The U.S. Secret Service is under intense scrutiny for the lapses that allowed the shooter to open fire from a rooftop near the former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally Sunday.
According to CBS News, investigations are zeroing in on the gunman, the details of the shooting, and the security failures that made the assassination attempt possible.
The U.S. Secret Service spotted a suspicious person with a rangefinder and relayed this information via radio at 5:52 p.m. on Saturday. Around 20 minutes later, a gunman started shooting, two sources familiar with a briefing to U.S. lawmakers confirmed to CBS News.
Cellphone video shows rally attendees pointing towards the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, and trying to alert authorities—a full two minutes before he opened fire.
Trump took the stage at 6:03 p.m. local time, and the gunman began shooting at 6:11 p.m.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Crooks shot Trump in the ear, and killed a rally attendee seated behind the GOP candidate. He wounded two others, identified as Dutch and James Copenhaver, 74.
The man killed in the incident was identified Sunday as a firefighter and avid Trump supporter, Corey Comperatore. He leaves behind two daughters.
Crooks managed to secure a rooftop position directly under a local police sniper team stationed inside the building, law enforcement sources told The New York Post.
Sources confirmed that officers were inside the building, but not on the roof during the shooting. Crooks managed to climb the building, perch on the rooftop and fire up to eight rounds with an AR-style rifle.
The Secret Service stated that local police were in charge of securing the building, which is on an open campus. Before the rally, the building was listed as a being a “potential vulnerability.”
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated that Crooks fired “multiple shots” before agents “neutralized” him. An autopsy confirmed that Crooks was fatally shot in the head.
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[Feature Photo: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)]
