New questions emerge about security at rally where Trump was shot

New questions arose Wednesday about the extent of security around the warehouse in rural Pennsylvania where a young gunman climbed onto the roof and shot former US President Donald Trump at a rally last weekend, nearly killing him.

Local police alerted Trump’s Secret Service before Saturday night’s rally that they lacked the resources to station a patrol car outside the warehouse, local and federal law enforcement officials told The Washington Post.

The warehouse was just outside the interior security perimeter controlled by the Secret Service. But as the investigation continues, it’s unclear why the Secret Service didn’t expand its own deployment of security officers if local police were unable to patrol the warehouse area, especially since there was a clear line of sight to the rally scene from the warehouse’s rooftop.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, He was able to reach the roof uncontrolled and fire up to eight shots at the stage where Trump was speaking less than 150 meters away, grazing his right ear, killing one rally attendee and seriously injuring two other spectators.

Insufficient staff

The Post report quoted Richard Goldinger, the district attorney in Butler County, where Trump’s rally took place, as saying that the Secret Service “was informed that the local police department did not have personnel to assist in securing that building.” The Post said Goldinger’s account was confirmed by a Secret Service official who was briefed on the conversation.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told ABC News earlier this week that “there were local law enforcement in that building. There were local law enforcement in the area manning the perimeter of the building.”

But a local law enforcement official told The New York Times that the officers were in an adjacent building. Goldinger told the paper that a local police officer fired at Crooks, apparently hitting him, though the Secret Service says one of its snipers killed Crooks.

An assault weapon legally purchased by Crooks’ father in 2013 was found near his body on the rooftop.

Authorities are still trying to determine a motive for the attempted murder, but so far they believe Crooks acted alone. They are examining his electronic devices and interviewing dozens of witnesses at the rally and acquaintances of Crooks.

Cheatle was subpoenaed Wednesday to testify before a congressional committee next week about security failures at the rally.

The Secret Service, the federal government’s key security agency for current and former presidents and their families, controlled the inner perimeter closest to Trump, while leaving the outer perimeter, including the warehouse, to be monitored by local law enforcement. But it was unclear how that plan was not fully implemented.

Questions are now being raised as to whether the decision to leave the warehouse on the outer perimeter and in the hands of local police was the right one, as the roof was within firing range of the rally stage.

Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency includes the Secret Service, said earlier this week that an independent review of the assassination attempt from outside the government would soon begin. He described the attack as a security breach.

Video analysis of the scene of the attack by US media showed bystanders outside the immediate area of ​​the demonstration and near the warehouse, shouting to police that there was a gunman on the warehouse’s roof nearly a minute and a half before the shots were fired.

Cheatle told ABC News there was only “a very short period of time” between those reports and the moment the gunman fired.

“I don’t have all the details yet, but it was a very short period of time,” he said. “Searching for that person, finding them, identifying them and ultimately neutralizing them was all done in a very short period of time, and that makes it very difficult.”

There are no plans to resign

Cheatle, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, said she took responsibility for handling security at the event.

“The responsibility is mine,” she said. “I am the director of the Secret Service.” She said she had no plans to resign.

The Secret Service has said that before Trump took the stage, local officers were searching for a “suspicious” man who had been pointed out by passersby, and that the Secret Service was notified of that search. However, it’s unclear how long before that search took place or when the agency was notified.

Following Cheatle’s interview, the Secret Service on Tuesday expressed support for local law enforcement partners in providing security at the event despite an admission that it failed to stop the attack.

“We are deeply grateful to the officers who ran into danger to locate the gunman and to all of our local partners for their unwavering commitment,” the Secret Service said in a statement. “Any news stories suggesting the Secret Service is blaming local law enforcement for Saturday’s incident are simply not true.”

Mayorkas said the investigation into the assassination attempt would examine the actions of the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies “before, during and after the shooting to identify the immediate and long-term corrective actions necessary to ensure that the unerring mission of protecting the nation’s leaders is accomplished in the most effective manner.”

Trump was not seriously injured in the attack, but he could easily have been killed. He wore a bandage over his right ear at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this week, where his fellow Republicans officially named him as the party’s presidential nominee for the November election.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels Youtube, WhatsApp and to newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.