The director of the Secret Service said the gunman who tried to kill former President Trump had been identified as a “potential suspect” but by the time agents were able to track him down, he had opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle made the remarks in an interview that aired on ABC News just hours after Fox News Digital reported that local police officers had spotted a suspicious man with a rangefinder just 30 minutes before Saturday’s assassination attempt in Butler.
The officer reported the sighting to state police, according to law enforcement sources. The officer took photos, and there was some discussion that he was holding binoculars to get a better view of the rally. But authorities said the would-be assassin, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, began firing shots minutes after Trump spoke.
“We’ve been told that the shooter has indeed been identified as a suspect, and units have been deployed to search for the shooter,” Cheatle told ABC News. “Unfortunately, things developed so quickly that by the time the shooter was eventually located, he was on the roof and was able to fire shots at the former president.”
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Authorities were closing in on the location where Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. (Source: Fox News Digital)
In the interview, Cheatle acknowledged that he ultimately bears responsibility for the security failures that led to the assassination attempt on Trump.
“I take responsibility,” Cheatle said, adding, “This is something that should never have happened.”
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An undated photo of Thomas Matthew Crooks, identified as the shooter at the July 13 Trump rally. (Courtesy of AFP)
Cheatle told ABC News that his initial reaction to the shooting was “shock.”
She said the Secret Service was aware of security vulnerabilities in the building where Crooks had set up a sniper position to shoot at Trump, but the decision was made not to station personnel on the roof.
Trump pumped his fist after being shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
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“That building in particular has a sloped roof on the highest part, so, you know, for safety reasons, you don’t want people on a sloped roof, so the decision was made to protect the building from the inside,” she said.
Fox News’ Sarah Lampe Whitten contributed to this report.
