The Secret Service blamed local police for failing to secure the rooftop from which gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, insisting it was outside the perimeter the federal agency was tasked with protecting.
Instead, securing and patrolling the factory grounds of AGR International Inc. — located about 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking Saturday — was the responsibility of local Pennsylvania police, Secret Service representative Anthony Gugliemi said, according to the New York Times.
The Secret Service was only tasked with covering the grounds where Trump’s rally took place, with local police being recruited to assist with those efforts and secure the area outside the rally, the New York Post reports.
Attendees reported seeing 20-year-old Thomas Crooks acting suspiciously near rally metal detectors, according to CNN, with local law enforcement being notified and broadcasting warnings over their radios to the Secret Service to be on the lookout for him.
Around 6:10 p.m., a local police officer climbed a ladder onto the roof and came face to face with Crooks, who was pointing his rifle at him, law enforcement sources told the Associated Press.
The officer backed down the ladder, and in those moments, Crooks took aim and fired about eight bullets at the rally. He struck Trump in the ear, fatally struck retired fire chief Corey Comperatore in the audience, and gravely wounded two others in the crowd.
Within moments, Secret Service snipers stationed on a barn rooftop behind the stage fatally shot Crooks. Snipers appeared to have their sights trained in the direction of Crooks before they opened fire on him, though it is unclear whether they had seen him before he opened fire.
Calls for an investigation into the Secret Service and what allowed Crooks to come within millimeters of assassinating Trump have begun, with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announcing plans to summon agency director Kimberly Cheatle for a July 22 hearing.
