BETHEL PARK, Pa. − The Secret Service has implemented changes to former President Donald Trump’s security detail since Saturday’s assassination attempt to “ensure his continued protection for the convention and the remainder of the campaign,” agency Director Kimberly Cheatle said Monday.
Cheatle issued a statement crediting the agency’s sniper team for “neutralizing” the shooter, and its agents for actions ensuring Trump’s safety in the chaotic moments after the shots rang out Saturday at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler.
Trump was wounded in his ear, one spectator was killed, and two others were critically injured when bullets rained down from an AR-15-style rifle from a rooftop about 400 feet outside the rally. The FBI later identified the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who lived in this suburban Pittsburgh community about 40 miles from the site of the shooting.
The Secret Service is working with federal, state and local agencies to understand details of the shooting and “how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again,” Cheatle’s statement said.
On Monday, two unidentified law enforcement officers knocked on the Crooks family home at about 10 a.m. and were let inside. The officers emerged about five minutes later. A short time later, two other officers began knocking on neighbors’ doors and speaking with those who answered. One of the officers wore a shirt that said FBI Pittsburgh SWAT.
Kevin Rojek, a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, has said the gunman appears to have acted alone and that there was no ongoing threat to the public.
Developments:
∎ An Allegheny County sheriff’s deputy on Monday was stationed outside Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, where Crooks had worked as a dietary aide.
∎ The shooting has raised grave security concerns as thousands of GOP politicians, delegates, and media personnel descend on the Republican National Convention on Monday.
∎ Top officials at the Trump campaign told staff members that they are re-doubling security measures at their offices in light of Saturday’s assassination attempt. “We are enhancing the armed security presence with 24/7 officers on-site,” said a staff memo signed by senior campaign officials Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.
∎ Authorities located “a suspicious device” when they searched the shooter’s vehicle, according to Rojek. Bomb technicians inspected the device and rendered it safe. He said law enforcement transported the device to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for further analysis.
All quiet near home of Trump shooter
A red SUV and a blue pickup were parked Monday in the driveway of the modest family home where Crooks apparently lived with his parents. Neighbors who were evacuated Saturday night were allowed to return to their homes around 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Police then tightened the perimeter to just the street, allowing reporters and curious locals to get a view of the Crooks’ brick home for the first time since law enforcement descended on it following the shooting.By Monday morning, dozens of reporters stood at the police tape while photographers with big lenses set up across the street from Crooks’ home. Several neighbors who live down the street from Crooks said they had either never met him or only saw him walking around the neighborhood.
Sandy Kovalik, 66, said she’s never met Crooks or his parents but has walked past their home hundreds of times. Maura Eichner said she may have seen Crooks walking to work and at a local supermarket, but only briefly. She said it’s been difficult to wrap her mind around the Trump rally shooting, especially because the suspect in the case is a neighbor.“I don’t understand why he tried to kill the president,” she said.
Secret Service chief ‘confident’ in security for GOP convention
Chleatle said the Secret Service will “participate fully” with the independent review ordered by President Joe Biden.
“The incident in Pennsylvania has understandably led to questions about potential updates or changes to the security for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee,” the Cheatle’s statement said. “I am confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting.”
Cheatle said the plan is designed to be flexible and that the agency will “continuously adapt our operations as necessary in order to ensure the highest level of safety and security for convention attendees, volunteers and the City of Milwaukee.”
Fundraiser brings in millions for shooting victims
A high-profile fundraiser for the victims in Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania political rally has raised almost $4 million. Top donors include Dana White and Kid Rock. The GoFundMe, which says it is “President Trump authorized” is organized by Meredith O’Rourke, who is also Trump’s top finance person, and is raising money for those “wounded or killed” from the shooting at the Trump rally in Butler on Saturday. One spectator, Corey Comperatore, was killed and two others were critically injured during the assassination attempt.
The GoFundMe’s initial goal was to raise $1 million, but had raised over $3.9 million from more than 52,000 online donors as of Monday morning.
− Emily DeLetter
Shooting could rewrite GOP convention script
A Republican nominating convention that was expected to focus on divisive issues such as immigration and stolen elections will likely shift to a different vibe when it begins Monday in the shadows of the chaotic assassination attempt this weekend. Trump arrived in Milwaukee Sunday night and has said he is changing the focus of his big convention speech. The assassination attempt against him provided a “chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together,” he said in a Washington Examiner interview. Read more here.
”The speech…was going to be a humdinger,” Trump said. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”
− David Jackson, Karissa Waddick and Holly Rosenkrantz
RNC 2024 live updates:Trump stresses new theme after shooting
Photo of wounded Trump featured on campaign website
Trump’s website on Monday featured an image of him with a bloodied face and fist defiantly raised as the campain urged supporters to donate. “I am Donald J. Trump. FEAR NOT!” the caption reads. It adds that “I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.” It notes that Trump will be accepting the GOP nomination for president on Thursday and asks for supporters to “donate one more time before I take the stage.”
Trump vowed not to let a would-be assassin’s bullet, which grazed him in the ear, bar him from attending the Republican National Convention that opens Monday with Trump as the star and presumptive nominee.
“I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” Trump said on his Truth Social account Sunday. He arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday and told the Washington Examiner he has completely rewritten his keynote speech, which he is set to deliver Thursday.
Analysis:This election was already shattering norms. Then the Trump rally shooting happened.
Trump backers blame Democrats
The shooting provoked deep anger and outrage among Trump supporters as shock quickly turned to blame. Already seen as a persecuted figure by many in his party, Trump again was cast as a man whose critics will stop at nothing to keep him from public office. A top Trump campaign aide and a leading candidate to be his running mate both said rhetoric from Biden and Democrats contributed to the climate that led to the shooting.
“Leftist activists, Democrat donors and now even (Biden) have made disgusting remarks and descriptions of shooting Donald Trump,” Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita said on X. “It’s high time they be held accountable for it, the best way is through the ballot box.”
Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, who is speaking at the convention and is on Trump’s short list of potential VP candidates, said Biden’s campaign has portrayed Trump as “an authoritarian fascist” and said such rhetoric “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.” Read more here.
− Zac Anderson
Assassination attempt:American politics roiled on eve of GOP convention
What rifle was used in the Trump shooting?
Crooks used an AR-style rifle using 5.56mm ammunition that was purchased legally and found next to him at the scene where he was shot dead, an FBI official said. The bureau believes the rifle, using 5.56 ammunition, was purchased legally by Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks. The official, on a call with reporters, said he did not know whether Crooks had permission to use the weapon. Matthew Crooks could not be reached by USA TODAY despite repeated phone calls.
The Crooks family’s digital footprint is small, but some of their few online tracks tie them to internet marketplaces that buy or sell guns. Read more here.
− Kenny Jacoby and Lucas Aulbach
Link to gunman’s dad:Online footprint ties father to gun marketplaces
Biden condemns political violence: ‘We must stand together’
Biden called on Americans to “lower the temperature in our politics” in a rare address from the Oval Office on Sunday night, imploring the nation not to allow the normalization of violence after Saturday’s attempted assassination.
The president echoed remarks made Sunday afternoon, urging Americans to “unite as one nation.” In his address, Biden said political differences should be resolved “at the ballot box … not with bullets.”
“We’re friends, coworkers, citizens, and most importantly, we are fellow Americans. We must stand together,” he said. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence ever, period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
“Disagreement is inevitable in American democracy. It’s part of human nature. Politics must never be a battlefield or, God forbid, a killing field,” Biden said. “I believe politics ought to be an arena for peaceful debate, to pursue justice, to make decisions guided by the Declaration of Independence in our constitution.”
Biden referenced the victims and cited other incidents of political violence, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2022.
Democrats adjust security measures ahead of DNC
Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins, chairman of the city’s Public Safety Committee, said the assassination attempt on Trump “will have an impact on everything we do” for securing the upcoming Democratic National Convention in August.
“It’s a reminder that having an effective security plan is not good enough if it’s not executed perfectly,” Hopkins said Sunday. “If there’s any vulnerability or weak link, it can be exploited, which clearly played a role in yesterday’s events.”
The longtime city council member did not anticipate any concrete changes in plans to protect Biden, since he isn’t expected to speak outside the convention hall. But Hopkins expected adjustments to security measures around the convention hall, where protest groups have sued the city for permission to picket outside.
“They want unfettered access to everything and this is a reminder of why that simply can’t be allowed,” he said. “We can’t have radical protest groups who often engage in inflammatory rhetoric, we can’t have them on the sidewalk outside the convention center. It simply isn’t possible.”
The Secret Service plans to release the finalized security perimeter for the event on July 25, Hopkins said.
− Michael Loria
How the shooting unfolded:Trump assassination attempt: Graphics, maps show you what happened
Victim remembered as a father, hero: ‘The very best of us’
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the man killed in the shooting at Trump’s Butler rally was Corey Comperatore. Shapiro said he spoke with Comperatore’s family, who described him as a father of two girls, a firefighter, a faithful churchgoer, and an avid supporter of the former president.
“Corey died a hero,” Shapiro said. “Corey dove on his family to protect them last night at this rally. Corey was the very best of us. May his memory be a blessing.”
Pennsylvania State Police identified the other two attendees who were shot at the rally as state residents David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township. Both are hospitalized and listed in stable condition.
Shapiro said he spoke with the family of one victim and received a message from the other.
Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz, Michael Loria, Aysha Bagchi and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY