‘He Had a Rifle!’ Trump Rally Attendee Frantically Warned Police Gunman Was Crawling on Roof
Screenshot/BBC
A man who was present at the Pennsylvania rally where former President Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet during a failed assassination attempt Saturday night said police ignored him when he told them there was a man with a rifle crawling on a rooftop moments before the shooting.
In the immediate aftermath of the deadly shooting, a man wearing a red “Trump 2024” visor spoke to BBC News from the community of Butler and claimed he tried to warn law enforcement officers about imminent danger regarding the president.
“Probably five to seven minutes of Trump speaking… we noticed a guy crawling – bear crawling – up the roof of the building beside us, fifty feet away from us,” the man said.
The man continued:
We’re standing there, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof. He had a rifle. We could clearly see him with a rifle. Absolutely. umm, we’re pointing at him. The police are down there, running around on the ground and we’re like, “Hey, man. There’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.” And the police were like, “Huh, what?” They didn’t know what was going on.
The man said he repeatedly warned officers that he believed Trump was in danger but his warnings went unheard.
FULL INTERVIEW with a witness, talking to @BBCNews, who says he saw a man with a gun on a building roof firing shots.
Donald Trump was rushed off stage during a rally in Pennsylvania after gun shots were heard.
He talked to @BBCBlindGazza – more information @BBCNews pic.twitter.com/aWqSXbzor2
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) July 14, 2024
“The next thing you know, five shots rang out,” he said.
The man also told the BBC he did not believe Secret Service agents could see the shooter from their vantage point but that he tried to make anyone who was listening aware of the man’s presence.
The witness also claimed that after the man opened fire on Trump, Secret Service agents “blew his head off” before securing his body to ensure he was no longer a danger to the public or Trump.
“They crawled up on the roof, they had their guns pointed at him, made sure he was dead. He was dead. That was it, it was over.”
Trump was grazed by gunfire and one person who attended the rally was also killed while another person was injured, CNN reported.
The Secret Service also confirmed to CNN that its agents killed the shooter and that Trump was safe after being grazed by at least one bullet.
