We warned the secret service and the police about the shooter on the roof

The BBC interviewed a man who claimed to have witnessed the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening. He said he tried to warn police and US intelligence about the assassin, whom he spotted on a nearby roof with a rifle just minutes before the shooting.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE.

Here is a transcript of the interview:

Witness: “We came to listen to the rally. We couldn’t see (Donald Trump), but we could hear him.

“So we went up and after about five to seven minutes of Trump speaking – this is just an estimate – I have no idea, you know, we noticed the guy who, you know, crawled like a bear on the roof of the building next to us, 50 feet away from us.

“So we stand there and point at the guy climbing on the roof.”

Interviewer: And he had a gun, right?

Witness: “He had a gun. We could clearly see him with a gun. Absolutely. We’re aiming at him. The police are down there running around on the ground. We say, ‘Hey, man, there’s a guy on the roof with a gun.’ And the police say, ‘Hmm, what?’ You know, they didn’t know what was going on, you know? We say, ‘Hey, right here on the roof.’ We can see him from here. We see him, you know, crawling.

“And before I knew it, I was thinking, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why didn’t they take him off the stage?’

“I stand there and point at him, you know, for two or three minutes. The secret service is watching us from the roof of the barn. I point to the roof and just stand there. And suddenly five shots ring out.”

Interviewer: So you’re sure the shots came from this guy?

Witness: “One hundred percent, and he was up there for a couple of minutes…at least three to four minutes. And we told the Secret Service police, we told the police, we pointed him out to the Secret Service, who were watching us from the roof of the barn.

“They were looking at us the whole time. And we were standing next to this tree.”

IInterviewer: Could they see him?

Witness: “Probably not, because the roof, the slope, it was behind them, where they could see. But why isn’t there an intelligence agency on all the roofs here? I mean, this isn’t a big place.

“I mean, of course everyone was in a huge panic when the shooting started.”

Interviewer: Did you even see what happened to him?

Witness: “Oh yeah. They blew his head off. … The Secret Service blew his head off.”

Interviewer: Are you pretty sure they shot the guy?

Witness: “Absolutely.”

Interviewer: And did you see how they went to him afterwards?

Witness: ““Yeah, they crawled up on the roof. They pointed their guns at him to make sure he was dead. He was dead, and that was it. It was over.”

The US Secret Service said in a statement on Saturday evening that the shooter at the rally was outside the venue at the time of the apparent assassination attempt:

“During former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the evening of July 13 at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected gunman fired several shots at the stage from an elevated position outside the rally site.

“US Secret Service personnel neutralized a gunman, who is now dead. US Secret Service quickly responded with protective measures, and the former president is safe and under investigation. One bystander was killed, two bystanders were seriously injured. The incident is currently under investigation, and the Secret Service has officially notified the FBI.”

According to ABC News: “The gunman at the Trump rally fired up to 8 shots from an AR-style rifle while sitting on a rooftop adjacent to the venue, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The gunman was 200-300 yards away at the time of the shooting, the sources said.”

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The AP contributed to this report. Thank you for relying on our journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.