With the nation in shock a day after a gunman tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden called on Americans to “lower the temperature” in politics. In a rare Oval Office address on the eve of the Republican nominating convention, Biden said that Americans “must stand together,” NBC News reports.
The attempt on Trump’s life punctuated a presidential election cycle marked by dire warnings in which the two parties have accused each other of wanton criminality.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism. A former fire chief was killed in the attack while trying to protect his wife and two kids, and two others were wounded. The gunman, who was killed by a Secret Service sharpshooter, was identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He was a member of a local gun club and worked at a nursing facility. Here’s what else we know about the shooter.
The rooftop from where the gunman shot at Trump was identified as a potential vulnerability in the days before the rally, according to two sources familiar with the Secret Service operations. No officers were posted on the building, which was outside the event’s security perimeter. Investigators are now questioning how the gunman was able to get onto the roof and start shooting before being killed.
NBC News’ Tom Llamas spoke with Valerie Fennell, a homeowner who lives between the location of the rally and the building where the shots were fired at Trump, about 150 yards away. Fennell described a lack of security right outside the event and the chaotic moments as her son and others around her spotted the shooter taking position with his gun before opening fire.
The attempted assassination of Trump wrote a dark new chapter in the story of deepening division over the past decade, plunging an unusual presidential election into frightening new territory.
Republicans quickly rallied around Trump in statements, social media posts and television appearances, suggesting an acceleration of the unification that typically occurs around a party’s national convention.
At the same time, the attack has interrupted and overshadowed everything else happening in the 2024 campaign — including the more than two weeks of blistering criticism Biden has been taking from fellow Democrats who were alarmed by his debate performance and unsatisfied by his efforts to clean up the mess.
It’s not yet clear how the shooting will affect the outcome of the Trump-Biden rematch. But it has jolted the nation and disrupted a presidential race unlike any other in U.S. history.
