Security experts are questioning why the building where the gunman used its roof as a firing base during Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was not secured in advance by law enforcement.
“It’s a no-brainer,” Kevin Malloy, a retired special agent at the State Department, told Fox News Digital. “Anyone with a national security perspective is going to look at this and say, ‘What were they thinking? Why wasn’t anyone there?'”
Suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire on the 45th president from a rooftop about 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. Crooks pierced Trump’s ear, killed one attendee and seriously wounded two others before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. Security experts were baffled as to why a building in Butler, Pennsylvania that posed such a “clear threat” was left unsecured.
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Secret Service agents assemble to cover a campaign rally for former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“No police or Secret Service personnel will be stationed or guarded at any elevated shooting platform within 130 or 150 yards of the podium, or at least access to such platforms will be restricted.” [is a] “This is a clear and fundamental failure of the most simple and basic aspect of security enforcement,” Malloy said. “Security enforcement is where it all happens. That’s where the planning comes in. That’s where the requirements are laid out to make the venue safe.”
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Local authorities received reports of a suspicious person from rally attendees but failed to find Crooks before he climbed onto the roof and opened fire, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Sunday.
According to Guglielmi, the gunman was already firing on the roof when Secret Service agents first sighted him, at which point “Secret Service counter snipers neutralized him,” Guglielmi said.
But experts say it’s puzzling how Crooks managed to get onto the roof in the first place.
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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Normally, there would have been somebody stationed on either rooftop because of proximity or other reasons. It would have been normal procedure to have additional personnel in the buildings,” a former White House advance officer told Fox News Digital in an interview, “or they would have thought that it was far enough away from the bubble that local residents would have been guarding that area.”
The normal pre-presidential procedure is for Secret Service officials to review and approve the security plan, the official added.
Ken Cuccinelli, a former deputy secretary of homeland security, explained that while multiple law enforcement agencies often work together to provide security for presidential rallies and other events, “the Secret Service is always responsible for protecting those it serves. The Secret Service does not cede that authority to anyone else, and the law dictates that.”
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Secret Service agents escorted former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump onstage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“But,” he said, the department faces significant “staffing shortages,” especially ahead of the Republican National Convention.
“There’s a big increase in personnel during a presidential election year,” Cuccinelli said. “They’re also busy preparing for this national convention and are responsible for preparing for that.”
He added: “I don’t understand why that roof wasn’t locked. It’s too close to the platform. I don’t understand why there weren’t police officers on that roof instead of Secret Service.”
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Former Green Beret Chief Warrant Officer Gary Seidman told Fox News Digital that the operation appeared to be a “failure in preparation and ensuring the security of the perimeter defense.”
“The actual shooter was at a high altitude,” Seidman said. “The Secret Service did not conduct a proper evaluation and external review.”
“It’s wrong to have a man with not a pistol but a long gun climbing a building and everybody except the Secret Service witnessing it. And it’s fundamentally wrong,” he said.
