The assassination attempt targeting former president Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday has spurred criticism of the United States Secret Service and calls for an investigation.
Security experts and law enforcement veterans said the incident — in which a gunman was able to fire from the roof of a building 150 yards away — raised serious questions about how someone was able to get close enough to shoot and injure Trump. It also raised concerns about planning and communication ahead of the event, said Ron T. Williams, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Secret Service.
“Outdoor events are problematic for high ground. It begs the question right now on why that two-story building in direct line of fire was not secured,” said Williams, CEO of Talon Companies, a security and risk management firm.
“What is going to come of this investigation is to determine whether or not there was a breakdown in communication between the Secret Service and local police.”
Authorities identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, as the gunman behind the assassination attempt. Crooks fired off numerous rounds toward the campaign stage Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
One rally attendee was killed and two were injured before Crooks was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper sharpshooter from another nearby roof. Trump’s right ear was injured, seconds before he was whisked off stage by Secret Service personnel.
The Secret Service has confirmed that it is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-15 rifle was able to get close enough to shoot and injure Trump in what appears to be an epic failure of one the agency’s primary duties of protecting VIPs. The FBI, state police and the U.S. Congress also will be seeking to answer the many swirling questions.
Some of those questions: How did Donald Trump’s would-be assassin gain a high-ground Also, if Crooks had been flagged by local authorities for acting suspiciously as some media have reported, why was he then able to climb atop a nearby building with a rifle, firing a shot that grazed Trump’s ear? And why did Secret Service agents allow Trump to stand back up defiantly and do three fist-pumps when it wasn’t clear that the threat had been fully neutralized?
‘Breakdown in security’
“There was definitely a breakdown in security protocol,” said Joseph Sordi, who has secured political conventions, fundraisers and events as a veteran of the NYPD Intelligence Division and as current CEO of the Strategic Security Corporation based in Smithtown, New York.
“I’m sure there will be a review by all agencies involved to conduct an assessment as to why someone was able to breach what was considered a zone of safety with a caliber weapon that was able to pose a threat to the president elect.”
Events for candidates and ex-president are harder to secure, he said, in part because they do not have the same level of Secret Service resources as a sitting president, or as a candidate who has been nominated by their party at national conventions. Resources could be used to have additional counter-assault teams, who are trained snipers that can detect and determine what positions could be a point of attack.
Secret Service and law enforcement working the inner perimeter will make sure there are no weapons or devices or bombs. They will have security fencing, checkpoints, metal detectors, dogs sniffing for explosives, and personnel sweeping under cars in bomb checks, he said.
Still, outdoor events like Trump’s campaign rally on Saturday are difficult to police, Williams noted. For upcoming political party conventions, organizers have a list of attendees and know who is coming in and out, so they are less vulnerable.
He described three rings of protection — an outer perimeter usually manned by local and state police; a middle perimeter with checkpoints for people coming into an event; and the inner perimeter where Secret Service is responsible for getting the person off stage and out of harm’s way. A counter assault team are also assigned, consisting of sniper units assigned to view high ground.
The Secret Service should have created an advance plan assessing risk and security, he said.
“I would be shocked if the agent that was responsible for the advance at this location did not look over and see that there was a two-story building with high ground that represented a potential threat,” Williams said. “To me, protection 101 is securing a high ground location.
“I don’t know whether the agent missed it, or the agent covered it in a police briefing and the police said, yes, we’ll take a charge of that location. Because what should have been done is that that you had they should have had law enforcement go through that building, at all the rooms make sure nobody was being secreted in the building, lock the building, then station a police officer on top of the building.”
“Ultimately the Secret Service is responsible for securing a site like that so it’s going to fall on whoever did the advance.”
Former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson told USA TODAY that maintaining such a sniper security perimeter is part of the agency’s responsibility for safeguarding “protectees” like Trump from harm.
“I think 1,000 yards is the sniper capability that we have a concern about for the President. So anything that’s within that range, that is a professional, makable shot… and you want to know about it,” Pierson said.
“When you think about it, it’s a football field and a half … and that is a makeable shot by an individual. And obviously an inch would have made a difference in this case and Trump wouldn’t be with us,” said Pierson, who spent three decades with the Secret Service, much of that on presidential protective operations, before becoming director in 2013.
Could this have been stopped before it started?
John Miller, a former senior FBI and New York Police Department official, said on CNN that Crooks had been observed acting suspiciously near the magnetometers, or metal detectors stationed outside the event by local law enforcement agencies.
Those officials then shared those concerns with the Secret Service and other authorities “and people had his description and were looking around for him,” said Miller, who’s currently a CNN analyst.
At some point, Miller said, Crooks “left the magnetometer area. And then at some point, people start to point out there’s a guy who’s climbing on that roof, and he has a rifle and police are putting that over the radio.”
According to some video and media reports, the Secret Service counter-sniper on a nearby rooftop was aiming at the shooter, perhaps before he took some or all of his shots.
“The counter sniper appears to be looking through his scope as if he’s scanning for something. … And then, when the shots are fired, takes out the shooter from his position almost immediately,” said Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism until 2022. “So we have to fill in those gaps. What happened during those seconds? What were the communications? What did he see through the scope, and did he act at his first opportunity? And we’ll learn that later.”
Miller said the counter-sniper succeeded in eliminating the threat quickly. “That part worked,” he said. But, he added, “What about the front end? Could this have been stopped with faster or more clear communications or a more intense search?”
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told USA TODAY on Sunday that he was traveling to Milwaukee, the site of the upcoming Republican National Convention, and would not be in a position to talk until later in the day. At 2 p.m., he said he was still “unable to respond” to claims that the Secret Service made mistakes in allowing the shooter to gain such a close vantage point.
In a news conference early Sunday morning, the FBI special agent in charge, Kevin Rojek, said the FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting and that it “is our assessment at this time” that law enforcement did not know the shooter was on the roof until he began firing.
Security experts made suggestions for greater safety for future events. Sordi said more federal funding should be available to secure political events at a local level.
Williams said candidates should consider only holding indoor functions, which are easier to secure.
He also urged politicians to tone down their rhetoric in a heated political climate.
“Both Biden and Trump need to focus on the positive — what they are going to do for the country — not on each other,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what your politics are. Politics have become rancorous. The tone of the conversation has to be ratcheted down because what happens in situations like the Trump situation is that this will inspire other mentally challenged people to come forward with threats. It causes an additional threatening environment. Right now I would imagine Secret Service is getting all kinds of threats that have to be investigated now.”
Contributing: Josh Meyer of USA TODAY and Melissa Brown, a state political reporter at The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Secret Service Trump Shooting: What went wrong?
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