Police snipers returned fire as former President Donald Trump spoke at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
Gene J. Puska/AP
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Gene J. Puska/AP
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle was able to shoot former President Donald Trump at close range at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a major failure at the agency’s core mission.
The agency said the gunman fired multiple shots at the stage from “a height outside the rally venue” and was shot dead by Secret Service agents.
An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos taken at Trump rallies, as well as satellite images of the scene, showed that the gunman had surprisingly close access to the stage where the former president was delivering his speech. A video posted on social media and geolocated by The Associated Press showed the body of a man wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant north of the Butler Farm show site. The rally was held there.
The rooftop was less than 150 meters (yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance at which a decent shooter could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, U.S. Army recruits must hit a range of 150 meters before using an M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-15, like the one used by the gunmen at Trump rallies, is a semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.
Earlier Sunday, the FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
No one from the Secret Service attended a late-night news conference where FBI and Pennsylvania State Police officials briefed reporters on the investigation into the shooting. FBI agent Kevin Rojack said it was “surprising” that the gunman was able to fire on the stage before he was killed.
Members of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper team and counter-assault team attended the rally, according to two law enforcement officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
The heavily armed counter-assault team, whose Secret Service codename is “Hawkeye,” is responsible for neutralizing threats so that other agents can cover and remove those they protect. The counter-sniper team, codenamed “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with sniper rifles to deal with long-range threats.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department and the Secret Service were working with law enforcement to investigate the shooting. He said maintaining the security of presidential candidates and their campaigns is one of the department’s “most important priorities.”
“We condemn this act of violence in the strongest terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today,” Mayorkas said. “We are engaging with President Biden, former President Trump and their campaign, and All possible measures are being taken to ensure their safety.”
All parties called for an investigation.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said he contacted the service for a briefing and called on Director Kimberly Chettle to attend the hearing. Cuomo said his committee would issue a formal invitation soon.
“All forms of political violence are un-American and unacceptable,” Cuomo said in a statement. “There are many questions and Americans need answers.”
New York Democratic Rep. Rich Torres called for an investigation into “security lapses” at the rally.
“The federal government must continue to learn from security failures to avoid repeating them, especially when those failures have national consequences,” Torres said.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, posted on X that he and his staff were in contact with security planning coordinators ahead of Monday’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “We cannot be a nation that accepts political violence of any kind — that’s not who we are as Americans,” Evers said.
The FBI said it will lead the investigation into the shooting in cooperation with the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will use all available resources to investigate.”
“My heart goes out to the former president, those injured, and the families of the spectators who lost their lives in this horrific attack,” Garland said in a statement. “We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is An attack on our democracy.”
