“We noticed the guy crawling, bear crawling, up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us,” the witness told BBC after the shooting at Trump’s rally on Sunday.
He said that the officers were informed but they “didn’t know what was going on.”
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ I’m standing there pointing at him for two, three minutes, Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn, I’m pointing at that roof, just standing there like this, and next thing you know, five shots ring out,” he said.
The witness said that they saw the shooter crawl up the roof.
“We’re standing there, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof. … We can clearly see him with a rifle,” he said.
Questioning the security arrangements at the former US president’s rally, the witness said “why weren’t the Security Service on all of the roofs?”
A local prosecutor said that the shooter was located outside the event grounds.
“I don’t know how he would have gotten to the location where he was, but he was outside the grounds. And I think that’s something that we’re going to have to figure out how he got there,” said Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger.
Trump was shot in the right ear and was visibly bleeding. He was later informed that he was “fine” and underwent a medical check-up.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has assumed the lead role in the investigation.
“The FBI has assumed the role of the lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred earlier today in Butler, Pennsylvania,” FBI said.
