Eye-witness accounts are surfacing after former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Greg Smith, who witnessed the shooting outside the rally scene, told the BBC that he saw a man with a gun climbing to the top of the building about five minutes after Trump began his speech.
“We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50ft away,” he said. “He had a rifle, we could clearly see a rifle.
“We’re pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground, we’re like ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle’… and the police did not know what was going on.”
Mr. Smith said that he tried to alert the authorities for three to four minutes, but he believed they probably couldn’t see the gunman due to the roof’s slope.
“Why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here?” he asked. “This is not a big place. “[It’s a] security failure, 100% security failure.”
According to CNN, the distance between the shooter and Trump was only 120 to 150 meters.
Mr. Smith recounted, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking, why have they not pulled him off the stage?’… the next thing you know, five shots ring out.”
Another witness, Jason, who was inside the rally site, said, “We see the Secret Service jump on Trump to protect him; everyone on the ground dropped down very quickly. He was a little bloody. His ear was bleeding. He stood up, and he was alive and breathing.”
Joseph, seated at the far left of the podium, told the BBC that he heard several gunshots and witnessed a man a few meters away being shot in the back of the head, collapsing into the audience seats. He indicated that it appeared the deceased was situated between the shooter and Trump.
U.S. authorities acknowledged that the building where the shooter was located was not included in the security zone, partially admitting to their failure to prevent this incident.
During a press conference, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek described the situation as “surprising” after the shooter fired several shots at Trump from the rally site. When asked if they were aware of the shooter at the time, he replied, “We are currently evaluating it as such,” essentially admitting to the oversight in not preventing the shooter in advance.
