'He's Got A Gun': Did Rallygoers Warn Police Before Gunman Opened Fire On Trump? Here's What Eyewitness Said

A new video has emerged that shows rallygoers may have spotted the gunman before an alleged assassination attempt was made on former US president Donald Trump at Butler, Pennsylvania. Spectators can be heard shouting, trying to warn police about a man with a gun on the roof.

“He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun, he’s on the roof,” they are shouting in the video as shots are heard in the background. Trump, who escaped the attack with an ear injury, was rushed off stage by the Secret Service and whisked away in a black SUV while the suspected shooter was killed by an agent.

An eyewitness to the shooting, in fact, claimed that he personally warned the police and the Secret Service about “suspicious” activity on a roof, where he spotted a man with a rifle. But, he said, he was ignored.

“We noticed a guy crawling up the roof, bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us, about 50 feet away from us. We’re standing there, pointing at the guy crawling up the roof,” he told the BBC in an interview. The video was posted by Tesla maker Elon Musk, calling for the resignation of the head of the Secret Service and the leader of Trump’s security detail.

Asked if the man had a rifle, the eyewitness, who said he had come to attend the rally but was at the back, said: “He had a rifle, we could clearly see he had a rifle. Absolutely. We’re pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground. They don’t know what’s going on, and we were constantly telling them, ‘Hey, man. There’s a guy on the roof with a rifle. We can see him from here, we can see him, he’s crawling’,” he told the reporter.

“And I’m thinking to myself, why’s Trump still speaking… the Secret Service was looking at us pointing to the man on the roof. And, the next thing I know, shots rang out,” he added.

Asked if he sure that the shots came from the man on the roof, the eyewitness said: “A 100 per cent. One hundred per cent!” He said the man was up on the roof for at least four minutes and all the while they were constantly pointing at him.

But, when asked if the security personnel could spot him, he said: “Probably not because the way the roof’s slope went, they could not see him. But, why is there no Secret Service on all of these roofs here? This is not a big place.”

Trump’s attacker, however, was shot and killed by a member of the Secret Service. The 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate was hit by a bullet in the upper part of his right ear when the suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue. The attacker killed one spectator at the rally, and two others were left critically injured.

The shooting is being investigated as an attempted assassination. “US Secret Service personnel neutralised the shooter, who is now deceased. The US Secret Service quickly responded with protective measures and Former President Trump is safe,” Anthony Guglielmi, Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement.

“This incident is currently under investigation and the Secret Service has notified the FBI,” he said after the incident.

The suspect fired from between 200 feet and 300 feet away on an elevated shed with an AR-style rifle, multiple law enforcement officers told CBS News. The FBI has deployed investigative agents, evidence response teams, and other personnel from across the country.

Lt Col George Bivens from the Pennsylvania State Police said officers at the scene had acted “heroically” to respond to the shooter. He said there is no reason to believe there was any further “existing threat out there”.

(With agency inputs)