AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Trump heads to convention as authorities investigate motive, security in assassination attempt

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump called for unity and resilience Sunday after an attempt on his life injected fresh uncertainty into an already tumultuous presidential campaign, while President Joe Biden implored Americans to “cool it down” in the final stretch and “resolve our differences at the ballot box.”

The opponents’ statements followed an attack that shook the firmament of the American political system, causing at least a temporary detente in a heated presidential campaign expected to resume again in earnest amid the pageantry of the upcoming Republican National Convention.

A full day after the shooting, the gunman’s motive remained a mystery, with investigators saying they believe he acted alone before he was fatally shot by Secret Service agents. Biden ordered an independent security review of the attack, which killed a bystander, critically wounded two others and prompted questions about how a gunman was able to open fire from a rooftop near a Pennsylvania campaign rally. The FBI was investigating the shooting as a potential act of domestic terrorism.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said the upper part of his right ear was pierced by a bullet. His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well. He arrived in Milwaukee on Sunday evening for the convention, which begins Monday. He told the Washington Examiner that he had rewritten his speech for the event to focus more on national unity than on the policies of Biden.

In a post Sunday on his social media site, Trump said: “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”

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In prime-time address, Biden asks Americans to reject political violence and ‘cool it down’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday urged Americans to reject political violence and recommit themselves to resolving their differences peacefully, saying the upcoming presidential election will be a “time of testing” in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

In a prime-time national address from the Oval Office, Biden said political passions can run high but “we must never descend into violence.” The president said his party and the Republicans can compete forcefully over different policy visions — but must do it in a civil fashion.

“All of us now face a time of testing as the election approaches,” Biden said. “There is no place in America for this kind of violence — for any violence. Ever. Period. No exception. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”

Biden spoke for six minutes in his third address to the nation since Saturday evening’s attack by a shooter that left Trump with a bloodied ear, killed one rallygoer and seriously injured two others. His warning came hours after FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said agents have seen increasingly violent rhetoric online since the attack at the Trump rally.

Since the shooting, the president and his team had been grappling with how to calibrate the political path forward after the weekend attack targeting the very person Biden is trying to defeat in November’s election. Biden sharply condemned the attack, but indicated he plans to continue to press his campaign agenda and has “no doubt” Republicans will do the same when they open the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.

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The Latest: New details emerge about Trump rally shooting suspect

A shooting at Donald Trump ’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania is being investigated as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, law enforcement officials say.

Trump called Sunday for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide reacted to the shooting.

The Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter, who attacked from a rooftop of a nearby building outside the rally venue.

Follow the AP’s Election-2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024

Here’s the Latest:

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A timeline of the assassination attempt on former President Trump

Former President Donald Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday that set off panic as a bloodied Trump was surrounded by Secret Service and hurried into his vehicle.

A former fire chief attending the rally with family was killed, as was the gunman. Two other people were critically wounded.

An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking.

Here’s what’s known so far about the timeline of the shooting.

Trump takes the stage to the strains of “God Bless the U.S.A.” He waves at the cheering crowd and begins his regular rally speech, with spectators both in front of him and behind him on risers.

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Former fire chief who died at Trump rally used his body to shield family from gunfire

BUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — The former fire chief who was killed at a Pennsylvania rally for Donald Trump spent his final moments diving down in front of his family, protecting them from the gunfire that rang out Saturday during an assassination attempt against the former president.

Corey Comperatore’s quick decision to use his body as a shield against the bullets flying toward his wife and daughter rang true to the close friends and neighbors who loved and respected the proud 50-year-old Trump supporter, noting that the Butler County resident was a “man of conviction.”

“He’s a literal hero. He shoved his family out of the way, and he got killed for them,” said Mike Morehouse, who lived next to Comperatore for the last eight years. “He’s a hero that I was happy to have as a neighbor.”

Comperatore died Saturday during an attempt to kill Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. At least two other people were injured: David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania State Police. Both were listed in stable condition as of Sunday.

As support for Comperatore’s family began to pour in from across the country, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden also extended their “deepest condolences.”

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Authorities hunt for clues, but motive of man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump remains elusive

WASHINGTON (AP) — The 20-year-old man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump first came to law enforcement’s attention at Saturday’s rally when spectators noticed him acting strangely outside the campaign event. The tip sparked a frantic search but officers were unable to find him before he managed to get on a roof, where he opened fire.

In the wake of the shooting that killed one spectator, investigators were hunting for any clues about what may have drove Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to carry out the shocking attack. The FBI said they were investigating it as a potential act of domestic terrorism, but the absence of a clear ideological motive by the man shot dead by Secret Service led conspiracy theories to flourish.

“I urge everyone — everyone, please, don’t make assumptions about his motives or his affiliations,” President Joe Biden said in remarks Sunday from the White House. “Let the FBI do their job, and their partner agencies do their job. I’ve instructed that this investigation be thorough and swift.”

The FBI said it believes Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the rally, acted alone. Investigators have found no threatening comments on social media accounts or ideological positions that could help explain what led him to target Trump before Secret Service rushed the presumptive Republican presidential nominee off the stage, his face smeared with blood.

Trump said on social media the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting, but advisers said he was “great spirits” ahead of his arrival Sunday in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention. Two spectators were critically injured, while a former fire chief from the area, Corey Comperatore was killed. Pennsylvania’s governor said Comperatore, 50, died a hero by diving onto his family to protect them.

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The Secret Service is investigating how a gunman who shot and injured Trump was able to get so close

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle was able to get close enough to shoot and injure former President Donald Trump at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, in a devastating failure of one of the agency’s core duties.

The FBI on Sunday identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

The gunman, who officials said was killed by Secret Service personnel, fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the agency said.

An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos taken at the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking. A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows Crooks’ body lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump’s rally was held. A different image shows Crooks wearing a gray T-shirt with a black American flag on the right arm, with a bloody wound to his head.

The roof was fewer than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-style rifle, like that of the gunman at the Trump rally, is the semiautomatic civilian version of the military M16.

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Hamas says Gaza cease-fire talks haven’t paused and claims military chief survived Israeli strike

MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that Gaza cease-fire talks continue and the group’s military commander was in good health, a day after the Israeli military targeted Mohammed Deif with a massive airstrike that local health officials said killed at least 90 people, including children.

Deif’s condition remained unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night “there still isn’t absolute certainty” he was killed. Army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told journalists Israel attacked a compound where Deif “was hiding” but added: “It’s still too early to summarize the results of the attack, which Hamas is trying to hide.”

Hamas representatives gave no evidence to back up their assertion about the health of a chief architect of the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. His killing would mark the highest profile assassination of any Hamas leader by Israel since the war began. Deif has long topped Israel’s most-wanted list and has been in hiding for years.

The Israeli military said Rafa Salama, a Hamas commander it described as one of Deif’s closest associates, was killed in Saturday’s strike. Salama had commanded Hamas’ Khan Younis brigade. Netanyahu said all of Hamas’ leaders are “marked for death” and asserted that killing them would move Hamas closer to accepting a cease-fire deal.

Hamas rejected the idea that mediated cease-fire discussions had been suspended. Spokesperson Jihad Taha said “there is no doubt that the horrific massacres will impact any efforts in the negotiations” but added that “efforts and endeavors of the mediators remain ongoing.”

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Spain wins record fourth European Championship title by inflicting another painful loss on England

BERLIN (AP) — Spain is the king of European soccer for a record fourth time. For England, it’s another agonizing near-miss in the team’s decades-long tale of underachievement.

Completing a tournament the team dominated from start to finish, Spain beat England 2-1 in the European Championship final on Sunday with Mikel Oyarzabal the unlikely match-winner in the 86th minute.

Oyarzabal, a backup striker who came on as a substitute for captain Alvaro Morata, slid in to poke home a left-wing cross by Marc Cucurella, just when the game at Berlin’s Olympiastadion seemed destined for extra time.

England, the birthplace of soccer, is still without a major title in the men’s game since winning the 1966 World Cup and its players watched on forlornly as Morata raised aloft the silver trophy to backdrop of confetti and fireworks inside the stadium built for the 1936 Olympics.

Add 2024 to the titles won by Spain in 1964, 2008 and 2012.

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Treason and espionage cases are rising in Russia since the war in Ukraine began

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Maksim Kolker’s phone rang at 6 a.m., and the voice on the other end said his father had been arrested, he thought it was a scam to extort money. A day earlier, he had taken his father, prominent Russian physicist Dmitry Kolker, to the hospital in his native Novosibirsk, when his advanced pancreatic cancer had suddenly worsened.

The phone kept ringing and Kolker kept hanging up until finally his father called to confirm the grim news. The elder Kolker had been charged with treason, the family later learned, a crime that is probed and prosecuted in absolute secrecy in Russia and punished with long prison terms.

Treason cases have been rare in Russia in the last 30 years, with a handful annually. But since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, they have skyrocketed, along with espionage prosecutions, ensnaring citizens and foreigners alike, regardless of their politics.

That has brought comparisons to the show trials under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the 1930s.

The more recent victims range from Kremlin critics and independent journalists to veteran scientists working with countries that Moscow considers friendly.

The Associated Press