talking to witnesses, acquaintances, relatives, friends, anyone they can find to give them a sense of what the motive might have been. but the stark reality is that a lone actor who is willing to use a gun is very, very difficult to detect and to stop. >> aaron katersky, thank you so much. as we come up on the top of the hour here, 9 p.m. in the east, i'm whit johnson in new york. and if you're just joining us, we are following all of these major developments after the shooting at a campaign rally, former president trump in butler, pennsylvania, was slightly wounded in the right ear. but we're told by his campaign, by his family that he's doing fine. authorities say the shots were fired from a rooftop adjacent to the venue, some 200 to 300 yards away, eight rounds fired from an ar style rifle. that information, just reported by our aaron katersky and the shooter was neutralized by the secret service. the shooter was killed.

authorities say a second person, a bystander, is also dead. also getting reports that that another spectator may have been critically injured. the incident is being investigated now as a possible assassination attempt. the former president's son, don jr, says his father is under observation at the hospital and in good spirits. president biden tonight coming before the cameras condemning the incident, saying there's no place in this country for violence. a former president himself also releasing a statement moments ago thanking the secret service and law enforcement for their rapid response, describing the incident, saying he heard a whizzing sound and shots. and president biden, as we also noted there coming before the cameras, he was condemning the violence, saying all federal agencies are now engaged. he also tried to reach out to the former president personally to speak with him tonight, the incident all playing out before the cameras that have the horrific moment here, the loud noises popping, the former president appearing to grab his right ear in that moment, secret

service agents then rushing the stage, protecting him with their bodies like a human shield. those anxious moments as everyone was waiting to see if trump was okay. >> this is the shocking moment. chaos erupted at donald trump's rally in butler, pennsylvania. if you want to really see something that said, take a look at what happened. you can hear several pops and see the former president grabbing his ear, ducking for cover behind the podium. secret service agents rushing the stage surrounding trump, shielding him, taking him down to the ground. the screaming crowd looking on in horror. a short time later, agents carefully lifting the former president up. >> sir, i got you, sir. let me get my shoes on. >> hold that in your head. bloody blood clearly seen on his face. >> trump pumping his fist. agents whisking the former

president off the stage. down the stairs to a waiting armored suv rushing him to a local medical center. we heard what we appeared to be. gunfire coming. the former president was rushed off the stage. right now with secret service. he's being escorted into his vehicle. this was a chaotic moment that just played out right here in pennsylvania. people running and rushing to the ground as they heard those apparent shots fired tonight, the trump campaign releasing a statement saying the former president is fine and being checked out at a local medical facility. just hours ago, this area was lined with trump supporters. they entered that tent right there to be screened by secret service, going through metal detectors, their belongings tested now, this is the space where you have trump supporters that are leaving panicked and confused as secret service agents rush us out of this area and back to our cars tonight, the crowd still in disbelief. tell me what you saw and what you heard. you said that you heard the popping sounds and you got down sounds. >> first you think like maybe firecrackers, but it continued, it continued, and then somebody

yelled, get down! >> we got down, we got down and we huddled and we started praying. >> tonight, local officials telling abc news those sounds were, in fact, gunshots. live rounds fired from outside the security perimeter. this is being investigated as an attempted assassination. and tonight, the local district attorney telling abc news at least one person is dead. and the shooter is dead as well. tonight, president biden addressing the nation. >> i have tried to get a hold of donald. he's with his doctors. they apparently he's doing well. i plan on talking to him shortly. i hope when i get back to the telephone. look, there's no place in america for this kind of violence. it's sick. it's sick. it's one of the reasons why we have to unite this country. we cannot allow for this to be happening. we cannot be like this. we cannot condone this. but the idea, the idea that there's political violence or violence in america like this is just unheard of. it's just not appropriate. and

we everybody, everybody must condemn it. >> those words from president biden tonight saying everyone must condemn it, something that we've been hearing from politicians on both sides of the aisle. and rachel scott is back with us now. rachel, you've been here since the beginning. tonight we were talking to each other during world news as the rally was just getting underway. and you've been getting these horrific stories from witnesses. and you're with another one tonight. >> yeah, yeah, we're with another group of witnesses that saw what happened. >> i will tell you hours ago, this area right here was filled with trump supporters eager, waiting to go inside of that rally right now, tonight. this is an area where trump supporters are gathering. they're left with shock about what happened. tell me what you saw inside. >> yeah, i was just about like 30ft from trump. and then i saw the people that had been shot and they were bringing them down in the stands right above me, and i just didn't want to get down. i just kept standing. but i saw yeah, i saw the man that

was hit in the head. and he was a lot of blood, and i knew there was no way he was going to survive that. and then there were two of them that they brought down. but it was like real chaos and chaotic. but i didn't get down. and so it was very interesting. we were just right, right there, you know, about what was going through your mind as you saw that person with tons of blood on them? >> yeah. >> at first i was thinking, i thought different thoughts, like, maybe this was the shooter. and then he committed suicide. or maybe someone shot him. that's what my first thoughts were. i didn't think about. just like someone that was in the stands. yeah that's what i thought. >> and now knowing that this is someone that was in the stands, how are you processing this? >> no, i think we're all in shock. yeah we're in numb that this happened. i say, when i heard this going on, i thought it was a firecracker. it's like with kennedy, people thought it was a firecracker, and i looked. we were 20 yards away from trump, and then we were 20 yards

away from where i thought it was a firecracker. but then now i'm thinking maybe those were bullets that were going over our head. and then they were saying, get down, get down, get out. was i just wasn't processing something like two minutes. and i finally hit the deck. but i think it's just like you're in shock. and how did the guy get the gun in there? how did he get the gun? might have been. >> yeah, well, let me ask you this because is this your first trump rally? no no. so we i've been i've covered a number of trump rallies. i've been to almost every single trump rally this cycle. you've been to a number as well. you're fully aware of the security precautions trump supporters as they're making their way in. they have to go through magnetometers. your bags are searched, your pockets are searched as well. and so any area where you're around the former president, there is a sense of safety and so to have this occur, what was going through your mind as you heard gunfire? get down, get down. >> i think first i was in shock, but i do think i kind of i'm drawn to some of this kind of i

tried out for the secret service and i passed everything, but then they said, take your glasses off. that was the end of it. so my whole life would have been changed because i couldn't see. but i guess i like to be where the action is in some ways. so but i mean, not not this. you know, obviously this is just horrible, just horrifying. but, trump survived. that's that's good. it would have been horrible news, had worse news if he had been killed. so that's good. you know, at least we had that. but yeah, we're we're all in shock. and it's really something i just got done saying every generation thinks, well, we're past that. we're not going to have any more assassination attempts. and then you have something else. and maybe that's really hard to stalk. i thought it was firecrackers. >> yeah. you thought it was firecrackers? yeah. i mean, so many people did initially when that first happened, there was a lot of confusion for everyone that was inside of that fairground near. we heard the pop pop pop, pop, pop sounds. we heard shouts of gunfire, but we

did not know for sure. we were just all told to get down and then from my understanding, it was also law enforcement that told you all to just stay down. even though the former president was already escorted to make sure that they had the situation under control. >> they just kept saying, stay down, stay down. but then curiosity overcame. after about five minutes, they stood up and there were like 6 or 7 men with ar 15 or whatever. they, you know, were they a ak 47 or ar 15? and they were just like hawks. they were looking around, staring at everybody and their guns ready. and one guy looked kind of nervous. i mean, it was just i was just kept thinking that we're going to be a part of history here, you know? so but it's just it's horrible. that guy that was shot because there was so much blood in things. so, you know, he was right above me. so i thought, oh, there's no way he survived that. but yeah, what a day. >> a hard thing to witness. and i so appreciate you all taking the time to speak with me. and i'm glad that all of you are safe. please get home safe again with just the sense of disbelief, trying to process replaying those events over and

over in your head. that's what everyone here that that was inside of that trump rally is still having to contend with as they process the moments that happened, those frantic and chaotic moments of what they witnessed inside with. >> yeah, and i can't help but think there's going to be a lot of trauma after this event for all of those witnesses who were there. watch this unfold before their very eyes. and also knowing that you know, one of their one of their fellow supporters, somebody who was just there, part of the rally, at least one person lost their life today. rachel scott. and to you, we can't thank you enough for all your reporting throughout the evening. stand b. we'll come back to you if news develops. but let's bring in john cohen tonight, abc news contributor, former fbi. john, there are so many questions about what happens now with this investigation. take us through this process. where do they begin? >> well, the first thing they're going to do is they're going to identify the suspect. they're going to try to determine through by evaluating their social media, their

communications, their interactions with other people that they are associates with, whether this was an act of a lone offender or whether it was part of a broader conspiracy. they're also going to be looking for any type of follow on events, part of the danger in a situation like this is that people may view this as either an act to be replicated or may seek to respond. so law enforcement very quickly across the country, quite frankly, is going to be looking at trying to prevent any residual events following this incident. >> john, thank you very much. and we do know that the fbi is joining the secret service in this investigation. let's go back to martha raddatz. martha, you've been talking to sources, also a military sources, and you have some new information. what you're learning about the weapon. >> well, we know from our own reporting from aaron katersky and others here at abc that they believe it was an ar 15 and that the shooter got off eight rounds

talking to a military source who said it is the same thing as an m4, which they use in the military. we train to shoot at our ranges out to 300m without optics or a scope. a good shooter can easily shoot further with an optic that's about 330 yards, and it's believed the shooter was 200 to 300 yards ou. this military officer said the 300 yards is definitely in rang. not an easy shot, but 100% in range. and this is very sobering wit, he said. i am surprised he didn't hit him. we do know that his ear was grazed and not certain exactly how that happened at this point, although donald trump said he believed it was a bullet going by him. but i am surprised he didn't hit him. this this military officer also says that it was likely, given the sounds he has been listening to all day on that. on that tape

that we have been playing and that donald trump himself heard and everybody there who was there that it was far away, but that perhaps the shooter tried one shot, missed and then got off several very rapidly just into the crowd. >> yeah, 2 to 300 yards away. and that shooter on top of a roof. and martha, to your point, it is worth emphasizing that i mean, former president trump says that he heard the bullet whizzing by and that it pierced the top of his ear, literally inches away from taking his life. >> it certainly would have been if it, in fact, has proven to be a bullet that went right by his ear. millimeters. millimeters and, you know, the way you turn your head or you don't turn your head. and again, that we have to emphasize this was clearly in range for a weapon like that, whether the shooter had a scope, whether the shooter did not have a scope, even without a scope, this military officer says, you

can you can take someone out at that range. again, the dangers of these kinds of events with people way outside of the event itself, way outside security. and that is something the secret service is going to have to look at local law enforcement as wel. how this person got on that roof undetected by police or anyone else carrying a rifle up there carrying an ar 15. >> and again, we still don't have information about the threat itself. the motive who the shooter was. we haven't even been told by law enforcement, you know, whether they think the threat is over. so still a lot more information to come. martha, thank you so much. we appreciate it. as always. and throughout the evening here, we've been speaking with many other eyewitnesses. you heard from rachel earlier. we spoke to some live on the air who were at the rally, describing how the former president had just started to speak. and then the shots rang out. >> what you saw and what you

heard, you said that you heard the popping sounds and you got down sounds. >> at first you think like maybe firecrackers, but it continued. it continued. and then somebody yelled, get down! we got down, we got down and we huddled and we started praying. and we just started praying. and thank god, a little while later, we got up when we saw other people get up, we saw trump get up, raise his fist like like, i'm okay. and we were just we just we just we kept praying. >> i felt really bad. i, i'm worried about our grandchildren. what kind of what kind of life are they going to have if this goes on? if people don't have the right to say what they want? >> you told me that you were near the very front. you weren't very far. no. >> we were like, from here to where that dust thing is, it's. and it's. >> and you got down. you said you got down immediately. yeah, yeah. >> everybody yelled get down. my i said to trump my daughter in law lisa. she said for us to hurry up and get down. >> well i mean i saw like every,

all the like secret service like kind of cover trump. they did a really good job about that. making making sure he was protected, telling everyone to get down. so i think they did take a good care of like making sure everyone was like understanding what was going on and like being serious, but not freaking everybody out. >> what was your initial reaction when you heard those popping noises, >> to get down? yeah. so i actually like my boyfriend pushed me on the ground and like, went on top of me, which was like really nice. but i think, a lot of people i think were a little, like, too shocked to understand what was going on originally, for sure. but i think, i think everyone listened pretty well. and it it was handled pretty well. >> did you see some of that commotion that was playing out on the other side of the bleacher, where we saw law enforcement agents sort of swarm around another individual, or did you ultimately just rush ou, >> no. we were there for a minute because they did tell us to go back down again, just in case. i think that was good because it helped. like calm people down, but i think one of the stands that i was next to, they did like carry out a man,

and there was another one that might have been injured. i'm not 100% sure, but definitely one at least. and on the other, stand on the other side, because i was on the right. on the left, there were like a bunch of, like men in uniform, like surrounding someone. so that was interesting to see. >> you said that you were very impressed by the speed in which secret service was able to get on that stage. within seconds of all of us hearing those popping sounds. >> yeah, absolutely. they did a great job. i definitely felt protected in the situation. the sniper was on it, watching on guard. everyone on the scene like did a great job. i mean, like, of course it was like nerve wracking in the moment, but i never felt like i was like in danger, which was cool. they were on the president, which i'm very thankful of, and they did a great job, like protecting him and getting him out as quick as possible, he is doing good, which is good. yeah. >> i was, i'm the republican nominee for, for the senate in pennsylvania. i was in the front row, and, and president trump had just, announced me and said

he was going to have me come up on the stage and said, well, we'll wait a minute. and then there were a number of shots. i think probably 7 or 8 shots. it it wasn't clear whether they were coming from a one place or two places at least. i couldn't tell. and immediately there was a swarm of secret service officers that, you know, got on top of and knocked down president trump and got on top of him. and, and then he, they he stood back up and you sort of saw this fist come out sort of, defiant that, that it looked like he was okay, but but i, you know, you couldn't tell for sur. it looked like there was some blood, but it wasn't obvious. and then the entire crowd went to the ground because we weren't sure whether the shots were done. and then, unfortunately, over my shoulder, someone had clearly been hit. i was on the i was in the on the ground and up in the bleachers, probably 3 or 4 bleachers up behind me, it looked like there was a man who was it was severely injured.

there was a lot of blood. and, and his people around him were trying to administer first aid. and then, the police, some police officers came in and carried him out and presumably took him to get, first, you know, first aid. that's really all i could see. i don't know if there were other people injured, and i don't know if there was anybody apprehended, because, as you might imagine it, once that happened, the crowd was, it was very chaotic, and it was very hard to know what was going on. and we're still there at the rally, just sitting, trying to get out because the traffic is so backed up. >> and dave, your, your account seems to confirm some of this reporting that we're getting about a shooter and potential bystanders who were hurt, just talk more about your initial reaction. i mean, seeing this, you're running for senate in the state of pennsylvania. you're about to walk up on the stage, you're getting introduced by the former president, and then you hear these shots ring out and

the chaos in the crowd, what was going through your mind in that moment? >> well, you know, it's it takes a minute to process you people started to panic, all around. you could feel, you know, people were very scared and so, you know, everybody just dropped to the ground and, you know, it felt very obvious that the president was under assault, you know, and very much at risk. and it wasn't clear that he was okay to begin with. and then, you know, once it started to sink in, you know, you're thinking, are there still shooters out there? you know, are they, you know, are they going to target other people? and, you know, it was just like these, you know, situations i was in i was in the military previously, you know, you realize over time that the facts start to come together. so you got to be careful not to draw too many conclusions early on. but i think what we all felt was a sense of, oh, my lord, we're, you know, everybody's in danger because there's clearly a shooter, at least one shooter in

the crowd and maybe more. and, you know, really, i think scary for everybody who was there and shocking more, even more than scary. just shocking because you're in the middle of this rally and it was, you know, kind of fun. and people were, you know, enthusiastic and, and, and all of a sudden the, you know, the turn was turned upside down. >> what does this say to you about our state of division and the politics in this country right now? >> well, you know, i don't want to draw any conclusions before i know more about it. but, you know, obviously it's, you know, if you're a public official, if you're a presidential candidate and you know, your safety is at risk, that's scary for all of us. no matter what party you're in. and so i think it's, you know, it's a it's a it's a moment to take stock and, you know, you had 15,000. it seemed, you know, it was a huge crowd. i was told by the law enforcement people there, 15,000 people who were enthusiastically supporting their candidate. and all of a sudden, you know, the former president, his life is at risk. and what? you know what? we're peaceful people in the audience

are, you know, are are wounded, potentially, you know, fatally. i mean, that's a that's unacceptable. and it's not a matter of party. that's just unacceptable in our in our great country. >> i do want to go to leonard verdejo, who is an eyewitness who was there at the rally today. he's joining us now on the phone. leonard, can you hear me? >> yes, i can hear you, sir. how are you doing? thanks for having me on. >> absolutely. leonard. we're so we're so grateful that that you are. okay, can you just walk us through what happened and what you saw? >> sure. absolutely. so everybody was excited to see the former president coming out. you know, we were we were all, you know, excited. and, you know, we were all happy. we were all joyful. you know, we were you know, we were all there for each other, you know, then the former president was giving his speech. then moments later, there was some, you know, popping sounds that were going off. there were about maybe six or 7 to 8 shots that were happening. no one, none of us really registered at the time. but then people were saying, get down, get down. even i was saying get down. other

people were saying get down as well. and, you know, we were all praying. we were praying to yeshua, the lord jesus and we were praying to him to keep us safe, keep us protected. but unfortunately, what happened was, you know, someone did get shot. what i do hear is that i think two people did get shot. you know that to the best of my knowledge, and i believe that you know, the former president, which i'm glad he is safe. so now, leonard, and again, we don't have all these things confirmed yet. >> so, you know, this is this is your perspective here. but when you say that, you believe that two people were shot, could you actually see people, potential victims what to what i, what i seen and to the best of my knowledge, sir, is that, you know and again, i was hearing it from other news sources as well. >> but what that i seen what i personally seen that there was blood on a couple of people, you know, someone was shot just like about five feet right behind us, to be honest with you. so we were that close. and thank god we weren't shot either. >> and where were you located? were you were looking at the video right now this is the former president being brought

back to his feet after those shots were fired. were you on on the stands behind donald trump or were you in front of him? >> if you were looking exactly at him, we'll be on the left side. actually, we were the left side of the other stands where you've seen those big tvs. >> so the left side of the stands facing the president or behind the former president, facing the president. >> we were more on the sides looking on the side of the president. so facing him. >> and, leonard, let me just ask you to obviously, you go to this is this we've been talking about this, the division in this country, the polarization. but here you are. obviously, you're you're exercising your right to, you know, support whichever politician you believe in. and you go to an event like this, you don't expect there to be violence. what's in your heart right now? >> well, what's in the heart right now as i'm encouraging the american people to pray to lord jesus because, right now our country is divided. >> again, those words from some of the witnesses that we heard

from throughout the hours this evening, who were there inside this venue in butler, pennsylvania, the venue the event was supposed to be sort of a precursor for the big week at the republican national convention. former president donald trump had been hinting that he was going to announce his running mate in the coming days. so all eyes were on this event when the gunfire rang out. and then those terrifying moments and these images, you continue to see here with the former president being escorted off the stage with the blood trickling down the right side of his face, the former president, in a statement once again saying that he was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear and he immediately knew that something was wrong when he heard the whizzing sounds and the shots, some of our other reporters getting information from law enforcement that they now confirm that the shooter fired as many as eight rounds from an ar style rifle while perched on a rooftop adjacent to the venue. the shooter was 200 to 300 yards away at the time of the gunfire, and that shooter was shot and killed by the us secret service.

we know at least one spectator, possibly two, were shot and killed. one of them we know was confirmed dead. another one sustained serious injuries. we're still waiting to get more information on that. law enforcement also unable to tell us at this time what the motivation was, who the shooter was, whether it was a man or a woman, and whether the threat fully has been neutralized or whether it was a lone actor. so still, so much information that we need to learn throughout the course of the evening and in the coming days. well, let's go back to our entire team who've been with us on the air for several hours now. john karl is in milwaukee because that was supposed to be the location for all the news this week at the republican national convention. john, you've been talking to republican sources there. in fact, you were in an interview when reports of these shots first came out. >> i wasn't in a formal interview, but i was standing on the floor of the convention with the person who was running this convention, michael whatley, the chairman of the republican

national committee. we were just, you know, talking about the big weeks plans ahead, speculating on when trump will actually make the announcement of his running mate when this news broke. and as you can imagine, shock waves throughout the hall. nobody really had any idea yet what had happened other than those initial reports and that shocking live video. he took a call from one of his aides and was whisked off the floor to try to figure out what was going on. this has effectively put a freeze on the campaign, at least for the moment, and it's not just here in milwaukee where, although the convention is starting on monday, you are already seeing republicans from across the country gather here. in fact, they were supposed to be a big welcome reception tonight. as you can imagine, that has been canceled. all events, the pre-convention events have been canceled over on the democratic side, we've heard from the biden campaign that they have stopped outgoing communications. they

say that they are working to pull down all of the political ad television advertising, all the political advertising that is up, as as this campaign is effectively put in a state of deep freeze and then wit, we're hearing statements across the political spectrum. i think most prominently from former presidents. we heard from president george w bush, who said that laura and i are grateful that president trump's is safe following the cowardly attack on his life. he commends the secret service, obviously, as somebody who was also protected by the secret service. we heard a similar statement from barack and michelle obama, similar statement from bill and hillary clinton. we've heard a statement, statements from the president's allies and from his political opponents, all saying that violence has absolutely no place in american politics. uniformly condemning this. but i

have to also say what we are starting to hear some very, unfortunate signs of efforts to politicize this horrific event. >> that's right. we noted before, this will be a big test to see how the country responds. you know, politically and in and in living rooms and workplaces across this country. john thank you so much. i do want to hear from another person who was there at the event, witnessed the gunfire. rico elmore is joining us now. rico, if you can hear me, just tell us where you were when you first heard the shots, >> wait. >> thank you. so much, >> and also, with all due respect, i my prayers go out to the family. when this all occurred, i know it's very rough, so i was positioned probably about maybe 20ft away from, the president at the point in time when he was making his address, i was to the right of the stage due to me being a i was a i was a speaker at the

event, so i did my speech earlier today, doing a preprogram. and i was a few feet from where this all occurred, we heard the shots and i thought it was first i thought it was fireworks because, you know, people were on edge and any kind of loud boom you hear, you're going to think gunshots immediately. especially because of the environment of what was going on. and i turned around and someone yelled, medic! and i looked, and there was no way a medic could have got to that person in time. so i left my seat, took my tie off, i jumped over the barrier and i ran to the individual. but when i got there, it was too late. the person had was bleeding out, through their head and like i said, once again, respects the family, because this is a this is a very tough time, but they were shot and i tried to you