Latest on The Trump Shooting at the PA Rally: Being investigated as assassination attempt

this is an NBC News special report here's Jose Diaz Bart good evening we coming on the air with breaking news there has been an incident at Donald Trump's Pennsylvania rally it appears shots have apparently been fired and Donald Trump has been injured I'm going to pause to let you see the video as it played out that chart that chart's a couple of months old and if you want to really see something that said take a look at what happened [Applause] down we doing what we [Applause] [Applause] doing when you're ready on you ready move move so here's what we know at this hour what sounds like shots rang out the former president grabbed his ear and as he fell was immediately surrounded by security behind the podium and as you can see in these images he was surely rushed off the stage this is an emerging situation NBC's Dasha Burns is at that Trump Rally North of Pittsburgh and joins us now Dasha what do we know Jose we're still waiting to confirm a lot of the details here a lot of question marks still up in the air here's what I can tell you from my vantage point because I was standing right here uh As Trump first came onto the stage he was just a few minutes into his speech at this rally I was in front of a camera and I was walking off of the press risers here uh down below to the ground level where all of the uh General attendants are as we heard what sounded like gun shots ring out my producer and I ran to take cover as did um SE several of the people that are in attendance here most people ducking down uh the press that were behind the risers press that were at our media tables ducking Down Under the tables as we weren't sure uh what was going on our crew who was up on the stage uh captured some of that video that you showed the former president uh getting uh protected by his secret service they covered him he looked to have some blood on his face it looked like his ear uh was Bloody a lot of chaos and confusion no one was sure where the gunshots uh that were sounded like gunshots were coming from the former president as we know is now uh inside the motorcade he may at this point be offsite the folks here are now evacuating a lot of confusion some anger people yelling at the Press here not sure what to make of what has just happened the former president was just standing on the stage he was talking about immigration under President Biden when all of this erupted into chaos again just moments into here's appearance here in Butler uh Pennsylvania so far we're safe our crew is safe we have not seen anyone uh injured we have not heard of anyone injured yet but certainly uh unexpected uh confusing and we are still waiting to find out what exactly transpired here Jose and Dasha we want to go back to that that video because as you indeed state it does seem as though what appears to sound like shots a number of them did ring out and the former president clutched his right ear we saw him that after that he was taken towards that motor and here just moments afterwards you can see uh from what seems to be the his ear blood in his ear and there's some blood on his cheeks but he is conscious he is with his uh fist raised in the air uh as there seems to be blood coming from his right ear he was conscious the entire time still is conscious in every single one of the frames of the video that we have here on NBC news as he is being taken into that SUV there were also moments right after those apparent gunshots rang out where we were able to hear the officials and let's just let's just listen in together to this if you want to really see something said take a look at what happened [Applause] [Applause] down I counted about 8 to 11 what seems to be gunshots and you will be able to hear now you ready on you as they're getting ready to transport the former president and we see now some heavily armed special SWAT team members but listen to what they say [Applause] here down shooter is down is what one said this was just moments ago in Pennsylvania come and we'll see the former president stand up with the help of a few people get my he says let me get my shoes watch out Donald Trump still speaking as he raises his [Applause] fist and there you can see in the middle part of your screens that seems to be blood coming out from from his right ear conscious shaking and waving that fist as about five people helping down the stairs and towards that SUV and I could hear about eight to 10 or 11 what seems to be gunshots Dasha Jose as we stand here there are a lot of people yelling at the Press pen right now a lot of Anger from the people here I'll tell you just emotionally there's been a roller coaster just over the last 10 minutes or so since this happened it went from confusion people not sure if what they were hearing was fireworks but as those sounds continued as you said 8 to 11 or so uh cons consecutively people realized this might be dangerous this might be gunshots people started to get down to hide to feel that that fear that adrenaline that frankly I felt as we were trying to make sense of the situation and make sure that our our team here uh and our colleagues here were safe then when you saw the former president in that video get up and raise his fist we did hear cheers erupt from the crowd of people chanting USA USA and the former president was taken into the motorcade people started to clear out and now as uh as this this place is empty littered with water bottles uh just looks like a scene of of Escape right now very chaotic exit for everyone the few people that are remaining are very angry uh with with the media we are feeling a lot of rage from people right now as everyone is trying to process uh what what just happened of course it is not uncommon for the former president at his rallies to point out the media to call them fake news and to Target the frustration of his supporters towards the press and that is a little bit of what we are experiencing right now as people are trying to make sense of what happened what was supposed to be and and was just before these uh sounds rang out just before this incident uh a pretty jovial celebratory mood music was playing the former president had just started his speech and then everything changed Jose I want to bring in Tom winter a special uh correspondent Tom uh what we can discern learn from these uh images that we have from just moments ago is that the former president was speaking and then as what appear to be gunshots start ringing out more than one Tom is when he seems to touch his his right ear and almost quickly right after that starts dropping and then that's when the security join but but Tom it looks as though from this image that there is blood just from his right ear which may have uh also grazed his his cheek Jose I want to stress to everybody that it is preliminary the information that I am sharing with our audience right now is very early in this investigation everything I say is subject to change as law enforcement gathers more information as an investigation continues I can say with some sense at this time based upon law enforcement officials have been briefed initially on the events at the ground reporting along with my colleague Jonathan dink at 6:29 eastern time that the president is not expected to uh well the president is expected to survive this incident I think that's the most important thing for people to know the former president of the United States Donald J Trump current presumptive nominee in the Republican party is expected to survive this incident that's the initial indication that we have from the ground there is an initial indication that a uh either a fragment of a piece of ammunition or ammunition may have struck the president it's possible it could have been a bullet Ricochet we just don't know it's very early in this investigation we do not have any sort of sense of the suspect we do not have any sort of sense of it's just one person or two people we don't know we don't know the type of weapon that's used we don't know the motivation though it appears to be clear to be going after former president Trump but again the headline at this time the initial indications is that Donald Trump is expected to survive this incident um we've got a lot more calls to make we got a lot more information to gather um what I may have just said could change entirely in the next five minutes the next five hours we don't know but that's the initial indication that we have all subject to change Tom Watcher of course stay on this and thank you for being with us tonight on this rapidly developing news story former president Donald Trump appears to have been shot or hit by some either ammunition or fragments uh in a rally that he was holding in Pennsylvania just moments ago I want to turn to uh the moderator of Meet the Press Kristen Welker who is with us as well tonight uh Kristen these images that we're showing uh show the president to be conscious the entire the former president to be conscious the entire time uh shaking waving his fist in the air but there does seem to be blood emerging from the right his right ear and possibly maybe some injury to the cheek Jose that's right the images are horrifying the former president with his face bloodied he's pumping his fists he appears to be saying fight fight as he is ushered off stage by the Secret Service the political world just starting to absorb what has unfolded in Pennsylvania with just days until the Republican National Convention gets underway let me read you some of the reactions so far our Kelly O'Donnell has reached out to the Secret Service the Secret Service saying they are still gathering information on this incident so of course we will bring that to our viewers as soon as we get that uh President Biden for his part was at church uh in Delaware as he left he was asked if he'd been briefed on this rally he said no uh he then got back into his motorcade undoubtedly he will be briefed in the coming moments JD Vance of course the senator from Ohio who is a potential Contender to be uh Trump's VP nominee tweeting out everyone join me in praying for our president Trump and everyone at that rally I hope everyone is okay Jose uh we cannot overstate this this will send shock waves throughout the political world throughout the country uh as everyone absorbs what has happened again the former president rushed off stage pumping his fist appearing to have been injured at this rally in Pennsylvania Jose Kristen Walker thank you so very much stay with us I want to go back to Dasha Burns who was at that rally uh Dasha if you would describe to us what was set the stage for us what was happening happing when the former president uh was apparently uh hit with something so those of us who are just joining we were on the Press risers we were in front of the camera as the former president came onto the stage started speaking he was speaking Jose for maybe 3 to five minutes perhaps even less he was just starting to talk about the issue of immigration under President Biden he put some slides up on the uh screen here as he was starting to get into that issue we were getting off the press risers here I'll just tell you from my personal experience because we were in in the middle of all of this as uh this all transpired we were getting off of the press Riser getting to the ground level where all of the attendees are on the grass here uh at this venue we heard at first what I thought might have been fireworks I I even saw a little bit of smoke wasn't sure what was going on my producer Bianca and I uh then realized this might be something more serious we then got ourselves behind a barricade for safety trying to make sure that our colleagues and our peers around us were safe everyone ducked down as you see in that video the former president ducked down Secret Service came and protected him uh people in the audience here those who were attending initial confusion shock again when you first hear those shots you really do think this might be uh a fireworks just because this is not something that you are are expecting when you're at an event like this we get down on the ground we hear those continued pop pop pop pop pops they kept going it felt like for a long time for for those of us who were here on site but as you said listening to a back was about 8 to 11 or so of those popping sounds as the scene started to quiet down as we stopped hearing those sounds the former president started to get up his SEC Secret Service recording him off the stage the crowd went from that initial shock fear to uh too cheering for him as he stood up and it was clear that he he was not unconscious but he did seem to be bloody then the crowd started to disperse in fact we're being told right now that they would like the media uh to exit the premises so that's what we're going to do as soon as as we finish this Jose I'll phone in later if we have more information Jose Dasa thank you very much do what is needed to do I stay safe and and do exactly what authorities are asking you to do uh I want to U and if you're listening to us on radio I want you to listen as well as watch what happened just short moments ago in Pennsylvania at former president Donald Trump's rally we're going to start from this part and just go right through the whole want to really see something that said take a look at what happened [Applause] you're ready on you move Goods down are we good to move we clear we're clear we're clear got you I got you let me get my shoes hold that in your head bloody so we got to move to watch out [Applause] this time around as we play back uh what happened just a short while ago in Donald Trump's Pennsylvania rally we I heard at least 13 shots what appeared to be shots and there was some different in the intensity or strength of the shots uh which could mean that there were a number of again shots fired initially and then there was some responsive shots we also heard U members of security say the shooter is down Peter Alexander is with us our chief white house uh correspondent Peter what do we know as of right now and understand that President Biden has been informed of what happened Jose that's right we have been in touch with senior officials at the White House who tell NBC news that President Biden who is spending this weekend at his property in rovi Beach Delaware has been informed has been briefed uh by AIDS about this situation currently taking place or that has just taken place at that rally for former president Trump in pencilvania I spoke to another official there who conceded that they are trying to get as much information as they can right now clearly there are a lot of events that are moving very quickly at this time the president um only moments before this took place was in church at ROV and when he exited the church reporters asked him if he had if he was aware of it or had been informed about it at that time he had not been it's clear at this time he now has um this is clearly a very dramatic moment uh for this country both President Biden and um and and many members of his staff have condemned political violence of all kinds nobody anticipated anything of this kind to take place is someone who travels routinely with the president and formerly with former president Trump and with Mr Trump as a candidate the perimeter is usually very tightly protected from a great distance as well as you saw the US Secret Service quickly swarming the former president before leading him off you see the SWAT teams who quickly came into position um and I can tell you having been in many of these Trump rallies and here's a new picture from one of our colleagues there on the ground the photo journalists who are in the front row showing the blood on former president's uh face and clearly on his ear as well there he is pumping his fist as he was uh effectively chanting fight to those members his supporters who were there the perimeter is usually quite wide here and having traveled with former president uh with President Biden recently when he was in overseas in Europe I was struck by how wide that perimeter was with snipers uh in many areas keeping a very close eye and I suspect many of our colleagues um in law enforcement would communicate that for a former president and now the presumptive nominee on the Republican side there would have been a very wide perimeter so now that we are told um by law enforcement that it's believed that Donald Trump will certainly survive this incident immediately the questions turned to how this happened who's responsible for it uh and what needs to be done to help better secure any of these political figures over the course of the next several days and weeks not the least of which begins with the Republican National Convention that's scheduled to start on Monday in Milwaukee a giant perimeter has been built around the uh the Milwaukee Arena where they're going to be hosting that event in Washington a huge perimeter was built for the NATO Summit that President Biden was participating in with world leaders as well but as I'm speaking to you I'm checking my phone and texting with colleagues um with with staff at the White House for any uh additional information Jose As We Gather that we will of course share it with you Peter Alexander thank you so very much of course continue monitoring this for us I want to bring in retired ATF special agent Jim Kavanaugh he is with us tonight Jim and when we look look at these images there is so much that tells people like you so much about the trajectory where it seems that these gunshots or whatever came from the president was looking towards his right when he when at least two of what seems to be gunshots rang out and then he immediately kind of went towards his right ear as he was dropping it seems later Jim that it there maybe up to two what appear to be lines right one right up above his mouth on his cheek going towards his ear and then one on the lower part of his cheek what does this tell you Jim yeah well you're exactly right Jose I mean he certainly reacted to his right I mean he look appears to be he was struck in his right ear that where appears to be where all the the blood is we don't know if that that blood in the cheek is a wound or just blood spatter it's hard to tell uh but he certainly reacted to his right uh he he felt the sting on his right probably his right ear there's bleachers behind him that are filled you know uh with with uh uh supporters but he he kind of looks to his right now it doesn't mean that the shot was directly to his right that came directly from his right it's just he hit him on what there you see it J yeah yeah Jim stand by I want to go to Kristen Welker who has some very late breaking news Jose Secret Service spokesperson just posted uh on act saying an incident occurred the evening of July 13th at a trump rally in Pennsylvania the secret service has implemented protective measures and the former president is safe this is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when available again that is from the Secret Service everyone uh just absorbing the what has occurred and unfolded in Pennsylvania we're also getting reaction from a number of the vice presidential potential picks of former president Trump again just to reiterate the Republican National Convention is just days away from getting underway set to begin on Monday Senator Rubio posting praying for president Trump and all those attending the rally in Pennsylvania today Senator Vance everyone join me in praying for our president Trump and everyone at that rally I hope everyone is okay North Dakota governor Doug berham please join Katherine and me in praying for president Trump his family and everyone attending the rally today Carrie Lake of course Senate candidate posting please pray for president Trump so reaction just beginning to pour in from the political world of course as Peter just reported President Biden has been briefed uh this is the scenario that everyone of course feared and was trying to protect against certainly as we head toward the conventions this summer security is in the spotlight the questions of course now how could this have happened at a rally for the presumptive Republican nominee and the questions of course Will Go On from there how to prevent this from ever happening again but again the political world just beginning to absorb what has transpired at this rally in Pennsylvania sources of course on both sides of the aisle uh reaching out to say how horrified how shocked how in disbelief they are at what has unfolded Jose and Chris Walker please stay with us I want to go back to our investigative correspondent Tom winter with us on the phone Tom an update Jose still Gathering details at this hour as you can imagine things are very fluid uh but the initial indications that we have from two senior US law enforcement officials have been briefed on the matter is first and foremost former president Donald J Trump is expected to survive whatever incident this is so that's the first thing as far as what this was what type of incident it is what might have happened those are all details that law enforcement is trying to get a handle on was this a projectile was it a Ricochet was it something that's not a gun could have been some other sort of uh device uh could have been anything else we just don't know it's just far too soon to say and if anybody's in custody who that person or persons might be and why they did this all very much a question at this hour as I talk to you at 6:47 eastern time so we're doing a lot of reporting law enforcement Us Secret Service trying to uh get a handle on it as you can imagine federal law enforcement agencies and I'm including my reporting with my colleague Jonathan De on this federal law enforcement agencies are all acutely aware of what's going on and are standing by to provide any sort of information or do any sort of investigative work uh depending upon what they might find of course there'll be questions about security if this was in fact uh an intentional act there'll be question questions about the what and the why but right now I think folks are still trying to get a handle on the details the most important of which just so people understand the current condition of the former president is that he is expected to survive Tom W thank you very much stay with us I want to go to hie Jackson who has an update from the Trump campaign hie yeah for a campaign spokes pres I'm going to read you this statement in full as obtained by our colleague Garrett H that President Trump thanks law enforcement and First Responders for their quick action during this heinous act the spokesperson goes on to say he is fine and being checked out at a local medical facility that is it for now we do expect more details to follow but obviously significant now as we're looking at some of these images here Jose of the president former president being escorted off stage uh that he is in the words of the campaign he is fine he is apparently not seriously injured based on what they are telling us and is obviously being looked at now by doctors it is an an extraordinary moment to say the least here uh that we are on the eve of the Republican National Convention that for the presumptive Republican nominee this has occurred whatever this is at a campaign rally uh just days before he is set to officially accept the nomination we want to be super careful here because there's still a lot we don't know about motivation but I will just Echo what some of my colleagues have said here having been to many of these kinds of rallies there is a security perimeter in place for anytime you go to an event with any current or former president there are mags there is security there's a perimeter uh it is usually obviously always uh pretty intense and so there are going to be a lot of questions here moving forward as to how this could have happened as we're looking at these very dramatic visuals now from photographers who are lined up right there on stage in Butler Pennsylvania uh we have seen a lot of reaction coming in I know the chrisan just went through some of it from people like Mike Pence from others in the party saying that they are praying for the former president as you see there the blood on his face as he's holding up his hand uh that shot that we have been replaying here Jose but again the word from the Trump campaign he is fine they say and currently being checked out we're going to update you the second we get anything more Hy Jackson thank you very much I want to go back to Dasha Burns who was at that Trump Rally North of Pittsburgh and has new reporting she joins us on the phone she was asked to leave the area as it is considered a crime scene yeah Jose that's right everyone has evated that includes the press as well we have our crew together veryt you are of the media or a member of the public or even a member who is an elected official you are scream I'm so sorry I just can't we're not able to make out exactly what you're saying uh it is a very chaotic scene where you are the communications are difficult we're going to try to reestablish a better line of communication wish with Dasha Burns I want to go to back to uh Peter Alexander Peter uh any word from the White House Jose uh no new information from the white house right now but I do want to share some information we are receiving from the Democratic governor of the state of Pennsylvania where this incident this shooting um appears to have taken place only a short time ago Governor Josh Shapiro writes violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable he says it has no place in penssylvania or the United States he says he has been briefed on the situation by Pennsylvania State Police uh he says he's been briefed on the situation says that Pennsylvania State Police are on the scene in Butler County where the where this took place and are working with our federal and local Partners again those are the words of Governor Josh Shapiro the Democratic governor of the state of Pennsylvania uh so that's just the latest information we're getting from there again we are reaching out to our uh to the staff at the white house right now President Biden as we noted earlier is traveling he is in Delaware right now the reporters the pool that travels with him we are told by reporters there are being kept inside the vans that they normally traveling uh travel in a safe distance away from his home but that is that is the latest in terms of the information that we have Jose Peter Alexander thank you so very much as we continue our cover Lester Hulk continues with our breaking news Jose thank you very much as we continue to cover the events here um I want to go to Dasha Burns Dasha was uh in the crowd covering this event I think we've reestablished your signal Dasha do you hear us okay yeah ler I'm on a better line I think can you hear me okay yeah you sound great ler I will tell you the what what transpired is the former president was just starting rally he was only a few minutes into his speech he talking about immigration under President Biden I and and our team were up on the Press risers as he first started speaking we were just making our way off of those risers we were heading to the ground level where all of the attendees were on the grass in the field at this venue when we heard what initially I thought might have been fireworks the r is often invol pyic times there is smoke uh for effect so initially there was confusion shock surprise for for myself being there personally but also as I looked around uh to the crowd and everyone around us my producer Bianca and I then realized that it might be something more serious as we heard those consecutive pop pop pops that you could hear on the video we took cover behind uh some stfe equipment we looked around to make sure that our colleagues were in a safe position as we saw uh the entire audience all of the attendees get down on the ground you can of course see in that video the former president also getting down his secret service covering him so from confusion to sudden fear then when the former president you see him in that video rising up he holds his hand up in the air the audience started to cheer there were some chant of USA USA still a lot of chaos a lot of confusion and he started to evacuate eventually on the phone with you we were evacuated as well so Lester at this point I will tell you uh that venue is empty uh aside from law enforcement Secret Service Trump are gone attendees are gone the Press is gone my team and I are now in a safe location the security at these events one of the reasons ler this was so so confusing and surprising and shocking for us all of course this is what everyone fears when it comes to the political environment that we are in uh we don't know what exactly happened transpired butal violence so this was uh SC for all of us who were were there but every Tri rally that I have ever been to Lester because of that concern is thoroughly thoroughly protected there are security mags whether you're a member of the press whether you're a member of the public even elected officials are screened every item that you are carrying is looked at by a member of security there is a pretty strict protocol about about what you can and cannot bring in which is why there was so much confusion when this started because there are so manys taken to uh prevent any sort of uh violence any sort of unfa situation and we are now safe this moment into this R Jose Dasha let me ask you you and others I think have described multiple shots fired first of all do we know any anyone in the crowd anyone who was there um has anyone been hit and also what do we know about the shooter we don't know as far as from my V point where those shots came from it's a really large than new wer and it was hard to tell exactly where the shs were coming from I thought I saw some smoke on the right hand side of the stage but again the the Trump rallies often have those sorts of so it wasn't clear that had to do with those shots or not uh I talked to in that chaotic moment ask the people around me the people uh in uh the audience the attendees that were near me once we all sort of came up for for air if everyone was okay I did not hear of anyone who was injured people were slly sh up the uh emotional landscap of the those moments those 10 to 15 minutes lesser was really tumultuous went from a very celebratory environment there was music playing just before the former president came on stage people were uh selling Merchant di everyone was very hot but very excited to hear him speak it went from excitement to confusion people weren't sure if this was part of the show or not and then when people saw the former president get down everyone got down sudden fear shock chaos confusion then there were cheers and then there was some anger hose I will say that some members of the crowd started to turn on the press for a few minutes there e e e service is officially saying that this incident occurred they do not specify what the incident actually is what specifically happened although we've obviously been seeing it and watching it for ourselves the Secret Service they say has implemented protective measures and the former president is safe this is now an active Secret Service investigation and further information will be released when you Avail when available you heard Dasha talking about being moved obviously from the scene of this rally because of this investigation that is now happening but I want to underscore a couple of things here as we take a beat to just remind people where we are now that at this moment former president Donald Trump based on what we're hearing from Secret Service and from his campaign is safe and is fine those are the words of secret service and his team he is now being checked out based on his campaign at a local medical facility presumably in the area of Butler Pennsylvania where this rally has been happening here I can tell you we are also hearing from his son Donald Trump Jr who is posting a picture of his father in the seconds after this happened with his fist raised it's an image left that we have showed a couple of times in our special coverage here saying he'll never stop fighting to save America we are also summer fun means one thing it's time to visibly say goodbye to crows feet Fine Lines wrinkles and under eye bags and say hello to smooth beautiful younger looking skin with plexaderm plexaderm Smooths away wrinkles without foundation without color makeup and without expensive procedures best of all you could try it for only $14.95 this summer this isn't the first time I've been on TV raving about this product it's amazing my friends my family they can't believe it nothing works like this I've had under eye bags for a very long time and it sucks finally I tried something called plexidor I put it on my face and I'm not joking it works so take action this summer and pack up your UND ey bags and wrinkles and put them on vacation with plexaderm try our summertime special and get it for only $14.95 plus get free shipping visit plexaderm trial.com or call the number on your screen [Music] hi everyone meteor Ronald this is Anthony Bagon here checking in with our forecast as we head through the rest of this weekend we're going to watch the chance here over the next couple of days for some just spotty storms passing through not much coverage as far as a big organized system here's futurecast though you can see as we get into tonight just some very limited spotty sprinkles for us I think most areas are going to be totally quiet we start off on our Sunday morning probably with mostly sunny skies it's going to be a nice start for us a very hot day though for us tomorrow here's a look at lunchtime we're still quiet and then during the afternoon and evening we could see some Bubble Up storms yet again and then they fizzle out into tomorrow evening actual air temperatur is going to be up there close to 97 tomorrow afternoon but feels like temperatures the next couple of days 103 tomorrow 106 on Monday we climb to a peak there of 108 on Tuesday and then slowly coming back back down especially Thursday Friday Saturday into next weekend we're looking at some very decent rainfall chances there Thursday Friday Saturday All Above 70% or at 70% there for some showers and storms likely so that's going to help to kind of flip our pattern a little bit into next weekend 97 for us tomorrow close to 100 on Monday 98 Tuesday Jim now he's a retired ATF special agent uh Jim please feel free to correct me uh but what do we know about uh the layers of security and how they went into play here yeah I think your analysis is right uh spot on here Lester they do have layered security a lot of it is provided also by local law enforcement you can see their SWAT teams are there assisting um and the former president has a permanent detail of course of Secret Service agents that protect him a detail leader a special agent in charge they're all very close to him uh you can see when he was hit he's turned his face is actually turned to the right and he grabs his right ear now you can hear some small popping noises and you can also see the crowd react to the noise so you know I think I would probably ruled out some sort of a slingshot I think it is some sort of a weapon now it could be a small caliber handgun that grazed his ear that's a possibility there that's open it also could be something like a Sim munition and that's a that's a a round that we use in training that police using training it it will bust your skin it will hurt you it fires from a regular firearm um you know sometimes [Music] people happy Saturday I'm meteorologist Chris Michaels in the WR severe weather center for the most part it was nice to see some rain yesterday it did get a little nasty with some flooding at times but thankfully past the worst part of that look at some of these rain totals impressive especially in Fugue uh close to 4 in of rain being measured by some of the sensors there Rocky Mountain Irwin more than 3 in of rain than Goldsboro Fort Liberty and Chapel Hill an inch and a half to 2 Ines and 2 and a half inches of rain future cast showing that front still hanging out over the area and it's going to ring out the moisture like a wet towel once again but this time it's not going to be quite as widespread as what we maybe saw out there yesterday most of our storm Chance is going to be near into the east of Interstate 95 late this morning off and on into the afternoon as we go Beyond Sunset you lose the heat of the day for the most part you lose the conditions that are conducive for showers and thunderstorms that front then moving off toward the east by Sunday so for today still hot and humid a high temperature near 90° then by tomorrow you're looking at a high of about 96 the heat index near 105 now we got to start talking about the heat risk again heading into early this week another Heat Wave by Monday near record high temperature of 99 tu could even be a little bit hotter than that factoring the humidity the heat index near 110 start getting the water and electr lights in your system now especially if you're going to be working outside here's some good news if you're not a fan of the heat you see low pressure coming down to the South bulk of the heat is going to move South with it so the jet stream is kind of your dividing line between cool air North and hot air to the South so the long range Outlook this is looking late in the week into next weekend favors below average temperatures still looking at highs in the 80s will also be wetter than average heading into late this week and the upcoming weekend here's a latest check of the 7-day forecast the bulk of the heat through Tuesday backing off by Thursday and [Music] Friday a major police response in Durham where a man has died after losing control of his car and sliding off the road into nearby ellerby Creek it happened on Midland Terrace between Club Boulevard and can Avenue yesterday afternoon the victim has been identified as 32-year-old Cory Lewis firefighters were on the scene for hours trying to retrieve the vehicle and working to rescue Lewis but sadly he couldn't be saved yesterday's Heavy Rain washed away a decades old business in Raleigh Lamar PC on Western Boulevard was flooded with water take a look at this video you can see it destroy happy Saturday I'm meteorologist Chris Michaels in the WR severe weather center for the most part it was nice to see some rain yesterday it did get a little nasty with some flooding at times but thankfully past the worst part of that look at some of these rain totals impressive especially in Fugue uh close to 4 Ines of rain being measured by some of the sensors there Rocky Mountain Irwin more than 3 Ines of rain than Goldsboro Fort Liberty and Chapel Hill an inch and a half to 2 in and 2 and 1/2 Ines of rain future cast showing that front still hanging out over the area and it's going to ring out the moisture like a wet towel once again but this time it's not going to be quite as widespread as what we maybe saw out there yesterday most of our storm Chance is going to be near into the east of Interstate 95 late this morning off and on into the afternoon as we go Beyond Sunset you lose the heat of the day for the most part you lose the conditions that are conducive for showers and thunderstorms that front then moving off toward the east by Sunday so for today still hot and humid a high temperature near 90° then by tomorrow you're looking at a high of about 96 the heat index near 105 now we got to start talking about the heat risk again heading into early Bernie Sanders independent Senator posting political violence is absolutely unacceptable I wish Donald Trump and everyone else who may have been hurt a speedy recovery pausing on that last moment and that last thought Lester there has obviously been and this has occurred against the backdrop of growing concerns about the political rhetoric in this country concerned certainly as we head into this summer season in which both parties will be holding their conventions the Republican convention getting underway on Monday and Lester everyone watching closely all right Kristen thanks very much I'll ask you to stand by because we want to go back to Dasha burn she is in front of a camera now and uh and has witnesses to the this attempted violence don't you Lester so we made it out of the venue area we have all evacuated again press attendees everyone who was there is now out of the area we are currently in the parking lot again there were thousands of people at this rally as there are at many ralles there are a lot of cars in this parking lot all looking to leave as we were getting ready to to speak with you we just ran into Joe and Donna a motherson who say that they were right there they were in the a area where where this this happened Donna let me start with you first of all are you okay yes I'm shook I'm definitely shook up but I'm okay yeah and we were Trump was talking um watching him I heard pop pop pop I thought it was like a cap gun and my son's like G get down and next thing you know everybody around us was down and then once we got down we was up at the top of our bleacher the men were yelling to all the snipers and the all the cops to come over because he had shot a man and a woman in our bleacher we heard the one is very fatal we don't know that for sure but they were down they went out on so so Joe what what exactly did you see because from our vantage point we we couldn't see what was going on we didn't see any individuals all we could do was listen for those sounds but what what did you see um again I was watching the President and you hear the gunshots go off remarks from up top said that the shooter actually climbed up the back of the bleacher and after we got down like my mom said there was two people down they were calling from Medics we did see the two people that were shot and we saw them get carried out like I don't know the one didn't look like they were okay I I hope the other one's okay and just may God watch over them tonight and and Don you said two people were these two people fellow at T attendees of the of the rally and and what kind of can did you see them get shot directly or did you just just see the aftermath you heard no you just heard the noise you heard the pop pop pop seeing the aftermath and neither of them look good they were both down nobody's talking nobody was moving what was going through your mind as you were witnessing all of this are they still here and am I going to get shot that's what's going through my mind we're he's holding my hand and we were going to get up and try to get out of here and some gentlemen there said no you stay down so we stayed down and then we finally heard everybody evacuate and he grabbed my hand and we got out of there and Jo what was your state of mind coming into this rally today what were you expecting and and what are you feeling now as as we all experienced a day that that none of us thought would would come well I was excited I mean this is just our second rally and the first one Trump is very energetic when it comes to these and well now I want to vote for more than ever why is that just to send a message to these people they can't stop us don't stop us that's right Don how how are how are you feeling I mean you're here with with your son of course you want to protect your baby and you don't want to them or yourself to be in any danger what were those Mama instincts in that moment and how are you feeling right now exactly my mama instincts were when he grabbed my hand I knew my son was scared to death because he was holding my hand he held my hand since he was probably five or six years old and so he held on to my hand and my you can imagine my heart went into a million pieces um I all I kept thinking was we got to be safe and get out of here and I agree with Joe vote for Trump because this country got to get back in line This is out of control control how did you get out ultimately how did you get here to safety that when once they evacuated us we because right where we were sitting we were able to just keep on going we actually watched snipers and everybody over on the side for a few minutes but we just got out of there we were scared what did you see from from your Vantage Point of of of the the snipers these were the the the people protecting the former president that's correct and now and now they were over in the lawn they just were watching every single person with their guns going by I believe the one injured person was over there that they had wasn't he on the one on the ground they so before they evacuated They Carried the two injured people out then they yelled for us to get evacuated at that point all the Secret Service were up in our section with the guns and they're all in the field like I said rumor was he climbed up the back of our feature so Joe Donna thank you both so much I'm so glad you are safe I know this was not the day that you were expecting and thank you so much for for sharing your story with us don't go too far I might have some followup questions for you um so Lester there you have it another firsthand account they were right there this was not the experience anyone was expecting still trying to Grapple with what just happened here Lester donha Burns thank you for that interview very revealing we should point out it's unconfirmed what those witness accounts were of other people who might have been wounded we're tracking all that down and as soon as we have more than that we'll certainly bring it to you I want to bring in our investigative correspondent Tom winter he joined us on the phone with some new reporting on the the events tonight Tom Le incorporating the work of myself and my colleague Jonathan Dean two senior US law enforcement officials tell NBC news that there is a growing concern that this was a serious or may have been a serious attempt on the life of former president Donald Trump based on the facts of the investigation as they're developing them again to repeat two senior law enforcement officials tell NBC news that there is a growing concern that this may have been a serious attempt on the life of former president Trump Lester I can tell you as you can well imagine there is a lot of conflicting information right now as this investigation gets sorted out what occurred on the ground who heard what from where and obviously we're proceeding with Extreme Caution as to what we're hearing and who may or may not have been involved but uh there is definitely a concern that this may have been a serious attempt on former president Trump's life and why that might be important some people might say that that would be obvious you know different things can happen at these events you don't know the sequence of events and how it happens so the fact that there there may have been serious intent here and by somebody that might have been capable of doing this is why we believe this is newsworthy so so that's the latest that we have right now it's preliminary information from the scene from people that have been briefed on what the investigation holds and so we're going to continue to do our reporting and obviously get right back on with you as we get more information yeah Tom stay with me very quickly I just want to point out we saw some shots of police tape now being put around the area the the stands where former president Trump was apparently shot there earlier that it's now a crime scene so what you're seeing is in fact a crime scene the Secret Service likely to leave need that investigation but Tom uh we have been we've all talked about it we've seen examples of it political violence this is something that law enforcement has been bracing itself for in this campaign season is it not without a doubt Lester I lost track of the amount of times you and I have talked about it privately in the offices we've reported on it the FBI director in an interview with you directly said that he was concerned about this type of thing um Lester and so so I think everybody's been concerned about the potential uh issues uh the potential um uh things that could come up during the course of this election uh given how divided the country is given the level of threats and so that's something that people are acutely focused on for sure all right Tom thanks very much I'll let you get back to your reporting and and working at more details as this story develops here tonight let's bring in Evie pomor a former secret service agent joining me on the telephone right now can can you give us a sense from what you have seen give us your Professional Eye of what appears to transpire here yes so what we're seeing is him attending a rally speaking at the rally and then we hear the shop that it almost sounds like the soft popping sound so we hear these multiple shots we see him put his hand to his here and then you see the Agents come in those agents that come in are the shift it's his detail team for them to come in like that that means this is a serious threat something serious happened we're also seeing the Tactical Team and we're looking at the live shot we well the shot of the Tactical Team that's the element that comes in when you see the Tactical Team their job is to look for the threat so you have two entities here the agents in suits there the shift shift comes in immediately comes on top of the president and they are there to surround him and to make sure that the shot hit them the Tactical element that we see coming after their job is to move out and see them facing out toward the crowd and they are to look for the threat clearly we see the agents that get around him they Shield him and then they move in this Unison to Shield him bodywise so that nothing strikes him they move him slowly down the stairs and make their way to the armored vehicles that's what we're looking at now Lester if we're looking at how did this happen again this is all alleged nothing's been confirmed but if we're looking at what what's going on here what went and it's soon to say but how does such a thing happen when you have rallies like this ideally you're supposed to have magnetometer so that's going to be the first thing they're going to look at were the magnetometers right how did this weapon get in sometimes when it's a former president you may not have all the elements that a sitting president would have right all the Tactical capabilities so it's going to be how did that weapon get in were their magnetometers were people check for weapons and then from that point where was that person positioned right how are they able to get in and get that angle of a shot as as we look at these pictures again uh as you described the former president being rushed into that vehicle to be taken away from the scene I I keep thinking about what's happening in the crowd unfortunately the cameras aren't pointing on the crowd but um given the number of of uh pops or potential shots we heard um it it seems a lot of people were at risk you've covered these events no doubt as as have I a lot of people a lot of people wanting to get close to to their candidate that's part of what happens in in a campaign how does a secret service draw the balance there as to to create you know a fortress of of security at the same time allowing people to do what people should be doing at rallies like this so let's go to your first point where there's people there when you do these events and i' I've done these events they're it's called a site Advance when you secure an event like this you're the site agent so you have two goals two missions I am to protect the president of the United States right however the other go or mission is the people at this event so yes they're targeting or let's assuming right that again we don't have confirmation but when someone is targeting the President right if they're going to shoot yes he's an issue but also the people in the area are an issue right where are all these rounds going so when we hear these sounds these small you know these these Echoes of what appeared to be shots it wasn't one shot there were multiple shots and every round lesser has to go somewhere it lands somewhere where are they going so you've got all these people so you are responsible not just for the safety of the US president but you are responsible for the people there the president think of him as he's a a Target right wherever he moves danger goes with him just because of the what he attracts as a sitting US president or a former president or a candidate so when you put them in a place like this you also have to think strategically what about all the people there now you'll see the barricades that are set up you see the stage that's set up what you may not see in that shot is you will have Ingress and egress elements that means you want multiple ways in and multiple ways out so you want movement for the president you also want to create an alternate movement for him if he can't get out the primary way so we've got typically at least two ways in two ways out and those vehicles that are staged there they are positioned there specifically to Evac him to evacuate him cuz also you're in an open area here right right so you don't have that concealment to cover you have whenever you do an open area like this massive line of sight issues meaning you can get the thre from so many different ways so many different areas and just one thing to touch on too typically after an event like this it's typically the FBI who comes in to do the investigation of what happened right so it's the Secret Service element is the element that does a protection the FBI typically is who's going to come in to investigate what and how did this happen Abby let me ask you this um in terms of what kind of intelligence law enforcement has or is given before an event this we're in Prime Time campaign season these candidates are out there doing sometimes multiple stops in a day big crowds lined up how much does local law enforcement know about potential threats maybe somebody in the crowd who has you know written a nasty email or a letter or that sort of thing they do before when you go out a part of the Advan team when you go out you work with the local police department so so here he's going to his location right he's going to a town to a city wherever he's going you work from the beginning you have many meetings with the local police department the president former president's coming in he's going to do a rally and we share Intel the Us Secret Service shares their intels this is what we're hear hearing from our side the local police department typically because they know what's going on in their Community they're also going to have their ears to the ground they're going to have intelligence and information and then we have these meetings the Secret Service will have these meetings before an event where everybody comes together and everybody shares I'm hearing this you're hearing this what do we need to do what elements do we need to put in place so if you're hearing there a lot of protesters you're hearing um talk that people are going to show up and cause problems that is all communicated so that you can figure out what you need and also you can figure out what assets to put into the crowd to blend in you're seeing the Secret Service uh suits you're seeing the Tactical Team you'll see uniforms for police department but they also have an element there that is the Unseen the we don't call them Undercovers but there's those those agents and law enforcement who will serve circulate in the area and play and clo and kind of lend their ear out and hear what's going on all right EV you have been a tremendous help helping us understand the mechanics of of security in a situation like this uh hopefully we can rely on you again to talk a bit later but thank you so much we continue to look at the video uh the shocking video frankly from Pennsylvania where earlier this evening early evening here on the East Coast someone apparently took shots at uh the former president former president Trump um as we heard two senior law enforcement officials saying there is a growing concern that there may have been a serious attempt on the life of of former president Trump uh apparently his wounds are are survivable he's barely doing okay but we saw him uh clutching his ear a bloodied ear as he was led from the scene uh people heard multiple Pops in the crowd um We are continuing to track information we can about any potential other victims in this who might have been in that crowd this was a rally unlike some pretty much like so many we have seen uh throughout this election season people joyous people excited about seeing the candidate hearing what he had to say uh nobody signed up for this however I want to go to NBC's Dasha Burns just outside that Trump Rally North of Pittsburgh Dasha you were there as the crowds were trying to get out um as you watch the video of course your your your face your eyes are focused on former president Trump and reaction but you're also seeing people in the crowd who seem unaware don't quite realize what's happening I suppose that's not unusual as you were able to exit the grounds were people beginning to fill in some of the blanks of what they saw and heard yeah ler absolutely there was a lot of confusion initially you don't expect something like this to happen going in there's so much security protocol when you come to a trump rally and as we were first hearing those sounds so many people uh that I've talked to myself included our our team here thought it might have been fireworks we weren't sure what was going on now as everyone has uh taken a bit of a breath and is trying to absorb what happened we Now understand that that's not uh necessarily the case we are coming to you live right now from the parking lot for this venue Trump rallies attract thousands and thousands of supporters or thousands of cars here and Lester we are running into people who have evacuated the rally are looking for their vehicles and and trying to process what just happened that's how I ran into Aaron here Aaron was uh in the front row there near the former president Aon first of all are you okay how are you feeling I'm okay I was in the first row I was directly in front of trump my seat I was looking him in the eye we heard the pops maybe three minutes into the rally three to four minutes I heard four pops pop pop pop the four secret service immediately jumped on the stage and we saw him push president Trump to the ground then the gentlemen that have the guns came up to start clear clear right clear left they said get him up so they lifted him up and Trump said I got to get my shoes on first did his shoes come off his shoes must have we couldn't see it underneath that but his shoes must have come off when they dropped him down to the ground first thing he said we could all hear it I have to get my shoes on First and when he stood up I'm looking at him forward I see the red tear drop right here of blood fresh red blood just a little tear then when they got him up and they turned him I could see the blood from the top of the ear to the bottom wasn't gushing but it was covered and then he put the fist bump up stay strong and they walked him off Erin what was going through your mind what did you think when you first heard those sounds I thought this what you just said I thought it was fireworks Fourth of July it's been pop pop pop that's what it sounded like the gentleman behind me we were I was one se he was to the right of me he could see the Sharpshooter on the behind Trump he said the Sharpshooter shot to the left he killed the gentleman in the water tower here now when I called my husband at home who's watching TV he said I thought Trump Hur his ear when he went to the ground but he said no on TV they showed before Trump hit the ground the ear was bleeding so that Sharpshooter went across Trump turned his head his ear must have been nipped and killed somebody in the stands over to the left could you see anyone injured besides the blood on the former president all I saw was the gentleman from Beaver County who spoke earlier in the day he was running for the State House Representative Elmore I know his name he had a white shirt on and I saw him come from that left stands where the people were mostly shot I think there was several they said three medacs left here blood was down the right side of his he wasn't shot but you could see that he was next to somebody who must have been bleeding profusely because he either helped them and and ran you know rubbed against them or tried to get them help or something it was covered so I knew that he was near somebody that was my first indication indication that somebody was actually shot when I saw his blood on his shirt Ain when did you realize that hey this might not be fireworks this might be something else when they got trumped down on the ground and then we were just so concerned that he wasn't hit cuz we couldn't it happens so fast you know it's really hard to process it you know I guess when they if you have it on your camera to see the exact minute you can tell but when he got up he did not look bad at all he didn't he looked very strong so then I saw that little bit when I saw that blood thought he must have just hurt himself hopefully but it does appear that he was probably nicked by that bullet that turned his head just in the nick of time but just and Aon you were so near to all of this yourself you were right there how how did you personally feel about your own safety were you scared uh what was that experience I was totally not scared for my own none of us in that front row went down to the ground not a one we wanted to only help the president that's all we wanted to do either we could protect him we could stand around him I didn't see one person in the row hit the ground not one I I was shocking no one was concerned about us we were only concerned about him now you're somewhere safe you're out of there as you're starting to process this I know we'll all be processing this over the coming days and weeks how are you feeling now in this moment well what I've heard coming out here is now they feel that there was two Shooters on both sides so they got the one on the tower on this side but the one on the right side they never got so they that's why they wanted us to leave immediately because they thought there's still a shooter out there somewhere so there could be in these woods around Butler Erin you know I I've covered many Trump Ries I don't know how many you've been to my six this is your I was here I was the fourth car in the parking lot this morning at 20 to7 so I've worked all day you've been here all day you know I knew you we're here look you know the the the atmosphere coming into a trump rally the supporters very jovial very celebratory typically people are selling merchandise food what's the what were you coming in with today and what are you leaving with tonight well I was here four years ago when he was in Butler you know it was like 58,000 people I tell people it was the most magical night of my life when he came on that helicopter in circle two times he had four rallies that night it was just an unbelievable night and I was anticipa to be another unbelievable night but not this way and I just it's it's just very sad I mean it all these people that came to see him and to have him hurt it I can't even describe it you know it I just feel sad I feel sad for our country I feel sad for everybody you know I mean you don't like the guy don't vote for him don't kill him we love the guy we're going to vote for him you know I mean what what what is up with his violence Ence I mean it's just it's just terrible I just I just wish that people that I mean I'm glad that guy's no longer with us anymore in that Tower and I hope they get the other one too and I hope they don't they don't Nick him I hope they get him and he's down Aon thank you so much I'm so glad no I'm I'm so glad you're safe I know it's a lot a lot to process today thank you so much for your time thank you absolutely a lot of people knew that shoes must have fallen off the shoes and new detail and Lester of course U this is an eyewitness account we don't have those details confirmed this is what uh Aaron witnessed from her vantage point we will wait for law enforcement to give us those details uh but again this is a a developing situation and right now Aaron and so many others just trying to uh make their way home as there are thousands of of people who were in this parking lot quite a bit of a traffic jam uh at at this point as people are trying uh to make their way out and of course Lester uh makes sense of what it is that they just witnessed yeah Dasha thank you for your continued great reporting there as we get these these accounts and it and it Bears reiterating look folks there are things that we're hearing things we're learning uh we will tell them to you when we can confirm them uh obviously the witnesses has been describing potentially other victims in this and we continue to work that angle very aggressively as we know more we'll tell you about this the same in terms of uh what we will hopefully be able to learn about uh who was behind this attack as soon as we can tell you is something we can verify we will go right to that our senior White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell joins us now Kelly talk to me about reaction from the Biden Administration obviously watching this with great concern tonight well Lester there are important steps that the administration takes at this point the current president has been briefed by the director of The Secret Service Kimberly cheel and of course her agents were with former president Trump are getting direct information from the scene to the president in addition the president has been talking with his Secretary of Homeland Security and his homeland security advisor inside the White House that of course is Alejandro mayorcas the secretary at the cabinet level and Le Sherwood Randall who advises the president on potential Homeland threats inside the United States in this moment it is not candidate and candidate this is the sitting president having to deal with the law enforcement piece the National Security implications and sort of the mindset of the nation when an event like this happens so the president is getting those threads of information coming into him he is in Delaware right now the vice president has also received an initial briefing and certainly we are also hearing from others who have had their own experience and still do with the Secret Service former President George W bush putting out a statement saying that he and Laura Bush are grateful to the Secret Service that they were able to uh get former president Trump to safety and they're concerned of course about what this incident was about out and they thank First Responders for their Swift action so all the apparatus of the federal government uh shifts to deal with something like this the Secret Service is involved in the investigation they are also of course involved in the day-to-day protection of the former president I have been told based on my reporting that the level of protection that he would receive as a former president which has been his existence these last three and a half years heading into the convention in Milwaukee he would be getting a larger detail as the presumptive candidate going forward so expecting already plans in the works for him to have a more robust uh set of agents and procedures around him they're also of course waiting to envelop the new running mate to be named at some point and that person would also have Secret Service protection when former president Trump announces his pick what happened today a rattles the very core of the Secret Service they do train for this they are dealing with this Potential Threat at every event all the time here at the White House where I am right now no visible sign of any enhanced security they are focused on certainly the event surrounding the former president at that location it would also include state and local authorities who would be on the ground participating in the investigation which would typically be led by the FBI so as far as any contact from the president he's got a team of senior advisers around him who are able to give him direct information from the Secret Service as well as the Department of Justice law enforcement and importantly those Homeland Security advisers both at the cabinet level and inside the White House who may have more of a picture about potential threats or concerns that our colleague Tom winter was talking about that's where we are at this point from the White House Lester Kelly O'Donald thank you very much excuse me the good news is again we saw the former president leaving getting into the car pretty much under his own power certainly supported and escorted to safety but uh he looks like he will be okay and once again flashing that triumphant fist that is um characteristic of many of his campaigns uh for those of you just tuning in we want to play for you the moment when Secret Service agents rushed former president Trump off the stage we want to caution you that we don't know exactly who said what's captioned on the screen or why they said it because it was such a chaotic moment but here it is we good down shoters down are we good to move clear we're clear we're [Applause] clear and again that moment of chaos you hear the screams in the crowd as people are beginning to learn that something is a Miss uh there our investigative correspondent Tom winter is with us in the phone he continues uh to get reaction and National Security details what can you tell us now Lester while I'm on the phone with you one of my colleagues is on the phone with the local district attorney in that county who tells NBC news that the alleged shooter the person they believe responsible for this event is in fact deceased so again to repeat the Local District Attorney at in the area where the Trump rally is is telling one of our colleagues right now that in fact the alleged shooter the person they believe to be responsible for this is deceased we do not yet have a name or identity of that individual we don't know their background where they may have come from any sort of personal a that's information we're still trying to gather uh but that's the headline the second component of this three senior US law enforcement officials tell myself and colleague Jonathan De that there appear to have been or they're looking into whether or not several other individuals were shot that were in the crowd uh those are not individuals suspected to be involved in this those were either rally goers or bystanders but they're looking to whether uh at least two other individuals were shot as well so that's the latest update that would seem to indicate to us a couple of things one they believe they know who did this they believe they know where they were potentially what they were using and they can now start to do a lot of detailed investigative work we don't know although there is no indication at this time that any other individual was involved um but obviously it's very early and very preliminary on that front and a lot more work will presumably need to be done yeah let me just follow up on that I think I think you may have answered the question but we did hear from one witness a bit earlier who uh seemed to believe that there were two individuals involved you're saying that uh the local da is saying one shooter is deceased so the belief is that that it is a single shooter the belief at this time is that that's the case because what they said um was that uh was that the person they believe is responsible is deceased so they did not indicate that there were any other individuals um but that's you know again Lester uh as you well know we're less than two hours into this and so there's a lot of information a lot of things that are fluid on the ground and just because this individual may or may not have been assisted by others at this rally did they have any sort of help in any other way um those are be questions that'll answer the answer the next couple minutes or hours typically based on past events as you know this is usually just one individual that's involved uh but of course investigators have to keep their minds open and as reporters who are relying on that information the investigation that is going on in our own homework well we're keeping our minds open too and Tom you and your team certainly have a a huge depth of experience in these kind of breaking news matters especially when they uh involve issues like what we're seeing play out here is it likely this thing is going to unfold very quickly that they will work backwards uh from the moment of the shooting and and and have a pretty good idea of what they're dealing with so let's take for law enforcement worst case scenario with respect to the investigation if this individual had no identity on him no sort of background the FBI would be able to instant fingerprint him at the scene they would be able to get information and uh uh either that way uh they'd look into uh facial recognition to see if they could identify him in any sort of government database from there you might know where the individual lives any relatives they will comb through every inch and ounce of his social media they will have the ability to go to social media companies and ask for an emergency warrant and they will most certainly be granted to get access to those Communications cell phone Communications text Communications all of that will be part of the instant investigation I apologize to ask you a question then I have to interrupt you but we are getting some confirmation the Butler County DA is now telling us that one spectator one spectator has died in this incident one has been apparently wounded and is in critical condition and the SHO as Tom has been reporting is dead so to repeat that news and this comes via the Butler County DA one spectator at this Trump rally is dead another is in critical condition and the shooter uh what we believe right at this hour the lone shooter is also dead and as our colleague uh Tom witer was reporting they will work very quickly and and work backwards and we'll likely know a lot about this individual in a short amount of time you see former president Trump uh trying to acknowledge the crowd while being obviously stunned and being led to the safety of an armored armored vehicle but it appears that he is okay suffering um what what we've all been able to see some sort of graze type wound uh to his ear um we we hear him you know asking for his shoes uh he is Led away uh he continues to turn toward the crowd uh to offer a sense of assurance that he is okay uh he is now clear of that scene as people continue to leave all them telling stories of hearing these pops uh some of them uh one woman we had on was able to describe uh the shooter now that we we've got that confirmed we her account certainly jibes with what we're getting now from the officials uh in Butler County uh Pennsylvania and that is the uh uh the crowd here trying to uh trying to Rally their spirits and certainly this was several minutes apparently into the uh former president rally uh there in Pennsylvania when this occurred multiple what sounded like shots pops um but we presume there were gunshots uh fired in his direction as uh as he was looking to the right and a little unclear he grabs his his ear and then you can see this um team of Secret Service agents can quickly swarm him confirm that he is clear U out of danger uh the risk nullified and then he is uh escorted to his vehicle and to safety that area you're looking at right now is a crime scene we've seen subsequent pictures where you see the uh the police crime tape and they will treat it as any other crime scene and try to get the details of this we don't know what this means in terms of uh the exact the exact injury that former president Trump received what treatment he may be receiving what this will do to his uh ability to campaign we certainly of course expect to see him in this coming week as the Republican National Convention is about to begin on Monday in Milwaukee so um RNC officials certainly trying to figure that out but right now the the greatest concern is uh from that angle is is the uh the health of the former president and of course thoughts also turning now to um the one spectator uh who was killed in this another spectator who was in critical condition from a wound sustained during all this NBC's BOS Das is just outside that Trump Rally North of Pittsburgh she has been giving us plenty of updates here d' as you've heard we've now been able to confirm that at least one spectator has been killed in this and the shooter himself is dead Lester just for those who are are joining us in this moment just a reminder that um our team we were in the Press pen when this happened we were in front of a camera just getting off camera as the former president started to speak just a few minutes into speech uh this this transpired we ran for cover as we were trying to figure out what exactly had happened initially thinking it was fireworks then realizing it could be something more serious and now of course we know uh deadly I am in the parking lot right now just outside of this venue this is where press and general attendees have had their cars parked this is where we evacuated to when we were told to leave the site that is now a crime scene and I've been running into Witnesses here as people have been trying to find their cars trying to make their way out and and that is where I ran into this a man named Joseph and I want to introduce him to you now and as we just learned Joseph you weren't listening to the program here but uh Lester Holt NBC News just reporting that one of the attendees has deceased uh has died from from injuries as a result of the shooting Joseph you told me off camera that you may have witnessed this and I'm so sorry be talking to you in this tragic moment but can you describe what it is that you saw um I was attending the rally um I was in the set of bleachers to the very far left of the podium where Donald Trump was speak president Trump was speaking um you know was there with friends I heard several gunshots um the man beside me uh suffered a gunshot wound to the Head um was instantly killed um fell to the bottom of the bleachers another woman was looked like she got hit in the forearm or hand and then at that point in time uh it was rather chaotic at that point cuz everyone half the people were looking because I thought it was fireworks I knew it was gunshot right away my friend you know hit the deck I was kind of looking around just trying to see where the shots were coming from it seemed to me like the shots were coming from behind the bleachers it seemed to me the man got hit in the head from behind um he was killed instantly as far as I could tell and at that point State Police and a SWAT team you know showed started evacuating the bleachers and then I helped carry the man out of the bleachers to a tent that was behind um the bleachers you helped carry the man yourself what was his condition when you were carrying him he's deceased he died how close were you to him uh couple yards I mean it wasn't very far did you know the man no it's police stranger they put a towel over his head and then carried him off and you said there was another woman nearby who was also intered where was she in relation to him I believe she was in the bleachers like either behind above me or just to the side of him but it seemed like she was kind of at my flank and then she flinched and it looked like she had taken a gunshot window of the Forum in hand Joseph from where I was uh standing we heard multiple gunshots uh 8 to 11 shots we've been hearing it replayed on the video here do you remember can you tell I know it was a chaotic scene but at what at what point was it immediately when you heard the gun shots that he was he was shot or was it later on into the firing the first seven he was hit with he was hit and she was hit within the first seven shots that counted seven shots what was going through your mind you were right there I know what happened so quickly but what what can you tell us about those moments uh first I was in shock cuz like I know what gunshots sound like so I knew there were gunshots I just I couldn't tell from where they were coming from and when I noticed someone got hit then I notic what it seemed like they were coming from behind me and it just was pandemonium and then I heard some more shots and I couldn't I couldn't quite tell where they were coming from but I counted the first seven they were very loud and very close um and it killed one man and wounded another woman and Joseph you told me that you're a doctor you're an OBGYN how did that background play into how quickly you were sort of able to assess this situation and know what happened to these individuals and and know what was going on well I I told the police I I tried to render assistance I told the police I could render assistance they had another physici on the EMT team so they kind of took over so they wer really need me so I kind of helped carry them down initially out of the bleachers um yeah I mean there wasn't there wasn't the man that got hit there was no assistance that needed to be given and unfortunately his family witness the whole thing they she it seemed like he had several family members in the bleacher with him and they were quite upset they didn't know they were in shock they didn't know quite know what was going on but the man was definitely killed instantaneously could you tell sort of how many family members or people who knew him were were with him and what what was their reaction I thought there was five people they were two of them are relatively hysterical so but they were you know when we took the man out of the bleachers he went to the tent there was an aid tent or some type of tent behind the bleachers where they took the body and they immediately evacuated the family with them and two out of the five it seemed you know in shock hysterical like they were still trying to process what was going on Joseph from from where I was standing we we heard the shots uh we saw the president go down yeah I saw president Trump get hit what can you tell us what what details you remember it seemed like his head was off to the side and it seemed like he got nicked in the ear was that before the Secret Service took him down to the ground covered him right before the Secret Service I mean it was maybe again it's hard to tell like you know time dilates when like the it seemed like it was a second or two like that first seven shots that went off the man got hit he was killed almost instantly the woman and the bleachers she got injured like she got hit in the forarm in the hand and then in those rounds that were fired again I was videoing the event so that's when I saw Trump get hit and it seemed to me like looking at he was looking to the side and the round grazed his ear so could you tell the the gentleman that that was hit in the head what what uh angle he was in relation to the former president like which direction the bullets were were coming from and two so it looked like he was facing the president at the very far left portion of the of the bleachers so he's directly facing again it seemed to me like the shots were coming from the rear like behind us and for me it seemed like the man was in the way like you know I guess in the way of the former president no it seemed like the man was in the way of the shots between whoever was shooting shooting the gun and the president um the man was hit it seemed like he was on the crossfire and I know and I know you're in shock and still processing all of this it's sort of hard to valate our own emotions in this in this moment but you just experienced something horrific yes what what can you tell us about your state of mind right now you know I i' I've had opportunities to go these rallies before it's the first one I ever went to had you know time off to go do it I was kind of excited to go but you know it's you know everyone everyone you know it's it's something you don't expect it comes out of the blue it's like a bold out of the blue and it's just it's shocking um you know the way politics goes in this country it just seems like it's really polarized everyone's just very angry I'm honestly shocked this didn't happen earlier um I was commenting to my friend that went with the to the event with me I was like you know you know the back behind the bleachers it's really open it seems like a really open venue and it just you know I got this sense that you know someone really wanted to do something again I I was openly talking to her I was like you know if something was bad was going to be happen this is the perfect venue to have I just said this like an hour before it happened I was like this would be the perfect place to do it and you know surprisingly enough what happened a devastatingly preent observation for you uh let me ask you one more question because from from where I was there was confusion then Trump stood up and and there were some cheers and then people sort of remained those that weren't in sort of the immediate Zone where you were um people were still sort of cheering talking trying to figure out what was going on uh how quickly did you know that whether or not there was still a a dangerous situation it it seemed like uh people sort of started to try to move on very quickly not sure what had happened right so how how soon did you know whether or not it was even even safe did you want to get out of there what what did you witness in sort of the immediate aftermath once the shots stopped well same back to the shots went off everyone thought it was a prank everyone I think got a sense like when I looked out into the crowd everyone thought I think the initial reaction everyone thought it was a prank I knew better was a gunshot because I just saw a guy got hit and it for those of us that didn't see some people started laughing some people were confused it wasn't immediately clear to the crowd that didn't witness what you witnessed you know that this was in fact a dangerous and deadly situation it was a dangerous and deadly situation the problem is it's a large crowd and when the gunshots went off I think they were again my sense was they were being shot from behind so they sounded a bit muffled so it sounded more like a firecracker going off so I think the initial reaction from the people around me were like okay well someone brought fireworks I just knew better I know what gunshots sound like and you know when I when I saw the guy got took a gunshot window the head and I saw the woman who got hit in the forearm in the hand I just knew it wasn't fireworks I mean knew it wasn't fireworks initially but I don't think I think the majority of the crowd didn't understand it was fire it was gunfire and um I think people took it really seriously when the SWAT team started jumping over the rails so I I I don't know what to tell you outside of that um Joseph I know this I I can't imagine what it takes to describe what you just witnessed in these moments right in the aftermath so we thank you so so much for sharing happy lestera thank you for that that account I mean you no one should have to you know fear for their life going to a political rally uh something that is U uniquely American um but these people have experienced the horror of of someone uh opening fire on the crowd and a former president who was of course the the headline at this rally tonight um as we've been reporting one spectator is dead another is in critical condition the shooter this all according to the Butler County DA uh the shooter uh is also deceased our senior White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell joins us again Kelly you have a new statement from President Biden that's correct Lester this is from President Biden who is in reoboth and he talks about this incident he begins by saying I've been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania I'm grateful to hear that he's safe and doing well I'm praying for him and his family and for all those who are at the rally as we await further information Jill and I are grateful to the secret service for getting him to safety there's no place for this kind of violence in America we must unite as one nation to condemn it the words of Joe Biden after learning about this incident involving his predecessor and his current rival in the political environment of this 24 campaign the president has been briefed by top officials he has been talking with Homeland Security officials and he is at his home in reoboth Delaware where he has a full complement of the things needed for the office where he can get the income streams of all the relevant information this first statement coming from President Biden I would not be at all surprised if we don't hear more from him tonight as new developments take place Lester all right Kelly thank you for that Terry Schultz is with the Butler County Pennsylvania District Attorney's office and was at the rally she is still there and joins me on the phone uh Terry first of all um if if you can just walk us through what you saw where you were In This Crowd um you know what we didn't have VIP uh seats we were um a few rows back um enough that we could you know see um the former president uh and and then we were all standing standing there um watching the uh the jumbotrons they had put him on and the next thing we did was um we hear three shots I see kind of his head the Pres the former president's head go sideways you know you you can see kind of like you know blood and um at that point I wasn't looking at anything um I was with some and they were like you need to get down everybody get down the people are around me there were some some young people crying and to be honest with you um at the time this happened I wasn't even sure they were gun shots um but then we heard like three or four shots and then we heard shots kind of returned um a friend of mine videotape that and we just watched that and that's what we saw and what we heard the um from from your standage Vantage Point we able to see where the where the shots were coming from was it obvious it was not but you could you could hear them and and as soon as you heard the shots your head turned um towards the left um we have a um a route that runs um outside um the the Butler Farm Show Route 68 and it sounded like the shots were coming from out there near the field to the the left hand side of where we were so um it it certainly was scary you know we look at the vide tape and and it appears some people didn't quite realize what was happening at the moment were you one of them who was was not quite sure what you were with a couple of months old and if you to really um absolutely and and again until um I was with some friends and my girlfriend is like you have to get down people around us we pulling us down and saying you have to get down so um I I can tell you that it was it was chaos at the time have you been to one of these rallies before um I have not it was uh my first time at a rally and I was certainly excited you know to go to one we had so many people there um but I I can tell you the chaos that this created it was everyone was scared you know you you see the Pres the former president and what's happening and you know and then when I ascertained what had happened from from of um from of my um Pennsylvania State Police friends um it it was very scary but it was my understanding

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Length: 101min 35sec (6095 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 14 2024