In videos and maps, how the Trump assassination attempt unfolded
What started out like any other rally ended with one person dead and two seriously wounded after a gunman took aim at former President Donald Trump. Here’s what we know about how it happened.
Editor’s note: This story contains images that some readers may find disturbing
It was several hours before former President Donald Trump was scheduled to speak when his supporters began to fill a grassy expanse in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The usual festive atmosphere had started early, with pre-rally music playlist rolling as temperatures climbed toward 90 degrees.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Butler is a city of about 13,000, north of Pittsburgh. Saturday's rally was one of Trump's last public appearances before the Republican National Convention.
Butler Farm Show, a fairground, played host to the rally with bleachers surrounding a stage where Trump would speak and most attendees on a lawn. There's a small lake on one side and buildings on the other.
Trump took the stage shortly after 6 p.m. ET.
At 6:11 p.m. ET, the first shot, a pop, can be heard. Trump flinches and grabs his right ear. He and audience members duck as Secret Service agents rush the stage.
The crowd reacts to at least seven more shots fired by a gunman.
An attendee described the moment to NBC News.
"I heard 'pop, pop, pop.' I thought it was, like, a cap gun."
"Next thing you know, everybody around us was down."
An attendee described the moment to NBC News.
"I heard 'pop, pop, pop.' I thought it was, like, a cap gun."
"Next thing you know, everybody around us was down."
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
Secret Service agents are heard on live microphones organizing to get Trump on his feet and out of harm's way. They lift him up, and he pumps his fist in the air and repeats "fight!"
Video taken from behind Trump also showed his reaction and the ensuing chaos.
Evan Vucci / AP
Evan Vucci / AP
An NBC News analysis of user-generated video, combined with satellite images of the area and firsthand accounts, reveals some details about where three people were when they were struck by the shooter’s bullets.
Authorities said one person, a former firefighter hailed as a hero for protecting his family, died and two were critically injured.
The gunman gained access to the roof of a nearby aluminum company's building and fired across the event grounds, striking at least one person in the northernmost stands, closest to where the gunman was positioned.
Law enforcement counter-snipers on a roof just behind where Trump was speaking had a vantage point to the rooftop where the gunman took aim.
Video posted online from the event appears to show law enforcement snipers positioned on the rooftop behind Trump reacting to the gunshots.
Two people familiar with U.S. Secret Service operations told NBC News that the nearby rooftop had been identified as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event.
“Someone should have been on the roof or securing the building so no one could get on the roof,” said one of the sources, a former senior Secret Service agent who was familiar with the planning.
Video taken by Kip Tom, who was U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food & Agriculture under Trump, showed the immediate aftermath of the shooting, with law enforcement clearing attendees and carrying a body from the stands.
Details in the video — including the rooftops in the background and the yellow crane — line up with other video and images that showed the northernmost bleachers.
Video taken by Kip Tom, who was U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Agencies for Food & Agriculture under Trump, showed the immediate aftermath of the shooting, with law enforcement clearing attendees and carrying a body from the stands.
Details in the video — including the rooftops in the background and the yellow crane — line up with other video and images that showed the northernmost bleachers.
NBC affiliate footage of the aftermath showed one person being carried out of those bleachers with a towel over their head, as described by witnesses.
One person on the bleachers told NBC News that they saw a person with a head wound who they believed had been killed.
Another angle captured law enforcement scrambling to help the wounded person.
Another angle captured law enforcement scrambling to help the wounded person.
Rebecca Droke / AFP via Getty Images
Rebecca Droke / AFP via Getty Images
Two more people, David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, were shot and seriously injured, though it was not initially clear where they had been sitting.
Videos show attendees on the bleachers on the opposite side of the event, the southern bleachers, signaling for help.
The local district attorney told NBC News that authorities believed the two people who had been wounded were somewhere behind Trump but that they did not have any more details.
Video taken at the rally in the aftermath of the shooting showed two men in the southern bleachers who appear to have been hit by gunfire. One man is able to walk down the bleachers with the help of police officers while holding his side.
Another man is carried by two police officers and a rally attendee.
Video taken at the rally in the aftermath of the shooting showed Dutch and another attendee in the southern bleachers who appears to have been hit by gunfire. Dutch is able to walk down the bleachers with the help of police officers while holding his side.
Another man is carried by two police officers and a rally attendee.
Evan Vucci / AP
Evan Vucci / AP
Anisha Banerjee, Caroline Radnofsky, Jean Lee, Larissa Gao, Rima Abdelkader, Ali Gostanian, Janhvi Bhojwani and Matteo Moschella contributed reporting.
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