The Secret Service and Donald Trump’s security detail were caught off guard by a gunman who opened fire during a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The revelation was made by acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe during a joint Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.
Local law enforcement had identified the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, as a “suspicious person” approximately 90 minutes before the attack. However, this information did not reach Trump’s security team in time to prevent the incident. Rowe stated that neither the Secret Service’s counter-sniper teams nor Trump’s security detail were aware of Crooks’s presence on the roof until he began shooting.
“Based on what I know right now, neither the Secret Service counter-sniper teams nor members of the former president’s security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the AGR roof with a firearm,” Rowe told the committee. He added that local authorities were dealing with a situation on the right-hand side of the stage but had not reported any information about a man with a gun on the roof.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek provided details on the sequence of events, noting that a police officer was lifted onto the roof by another officer at 6:11 p.m. Crooks aimed his rifle at the officer, who then dropped to the ground. Approximately 25 to 30 seconds later, Crooks fired eight rounds before being neutralized by a Secret Service sniper. Rowe reported that Crooks was shot dead within 15.5 seconds of his first shot.
The attack resulted in injuries to Trump, who was wounded in the right ear, and injuries to two rally attendees. Additionally, a Pennsylvania firefighter lost his life in the incident. Rowe expressed his dissatisfaction with the handling of the security situation, admitting that he could not defend the lack of proper security measures on the rooftop and was “ashamed” of the lapses.
The Secret Service had assumed that state and local law enforcement were securing the rooftop, as Crooks had only been flagged as a suspicious person, not a direct threat. Communications failures and “technical difficulties” with counter-drone technology also contributed to the security breakdown, Rowe revealed. The drone used by Crooks was observed near the rally site for 11 minutes before the attack.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate mentioned that a social media account linked to Crooks had posted over 700 comments between 2019 and 2020, which included extreme political views and anti-Semitic and anti-immigration rhetoric. The investigation into Crooks’s motives is ongoing, with authorities yet to establish a clear reason behind his actions.
Sources By Agencies
