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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden is calling for an independent investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump after a shooter opened fire on the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania Saturday.
Early Sunday morning, the FBI identified the attempted assassin as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He was shot and killed by the Secret Service moments after shots first rang out.
Sources tell The Associated Press that a local law enforcement officer encountered the gunman moments before he fired toward former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania. The officials spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
They say not long before shots rang out, rallygoers noticed a man climbing to the roof of a nearby building and warned local police. When an officer climbed to the roof, Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer. The sources say the officer retreated down the ladder and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when the U.S. Secret Service counter snipers shot him. Trump was injured in the shooting but is “fine.
Besides Crooks, one other person was killed and two others were critically injured in the attack. Firefighter Corey Comperatore was identified as the person who died in the attacks. He was shielding his family from the bullets before he was struck, according to his sister, Dawn, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference Sunday.
“There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter. An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation, everything. It’s not who we are as a nation, it’s not America and we cannot allow this to happen,” Biden said Sunday.
After the shooting, Biden quickly denounced the attack and talked to Trump in its aftermath. His campaign team, meanwhile, is grappling with how to manage the political implications of an attack on the man Biden hopes to defeat in the November election.
In the wake of the violence, both Biden and Trump called for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide reacted to the shooting.
“Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now,” Biden said Sunday. “We’ll debate and we’ll disagree, that’s not going to change, but we’re going to not lose sight of the fact of who we are as Americans.”
Biden is expected to address the nation once more on Sunday, speaking from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. E.T.
