and shouted “fight, fight, fight!” to the crowd before being taken to his motorcade and driven away for medical attention.
Crooks, on the roof of a building outside the open-air venue where Trump was speaking, was killed by Secret Service agents. His motives for trying to kill the former president were not yet known, the FBI said.
State voter records showed that Crooks was a registered Republican. He also donated $15 in 2021 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a left-leaning voter mobilisation initiative, according to campaign finance records.
Instead of traditional fundraising, the Trump campaign was directing supporters to donate to victims and their families. The Biden campaign said, on Saturday that it would pull its television advertisements from the air and on Sunday, the White House confirmed that Biden had cancelled a trip to Texas he had planned for Monday.
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