A day-by-day and hour-by-hour look at the events surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
The July 13 attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump has stunned the country as it approaches Election Day on Nov. 5. Here is an in-depth look at the events surrounding the shooting that wounded Trump at a Butler, Pa., political rally.
Leading up to the rally
Over several months prior to the July 13 attack on former President Donald Trump, the man ultimately identified as the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, receives multiple packages at his Bethel Park, Pa., home that are marked “hazardous material”, according to The New York Times, citing a federal law enforcement memo.
Also, at some point prior to the rally, the National Security Council warns the U.S. Secret Service and the Trump campaign of an increased threat to Trump coming from Iran, and the Secret Service boosts protection for Trump in light of that, a national security official confirms to NPR. It’s unclear exactly when the warning is issued.
July 3: The Trump campaign announces that the former president will hold a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
July 6: Crooks searches online for the dates of Trump events and for the date of the Democratic National Convention, investigators say.
July 7: About a week before the rally, Crooks visits the site where it is set to take place.
July 12: Crooks goes to the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, where he is a member. The club is located near his home in Bethel Park, about 50 miles south of Butler, the site where the Trump rally is to be held. Crooks practices on the rifle range, The Associated Press reports, citing a federal intelligence briefing.
July 13: On the morning of the day of the rally, set for early evening, Crooks visits the site again, leaving and then returning later.
July 13: Crooks searches online for a local gun store, where he buys 50 rounds of ammunition for an AR-style rifle that his father had purchased in 2013, according to the AP. Crooks drives to Butler and parks his car outside the Butler Farm Show grounds, where the rally is to take place.
July 13, about 5 p.m. ET: The Secret Service is made aware of a “suspicious male” loitering near the rally, but it apparently loses track of him.
The rally begins and shots are fired
July 13, 6:02 p.m. ET: Trump takes the stage as “God Bless the U.S.A.” blares from the public address system.
July 13, 6:05 p.m. ET: Trump begins addressing the rally, acknowledging that “this is a big, big, beautiful crowd.” In the first few minutes of the speech, the focus is on President Biden’s record and immigration.
July 13, 6:09 p.m. ET: About two minutes before shots are fired, several attendees notice an armed man on a rooftop about 450 feet away from the stage where Trump is speaking. In a video posted to social media, the attendees are heard trying to alert law enforcement. In the video, a man can be heard saying: “Someone’s on top of the roof. Look!” A woman yells, “He’s on the roof. … Right there. Flat on the roof.”
Some moments before the shooting takes place, a Butler Township police officer encounters the shooter, later identified as Crooks, on the rooftop of a nearby building, according to Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe.
A news release issued days later by Tom Knights, the Butler Township manager, says that as Trump arrived, “a call went out for a suspicious male” near the building and that “several officers broke free from their traffic intersections of responsibility and responded to the area to aid in the search.”
The news release says that no one was found in a subsequent search, but that “A Butler Township officer attempted to gain access to the roof by being hoisted up by an assisting officer. The officer was pulling himself up to the roof when he made visual contact with an individual who pointed a rifle at him.”
“The officer was in a defenseless position and there was no way he could engage the actor while holding onto the roof edge”, the news release says, adding that the officer “immediately communicated the individual’s location and that he was in possession of a weapon. Moments later, the individual commenced firing.”
July 13, 6:11 p.m. ET: As Trump is speaking, he turns to his right, suddenly stops talking and reaches for his right ear. As three shots ring out, the former president crouches behind the lectern.
