BUTLER, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman, armed with an AR-style rifle, managed to get close enough to shoot and injure former President Donald Trump during a rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania. This incident represents a monumental failure in one of the agency’s core duties.
The gunman, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was killed by Secret Service personnel after he fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue.” An analysis by the Associated Press, including over a dozen videos and photos from the rally and satellite imagery, revealed that the shooter was astonishingly close to the stage where Trump was speaking. A social media video, geolocated by the AP, shows the body of a man in gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant north of the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump’s rally was held.
The roof was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a skilled marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is the distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-15, used by the shooter at the rally, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek expressed surprise that the gunman was able to fire at the stage before he was neutralized. Members of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper team and counter-assault team were present at the rally, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The heavily-armed counter-assault team, code-named “Hawkeye,” is responsible for eliminating threats so that other agents can shield and evacuate the protected individual. The counter-sniper team, known as “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and sniper rifles to handle long-range threats.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that his department and the Secret Service are collaborating with law enforcement to investigate the shooting. “Maintaining the security of presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of the department’s most vital priorities,” he said. “We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today,” Mayorkas added. “We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.“
Calls for an investigation came from all sides. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and House Oversight Committee chairman, said he contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and called on Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing. “Political violence in all forms is unamerican and unacceptable. There are many questions and Americans demand answers,” Comer said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, also called for investigating the “security failures” at the rally. “The federal government must constantly learn from security failures to avoid repeating them, especially when those failures have implications for the nation,” Torres said.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, posted on X that he and his staff are in contact with security planning coordinators ahead of the Republican National Convention set to begin Monday in Milwaukee. “We cannot be a country that accepts political violence of any kind — that is not who we are as Americans,” Evers said.
The FBI announced it will lead the investigation into the shooting, working with the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement. Attorney General Merrick Garland stated that the Justice Department “will bring every available resource to bear to this investigation.” He added, “My heart is with the former President, those injured, and the family of the spectator killed in this horrific attack. We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is an attack on our democracy.”
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
