The videos of a bloodied Trump went viral on the internet along with the pictures of one of his supporters who was behind the stage during the attack.Ther person, after Trump fell down, can be seen looking actively for the shooter.
“We need to interview this man… he saw something,” tweeted one person.
The tweet has now over 4.9 mn views.
“That dude was eyes peeled. Wasn’t gonna miss anything they tried to cover up. I would do the same,” said one person reacting to the post.
“Was he plan cloths officer ? Out of this shot to the right, there’s another one doing the same thing. doing the same body movements when Trump was down. Interesting,” wondered another.
Meanwhile, the US Secret Service said earlier that the shooter “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside the rally” before being “neutralized” by agents.
A video published by US outlet TMZ shows the alleged assailant lying on his belly on a sloping rooftop and aiming a rifle. A quick succession of gunshots is heard followed by screams from off-camera Trump supporters attending the rally.
“The guy has longer brown hair… and as you can see, he’s carefully trying pinpoint a target from afar before pulling the trigger,” TMZ reported. Crooks lived about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the rally venue.
The FBI confirmed in a press conference that the shooting was being treated as “an assassination attempt against our former president, Donald Trump.”
The shooter, reportedly a registered Republican, was believed to be working alone.
His father Matthew Crooks told CNN that he was trying to establish “what the hell is going on”, and would not comment until he spoke to law enforcement.
After multiple witnesses said they saw the gunman before the shooting and alerted authorities, Butler police said they had “responded to a number of reports of suspicious activity”.
Trump, wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap, had just started speaking at his final rally before the Republican National Convention when multiple bangs rang out.
He grimaced and clutched his ear, with blood visible on his ear and cheek, then ducked to the floor as Secret Service agents swarmed onto the podium, surrounding him and escorting him roughly off the stage to a nearby vehicle.
“It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” Trump said on his Truth Social network hours later, in remarks sure to stoke the political hostility already engulfing the United States.
“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” Trump said.
“Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening.”
He later could be seen walking unaided from his plane, though his wounded ear was not facing the camera in video footage posted by his deputy communications director. The New York Times reported that he was staying the night in New Jersey.