By Brooke Mallory, OAN Staff
Monday, July 15, 2024 3:47 PM
The Secret Service has argued that the rooftop where 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to kill former President Donald Trump was outside the perimeter that federal agencies were contracted to secure, while blaming local police for a “failure to secure it.”
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According to Secret Service agent Anthony Gugliemi, local Pennsylvania State Police were handling security and patrols at the AGR International manufacturing site, which is about 130 yards from the podium where Trump spoke on Saturday. The New York Times.
Local police were deployed to assist with those efforts and to secure the area outside the rally, according to the Secret Service, which reiterated that police were assigned only to provide security at the site of Trump’s rally.
However, residents living near the Butler Farm Show Grounds told reporters that neither local nor federal police had visited their home in the days before or after the rally.
“Nobody contacted us. Nobody. Nobody called. Nobody stopped by here,” said Valerie Fennell, a nearby resident whose home is just beyond the trees, near the fairgrounds.
“My house is close by and I honestly thought this might be part of the command center one day,” she added.
Not only did Fennell claim she never received any contact from law enforcement officials, but she also said her entire neighborhood mysteriously stopped receiving any communication, despite living very close to the rally.
“I was talking to some of my neighbors yesterday and no one called me. Nothing,” she continued, and her sister nodded in agreement.
“I think it’s the same question that everybody has, which is, why wasn’t that area safe?”
CNN According to reports, attendees had spotted 20-year-old Thomas Crooks behaving suspiciously near the rally’s metal detectors, which alarmed local police, who radioed the Secret Service to warn them to be on the lookout for Crooks.
He was also reportedly seen carrying a rifle outside a security checkpoint and entering the rally venue, after which he was reportedly seen jumping “from rooftop to rooftop” before arriving at the AGR facility.
Police appear not to have been able to locate the man during the period the alert was in place before eventually responding to a report of an armed man on the roof of AGR.
According to a police official, Associated PressAt approximately 6:10 p.m., a local police officer climbed a ladder onto the roof and confronted Crooks, who was already pointing a gun at him.
Officer Crooks fired approximately eight shots into the rally as officers retreated down ladders, shooting Trump in the ear, severely wounding two others in the crowd and killing bystander Corey Comperatore.
Crooks was quickly shot dead by a Secret Service counter sniper positioned on the roof of a barn behind the stage, who appears to have aimed at Crooks before opening fire, although it is unclear whether the sniper was aware of Crooks before opening fire.
The Secret Service acknowledged that it relies primarily on local law enforcement to help with security at the event. The Washington Post This is “standard procedure” when seeking assistance from local organizations.
The heavily armed agents responsible for Trump’s evacuation were known as the Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team, which kept the area outside the rally’s perimeter under local police control, and included at least six officers from the Butler County Tactical Unit, a team made up of only two members of the Secret Service.
Two local sniper teams assisted two Secret Service sniper teams.
Pennsylvania State Police acknowledged that they often work with the Secret Service when dignitaries visit the state, but stressed that ultimately the federal agency is responsible.
“The Secret Service always takes the lead on security at these events,” said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.
“We work with the Secret Service to provide anything they request, but they retain control over security,” he added.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has announced plans to convene a hearing with FBI Director Kimberly Cheatle on July 22.and In response to calls for an investigation into the Secret Service and the circumstances that led Crooks to nearly kill President Trump.
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