Bystanders reportedly spotted the gunman and tried to alert police before shots were fired at Donald Trump at the weekend
Bobby Kennedy III, a member of the famous American political dynasty that has experienced the ‘Kennedy curse’ of assassinations, deaths, and accidents, has slammed the US Secret Service’s failure to detect Donald Trump’s attacker before he fired shots at the former president.
According to eyewitnesses who spoke to the media, the suspect was seen on the rooftop of a manufacturing plant shortly before he targeted Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“Unsecured rooftop 150 yards away. Multiple witnesses saying they were screaming at secret service and cops for 3-4 minutes as they watched the guy with the rifle crawl to the spot and line up his shot, Kennedy III wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday. “Take your secret service and shove it up your ass.”
Kennedy III is the son of current presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – whose uncle, former US President John F. Kennedy, and father, a New York senator and presidential candidate, were both assassinated in the 1960s.
Regarding the attempt on Trump’s life, eyewitnesses and video footage have depicted a chaotic scene as shots rang out at the event. Concerns have mounted about the level of security in the aftermath of the shooting, after multiple witnesses said police did not respond to warnings about the presence of the would-be assassin.
The suspect, later identified as 20-year-old local Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed on the spot by Secret Service snipers.
One bystander told the BBC that minutes before the attack, he and other people had seen a man crawling up on the roof carrying a rifle, and had tried to alert the police.
“He had a rifle, we could clearly see a rifle,” Greg Smith told the broadcaster. “We’re like, ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle’… and the police did not know what was going on.”
In another report, law enforcement officials told the AP that a local policeman had spotted the shooter on the roof moments before he tried to kill Trump. However, the officer reportedly failed to stop the gunman after he pointed his AR-style rifle at him.
“The fact that we’re hearing that people knew that there was a man on this roof with a gun, and were trying to get police attention while the president was up at the podium is just incredibly cause for concern and, I think, very frustrating for everyone,” Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Sunday.
Trump narrowly escaped death after his attacker fired at least five shots. The presidential candidate was grazed by one of the bullets, sustaining a wound to his right ear. At least one rallygoer was killed in the attack by stray bullets, with two others sustaining gunshot wounds.
