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The FBI is calling the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally “an assassination attempt.” The bureau has not yet identified the man who shot at Trump on Saturday, injuring his ear.
FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said late Saturday the agents and intelligence analysts are “working feverishly to identify the individual who did this and any motives behind why this was coming.”
“At this time, we are not prepared to identify who the shooter is,” Rojek said. “We are close to that identification, and as soon as we are 100 percent confident in who that individual is, we will share it with the press. With that being said, also, we do not currently have an identified motive, although our investigators are working tirelessly to attempt to identify what that motive was.”
The FBI did not identify the type of weapon used by the shooter. The bureau and the Pennsylvania state police held a press conference late Saturday evening to share more information about the shooting and investigation. The shooter — who was killed at the scene — injured the former president, killed one attendee, and critically injured two others before being neutralized by law enforcement.
Pennsylvania state police said they have identified the rally attendee killed and the other two spectators who were injured, but they are “not prepared to release” that information yet — citing a desire to give the victims’ relatives time to notify their extended families.
The Secret Service — which led security for the event, per the state police — did not participate in the press briefing.
Lt. Col George Bivens, speaking on behalf of the Pennsylvania state police, briefly defended the Secret Service, telling reporters that “it is incredibly difficult to have a venue open to the public and to secure that against any possible threat, against a very determined attacker, that’s a huge lift to try and do it.” He said the ongoing investigation “will really give us an opportunity to take a look at where any failures occur and what can be done better in the future.”
As for why the shooter hasn’t been identified, Bivens said that there were “complicators” in the aftermath of the shooting that “slowed down the positive identification of the shooter.” Rojek clarified that the shooter did not have any identifying documents on their person, and that the bureau was using biometrics and DNA evidence to secure a positive identification.
Rojek said the FBI had deployed bomb technicians, and did so because “there was identification of suspicious packages around where the shooter was.”
According to one witness who spoke to the BBC, attendees gathered outside of the rallygrounds spotted the gunman as he crawled across a rooftop, and attempted to alert authorities.
“We noticed a guy bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us, probably 50 feet away,” the man told the BBC. “So we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof… we could clearly see him with a rifle.”
“We were telling the police, we were telling the Secret Service,” he explained, adding that the Secret Service “blew” the gunman’s “head off,” after he opened fire.
On Saturday House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the House of Representatives will “conduct a full investigation of the tragic events today.”
“The American people deserve to know the truth. We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP.”
