Trump shooting: the security failures that let gunman mount assassination attempt | BBC News

America is reeling tonight from an assassination attempt on Donald Trump it happened at a rally in Pennsylvania when a gunman on a nearby roof evaded security and shot at Mr Trump who dived for cover one member of the crowd was killed while protecting his family and two others were injured the gunman was subsequently shot and killed by the Secret Service Donald Trump has called for Americans to Stand United after the attack and President Biden has condemned it but as well as sh there's been immediate blame and counter blame and also a strong sense of forboding as to what this means for the us for our first report tonight let's go live to our correspondent Gary odonahue who's in Pennsylvania and who was at the rally where the attack took place Gary rer in just a couple of hours the president will address the nation in prime time from the Oval Office a sign of the magnitude of the events that have taken place here we're learning about some of those who were injured and lost their lives last night as well Corey compor he was a 50-year-old volunteer fire chief he threw himself on top of his family to protect them from the bullets two others David Dutch James copenh Haven both injured and stable in hospital any everyone now trying to work out why and how this could have happened here's how the events of the night unfolded and you know that's a little bit old that chart that chart it was just a few minutes into Donald Trump's speech when a volley of shots rang out the former president could be seen clutching at the right side of his head after that he hits the ground as the Secret Service pile on top of him their job to put their bodies between him and the shooter get down get down when you look back closely at those moments the sheer horror of the events is hard to avoid first the rapid gunshots then a bullet captured in midair on its way to its Target the former president going down to the ground and then with help from the Secret Service getting to his feet he's also resisting leaving the stage because he can't find his shoes I got you sir I got you sir let me get my shoes sir hold that in your head blood so we got to move to the a potent reminder of what shock can do to people's thinking in the moment it's difficult to hear but he tells them several times to wait before raising his fist he can be heard saying the words fight fight while all this was going on close to the stage we were outside hearing the shots not knowing where they were coming from afraid for our own safety we're just waiting to see if things have cleared and we're just as you can see we're on the ground behind our car which is not ideal but that's the the shelter we have at the moment and that's what we're that's what we're trying to to assertain what's happened as people streamed out of the venue they told us what they'd seen one man a local business owner described how he noticed a man he believed to be the shooter climbing onto a low roof nearby holding a weapon we noticed the guy crawling Army you know bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us 50 50 ft away from us so we're standing there you know we're pointing we're pointing at the guy cro up the roof and he had a gun right he had a rifle we could clearly see him with a rifle Absolut um we're pointing at him the police are down there running around on the ground we're like hey man there's guy on the roof with a rifle and the police were like huh what you know like like they didn't know what was going [Music] on what are you doing we now know at least one spectator was killed and two more critically injured a doctor in the crowd tried to help I heard the shots um I uh I thought it was firecrackers to begin with um somebody over there was screaming he's been shot he's been shot so I made my way over uh I said I'm an emergency department physician let me help you the guy had spun around was jammed between the benches there's C coming in to get him uh so uh I got people there really helpful I got there only one person shot that you saw then CPR B chest compressions as well as a brief form president Trump was taken straight off to the local Butler County Hospital shortly afterwards he released a statement paying tribute to law enforcement and expressing condolences for those killed and injured later he posted on Truth social it was God Alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening we will fear not but instead remain resilient in our faith and defiant in the face of wickedness Thomas Kooks the FBI has named 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Kooks as the subject involved he graduated from high school two years ago cannot allow for this condemnation of the shooting was Swift the idea that there's political violence or violence in America like this this is just unheard of it's just not appropriate and we Everybody Everybody Must condemn it everybody Joe Biden headed straight back to the White House a rare Oval Office address to the nation in prime time scheduled for this evening meanwhile promising full investigations the Biden campaign is suspending its activities for the time being but Donald Trump seen here after the shooting last night has said he plans to go to the Republican National Convention on Monday as planned in the meantime investigations will continue everyone asking how could an attempted political assassination be part of modernday America Gary odonahue BBC News Butler Pennsylvania well what took place last night has left the United States and political leaders worldwide in shock our North America editor Sarah Smith joins us now and Sarah just described the mood of the country country right now I would say that most people are profoundly shocked and deeply disturbed by this and not just Donald Trump's supporters even people who vigorously oppose him are are just a gas that this could happen in America it's been over 40 years since anything like this has occurred and it's really obvious to see from the pictures just how close Donald Trump came to being killed to being assassinated that's why it's so very very shocking and it has happened in a country that was already deeply polarized in the middle of a really volatile election campaign and one in which remember each candidate was blaming his opponent for threatening the future of American democracy it's a very febrile atmosphere here at the moment and now we throw this violent incident into the middle of it um Joe Biden as you heard there has been condemning all political violence and and calling for the nation to come together but some of Donald Trump's allies are taking a very different track and they are actually accusing President Biden of having incited this incident because of what they say is inflammatory rhetoric that has he has been using to describe Donald Trump so it is possible that this incident might actually deepen and entrench the divisions in America Sarah thank you Sarah Smith there and we'll be hearing more from Sarah a little later in the program well the FBI has named the gunman as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks and authorities say that a motive has not yet been identified Crooks lived around an hour's drive from the site of the rally in Pennsylvania in the town of bethl Park from where Tom bitman sent this report this ordinary suburb of Pennsylvania woke to news that one of their own tried to kill Donald Trump 20-year-old Thomas Kooks lived here with his parents now being told their son was dead the FBI and State Police raided in the darkness trying to work out what most motivated him and whether he acted alone does he made you feel knowing that he's on the street probably how anybody else would feel you know as far as I trusted I trust the neighborhood I trust the people there's never been anything happening that brought police down here he rode my son's school bus so what happened tell me what you were told they said that um the state police came to the door and told us that we had to evacuate that there was a state of emergency they said there's a bomb on the street the police haven't confirmed a report that explosives were found in the family home but it's known that Crooks followed a website about guns and detonations the FBI is searching the house they've been here through the night and a key question for them will be over any motive and whether krook's politics played any role records show that he was a registered Republican but he also gave $15 to a progressive or liberal campaign group on the day Joe Biden was sworn into office in his high school yearbook Kooks appears as a smiling teenager yeah I was sitting downst one former classmate is baffled about what switched to this once diligent student he was always getting good grades on tests everything like that he was very passionate about history but it was nothing out of the ordinary he was a nice kid and I had never had an experience with him where I was like he you know isn't nice he was always nice and I was always friendly to him America's suburbs were always set to decide this coming election now fear and angry division is deepening not because of the ballot box but the barrel of a gun Tom bitman BBC News bethl Park Pennsylvania

Channel: BBC News

Views: 967,481

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news, world news, breaking news, us news, world, america, usa, usa news, india news, Trump, gunman, shooter, assassin, assassination, attempt, rifle, roof, building, secret, service, officials, police, rally, campaign, election, Pennsylvania, security, lapses, shots, ear, blood, duck, protect, Biden, breach, perimeter, fire, open, kill, dead, risk, threat, danger, witness, alert, Crooks

Id: qzRnEzesdNk

Length: 10min 49sec (649 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 14 2024