Serious questions are being raised about security response times at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday after witnesses said they alerted authorities to a gunman moments before he opened fire, and that security at the rally in general was “lax.”
Trump said the bullet penetrated the top of his right ear, and authorities said three spectators were shot, one of them fatally.
Witness Greg Smith He told BBC News He and others said they saw a man “crawling like a bear” on the roof of a nearby building just outside the Butler event venue shortly after Trump began his speech.
Smith said he tried to call authorities for three or four minutes but realized the culprit probably wouldn’t be visible because of the slope of the roof.
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President Donald Trump was hit in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday, a disturbing and shocking incident that is likely to stomp fears of instability ahead of the 2024 US presidential elections. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
“We noticed a military looking guy crawling up the roof of the building next door, about 50 feet away from us,” said Smith, who was standing with others just outside the event site in Butler. “We were just standing there pointing at the guy crawling up the roof.”
He told the BBC that he “could clearly see him holding a rifle” and that he and others had tried to alert police and the Secret Service.
“We were pointing at him,” he said. “The police were running around below. We were like, ‘Hey, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle,’ and they were like, ‘What?’ They had no idea what was going on.”
“I was thinking, ‘Why is Trump still talking? Why don’t they take him off the stage?’ And the next thing I know, five shots rang out.”
The seemingly delayed response raised questions about whether police and the Secret Service could have acted more quickly to confront the gunman, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Videos from the rally posted on social media showed others spotting the gunman moments before shots rang out, and people could be heard yelling, “He’s got a gun!”
One person can be heard pointing at the gunman and saying “Shoot,” while another can be heard shouting “He’s on the roof,” followed by gunshots.
Meanwhile, another witness, Benjamin Schrader, told Fox News Digital that security at the rally was “terrible.”
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“In the special guest section, we had to give all our personal information and security, which was nice,” he said, “but the event as a whole had very lax security.”
Schrader added that there was insufficient public admission screening before the event.
“There was just a metal detector and a body search and that was it,” he said. “Nobody walked around the fence so someone could easily throw a gun in.”
The US Secret Service (USSS) later said in a press release that the suspect opened fire from an “elevated position”, killing at least one person and seriously wounding two others.
Schrader said security at the special guest area was “great,” but that security at large political rallies in general was “lax.”
“In the special guest section, we had to give all our personal information and security, which was nice,” he said. “But the event as a whole had very lax security.”
President Trump reacts as multiple gunshots ring out during a campaign rally at the Butler Agricultural Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid)
Schrader added that there was insufficient public admission screening before the event.
“There was just a metal detector and a body search and that was it,” he said. “Nobody walked around the fence so someone could easily throw a gun in.”
The US Secret Service (USSS) later said in a press release that the suspect opened fire from an “elevated position”, killing at least one person and seriously wounding two others.
Former FBI special agent and Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam told “Fox & Friends First” that response times from Secret Service agents on the ground were abysmal.
“I couldn’t believe how long it took to get him off the stage and into the car and then how long it took for the car to leave the area. From a conservation standpoint, it felt like a lifetime,” Gilliam said.
“Many people on the news didn’t want to say anything critical of the Secret Service, but when I watched this again, I was astonished at how events unfolded, because Trump’s defense and evacuation seemed contrived on the spot. This is not how this elite service prepares for situations like this and executes tactics like this,” Gilliam continued. “The only time they responded appropriately was when Donald J. Trump dropped to the ground and crouched as low as he could. From a defensive standpoint, it took forever for Trump to crouch down. [the Secret Service] It took a while to catch up with him and it took a while for them to react and get him out.”
“I can’t believe it. Secret Service agents have to decide whether to holster their guns or leave them out, whether to keep their sunglasses on or not. [them] “He should have just left in a hurry so people wouldn’t even notice he had left,” he added.
But former Secret Service special operations ace Marshall Mirarchi told the Fox & Friends Sunday morning show that Secret Service agents on the scene at the time of the assassination attempt “did a fantastic job” and would likely have been instructed to keep Trump on stage.
“I think they’ve done a fantastic job with their experience of putting on this event for over 10 years so it’s a real shame. [I’m] I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. There aren’t always resources or personnel available, so it raises questions about boundaries and how someone could get that close.”
Some experts, such as Gilliam, have suggested the Secret Service should have removed Trump from the stage sooner, but Mirarchi said they were likely told to keep him on the podium in case there was another shooter, which could have exposed him to another attack.
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Serious questions are being raised about the response time of security guards at former President Trump’s rally on Saturday after witnesses said they alerted authorities just before a gunman opened fire. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
“They all jump on the president, which I think was perfectly executed. Then, shortly afterwards, the counter-attack team comes onstage. You can see that group in other videos with their gear, their rifles and their helmets.[and] An anti-sniper team was on the roof and removed the gunman.”
“We all train together and we run these scenarios thousands of times. The only thing I can say as a Monday morning caller is they need more people, and it comes down to personnel and budget, but they need more resources.”
Mirarchi said agents work 12-14 hours a day for up to 60 days straight, traveling from event to event.
“A lot of people are quick to judge, but I want to emphasize that the men and women who were there did an incredible job with the resources they had.”
Fox News’ Steven Soreis, Chris Pandolfo, Sarah Rumpf Whitten and Matteo Cina contributed to this report.
