By Nathan Layne, Soren Larson and Gabriella Borter
BETHEL PARK, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -Donald Trump vowed on Sunday to push on to the Republican convention where his party will formally make him their presidential nominee after he survived an assassination attempt that further inflames an already bitter U.S. political divide.
It was unclear how a 20-year-old man carrying an AR-15-style rifle managed on Saturday to get close enough to shoot from a rooftop at Trump, who as a former president has lifetime protection by the U.S. Secret Service, a unit of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Trump, 78, was holding a Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania – one of the states expected to be most competitive in the Nov. 5 election – when shots rang out, hitting his right ear and streaking his face with blood. His campaign said he was doing well and appeared to have suffered no major injury besides a wound on his upper right ear.
The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect in what it called an attempted assassination. He was a registered Republican, according to state voter records and had made a $15 donation to a Democratic political action committee at the age of 17.
Law enforcement officials told reporters they had yet to identify a motive for the attack. Both Republicans and Democrats will be looking for evidence of Crooks’ political affiliation as they seek to cast the rival party as representing extremism.
Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden are locked in a close election rematch, according to most opinion polls including those by Reuters/Ipsos.
Trump is due to receive his party’s formal nomination at the Republican National Convention, which kicks off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said on Fox News on Sunday that authorities are working together to safeguard the venue, where officials have spent months making security preparations.
“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media website on Sunday.
“I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”
The shooting whipsawed the discussion around the presidential campaign, which had recently focused on whether Biden, 81, should drop out following a disastrous June debate performance.
The Biden campaign had been seeking to reset its message, depicting Trump as a danger to democracy for his continued false claims about election fraud but said on Saturday it was suspending its political advertising for now.
Secret Service agents fatally shot the suspect, the agency said, after he opened fire from the roof of a building about 150 yards (140 m) from the stage where Trump was speaking. An AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting was recovered near his body, according to sources.
The firearm was legally purchased by the suspect’s father, ABC and the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. Bomb-making materials were found in the suspect’s car, the Associated Press reported, citing sources.
VICTIM WAS SHELTERING FAMILY
Authorities identified a rally attendee who was shot and killed as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania, who Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro told reporters was killed when he dove on top of his family to protect them from the hail of bullets.
“Corey was an avid supporter of the former president, and was so excited to be there last night with him in the community,” Shapiro said, adding, “Political disagreements can never, ever be addressed through violence.”
Two other rally attendees were critically wounded, the Secret Service said.
The Secret Service in a statement denied accusations by some Trump supporters that it had rejected campaign requests for additional security.
“The assertion that a member of the former President’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,” Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. “In fact, recently the U.S. Secret Service added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail.”
NEIGHBORS STUNNED
Residents of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, where the alleged shooter lived, expressed shock at the news on Sunday.
“It’s a little crazy to think that somebody that did an assassination attempt is that close, but it just kind of shows the political dynamic that we’re in right now with the craziness on each side,” said Wes Morgan, 42, who added that he rides bikes with his children on the street where the alleged shooter lived. “Bethel Park is a pretty blue-collar type of area. And to think that somebody was that close is a little insane.”
While mass shootings at schools, nightclubs and other public places are a regular feature of American life, the attack was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party presidential candidate since the 1981 attempted assassination of Republican President Ronald Reagan.
In 2011, Democratic then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was seriously wounded in an attack on a gathering of constituents in Arizona. Republican U.S. Representative Steve Scalise was also badly wounded in a politically motivated 2017 attack on a group of Republican representatives practicing for a charity baseball game.
Giffords later founded a leading gun control organization, Scalise has remained a stalwart defender of gun rights.
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Americans fear rising political violence, recent Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with two out of three respondents to a May survey saying they worried violence could follow the election.
Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election defeat, fueled by his false claims that his loss was the result of widespread fraud. About 140 police officers were injured in the violence, four riot participants died that day, one police officer who responded died the following day and four responding officers later died by suicide.
The shots appeared to come from outside the area secured by the Secret Service, the agency said.
Hours after the attack, the Oversight Committee in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives summoned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.
Leading Republicans and Democrats quickly condemned the violence, as did foreign leaders.
“There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” Biden said in a statement.
Some of Trump’s Republican allies said they believed the attack was politically motivated.
“It’s one side that is going after Donald Trump in a way to demonize him personally,” said Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican. “The left seems to have targeted Donald Trump as a person.”
Trump began the year facing multiple legal worries, including four separate criminal prosecutions.
He was found guilty in late May of trying to cover up hush money payments to a porn star. But the other three prosecutions he faces — including two for his attempts to overturn his defeat — have been ground to a halt by various factors, including a Supreme Court decision this month that found him to be partly immune to prosecution.
Trump contends, without evidence, that all four prosecutions have been orchestrated by Biden to try to prevent him from returning to power.
