Former U.S. president Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday that set off panic as a bloodied Trump was surrounded by Secret Service and hurried into his vehicle.
A former fire chief attending the rally with family was killed, as was the gunman. Two other people were critically wounded.
An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking.
Here’s what’s known so far about the timeline of the shooting.
6:02 p.m. ET
Trump takes the stage to the strains of “God Bless the U.S.A.” He waves at the cheering crowd and begins his regular rally speech, with spectators both in front of him and behind him on risers.
Around 6:10 p.m.
- After officers were told that a man acting suspiciously and pacing near magnetometers was climbing a ladder on a nearby building, according to a local law enforcement officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation, a local officer climbed to the roof, according to Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe.
- A man identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks turned toward the officer just before the officer dropped down to safety, Slupe said.
- Trump is showing off border-crossing numbers when gunfire begins.
- As the first pop rings out, Trump say “Oh,” and raises his hand to his right ear and looks at it, before quickly crouching to the ground behind his lectern.
- Secret Service agents rush to the stage and pile atop the former president to shield him.
- Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief attending the rally, is shot and killed. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Sunday that Comperatore used his body as a shield to protect his wife and daughter.
- Secret Service counter snipers fire back and shoot Crooks.
About 1 minute after the shots
- Video shows Trump getting to his feet and reaching with his right hand toward his face, which was smeared with blood.
- As Trump stands up, he pumps to the crowd with his right fist.
- He appears to mouth the word “fight” twice to his crowd of supporters, prompting loud cheers and then chants of “USA. USA. USA.”
About 2 minutes after the shots
Trump turns back to the crowd and again raises a fist right before agents put him into a vehicle and he is taken to a local hospital.
6:50 p.m.
Secret Service says “the former President is safe.”
8:42 p.m.
Trump posts on his social media site that he was injured in the upper part of his right ear. “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he said.
About 12:10 a.m.
Trump’s private jet lands at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Video posted by an aide showed the former president deplaning, flanked by U.S. Secret Service agents and heavily armed members of the agency’s counter assault team. It was an unusually visible show of force by his protective detail.
Trump travels to his private golf club in nearby Bedminster, New Jersey, to spend the night.
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Stengle contributed to this report from Dallas. Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report from Chicago and writer Colleen Long contributed to this report from Washington.