The Secret Service blamed local police for failing to secure the rooftop where suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, arguing it was outside the perimeter federal agencies are tasked with securing.
Instead, security and patrol of the AGR International manufacturing site, about 130 yards from the stage where Trump spoke Saturday, was the responsibility of local Pennsylvania State Police, said Secret Service Director Anthony Gugliemi. According to the New York Times:.
The Secret Service was tasked with providing security only to the locations where Trump’s rallies were held, with local police being employed to support those efforts and secure the areas outside the rallies.
However, neighbors who live near the Butler Farm Show Grounds told The Washington Post that they were not visited by any local or federal law enforcement before or during the rally.
“Nobody contacted us. Nobody. Nobody called. Nobody stopped by here,” said Valerie Fennell, whose home is behind the fairgrounds, just across from the AGR grove.
“My house is close by and I honestly thought this might be part of the command center one day,” she said.
Fennell wasn’t the only one who hadn’t heard from police: He said his entire neighborhood was inexplicably left alone, despite its proximity to the rally.
“I was talking to some neighbors yesterday and nobody called or anything. Nothing,” she said, with her sister Debra agreeing.
“I think it’s the same question that everybody has, which is, why wasn’t that area safe?”
These blunders appear to have continued at the rally.
Attendees reported seeing 20-year-old Thomas Crooks behaving suspiciously near the metal detectors at the rally. According to CNN:Local police were notified and broadcast a radio warning to the Secret Service, urging them to be on the lookout for him.
He was also reported to have been carrying a rifle outside a security checkpoint on his way to the rally and was later seen jumping “from roof to roof” before settling at the AGR factory.
Police appeared unable to locate the culprit during the alarm but eventually rushed to the scene after receiving a report of an armed man on the roof of the AGR.
At about 6:10 p.m., local police officers climbed onto the roof using a ladder and confronted Crooks, who was pointing a rifle at them, a police source told The Associated Press.
The officer climbed down from the ladder, but at that moment Crooks took aim and fired about eight shots into the rally, striking Trump in the ear, fatally wounding bystander Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding two others in the crowd.
Seconds later, Secret Service snipers on the roof of a barn behind the stage shot and killed Crooks. The snipers appeared to aim at Crooks before firing at him, but it is unclear whether they were aware of him.
The Secret Service confirmed that it had asked local police to provide security for the event. He told The Washington Post It is common practice to rely on local agencies for assistance.
In addition to keeping the grounds outside the rally under local police jurisdiction, at least six officers from Butler County’s tactical unit joined the Secret Service’s counter-assault team – the heavily armed agents who helped evacuate Trump – although that team only included two Secret Service members.
The two Secret Service sniper teams were assisted by two local sniper teams.
Pennsylvania State Police assisted the Secret Service and regularly assist them when senior government officials come to town, but acknowledged that ultimately the federal agency takes the lead.
“The Secret Service always takes the lead on security for these types of events,” Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens told reporters.
“We work with the Secret Service to provide anything they request, but they retain control over security,” he said.
There have been growing calls for an investigation into the Secret Service and how Crux came close to assassinating President Trump, and House Oversight Committee Chairman Hames Comer (R-KY) has announced plans to convene a hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on July 22.
