Three ways security force failed to protect Trump

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The U.S. Secret Service is facing harsh public scrutiny and investigations as the assassination attempt of former U.S. president Donald Trump thrusts the agency into the centre of a political firestorm.

The Secret Service is a unit of the Department of Homeland Security and provides round-the-clock security to the president and former presidents.

Speaking on CNN on Monday, DHS chief Alejandro Mayorkas said he had full confidence in the leadership of the Secret Service, but said the shooting amounted to a failure.

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“When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure,” he said. “We are going to analyze, through an independent review, how that occurred, why it occurred, and make recommendations and findings to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Some critics have claimed the agency rejected requests from the former president’s team for more protection — a charge that the agency called “absolutely false.”

What is true is that the vaunted security force made a number of mistakes.

The shooter was spotted acting oddly but was not questioned

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Penn. — about 80 kilometres from the shooting — first came to law enforcement’s attention when spectators at the Trump rally on Saturday noticed him acting strangely outside the event. He was pacing near the magnetometers, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

No one stopped him.

The shooter gained access to a clear vantage point

Crooks was able to make it to a building less than 150 meters from the stage where Trump planned to speak, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target.

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The building was outside the security perimeter.

He climbed a ladder and took up position with an AR-style rifle, believed to be his father’s gun.

A video published by TMZ appears to show the alleged gunman lying on his belly on a sloping rooftop and aiming a rifle.

Trump supporters saw him on the roof and alerted authorities.

Butler County police said they had responded to “a number of reports of suspicious activity,” after multiple witnesses said they saw the gunman before the shooting and notified authorities.

Mike Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence committee, said on CNN on Sunday said he was alarmed by the eyewitness statements.

“The fact that we’re hearing that people knew that there was a man on this roof with a gun, and were trying to get police attention while the president was up at the podium is just incredibly cause for concern and, I think, very frustrating for everyone,” said Turner, an Ohio Republican.

Timothy McCarthy, a former agent who retired from the agency in 1994, said the Secret Service “better be doing a deep dive into what happened there and doing whatever it takes to figure it out” because the gunman should not have been able to occupy such a vantage point.

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“How did that person get up on that building?” said McCarthy, 75, who in 1981 took a bullet when President Ronald Reagan was shot outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. “How did that happen? I mean, that’s the key to the entire thing. And what measures were put in place to prevent it?”

A police officer went up to the roof and turned around

A local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and found Crooks, who pointed the rifle at the officer, according to Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe. The officer retreated down the ladder, and the gunman quickly fired toward Trump.

One bullet nicked the top of the right ear of the 78-year-old former president. A second bullet struck Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief. It entered his head just above his right ear, killing him. A third bullet struck David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Penn., and two more reportedly hit James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Penn. Both were listed in stable condition after surgery.

Kevin Rojek, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said “it is surprising” the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before a Secret Service counter-sniper sharpshooter perched on the roof of another building could kill him.

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Members of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper team and counterassault team were at the rally, according to two law enforcement officials.

The heavily armed counterassault team, whose Secret Service code name is “Hawkeye,” is responsible for eliminating threats so that other agents can shield and take away the person they are protecting. The counter-sniper team, known by the code name “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with sniper rifles to deal with long-range threats.

As soon as the shooter fired, Secret Service agents came flying in “like linebackers,” Trump told the New York Post. “The agents hit me so hard that my shoes fell off, and my shoes are tight.”

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