Christopher Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, revealed during a House Homeland Security hearing Tuesday stunning new details about the security failures that led to Donald Trump’s near assassination, raising more questions for the Secret Service. from United States.
Paris’ testimony comes a day after then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee and largely refused to answer questions about the shooting at the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania.
Paris told lawmakers about communications between the Secret Service and local police who initially spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks, the alleged killer. He also outlined a more detailed timeline from when officers first spotted Crooks in the crowd to when the 20-year-old opened fire on Trump.
Officers left their post to search for Crooks
Two local police officers left their posts overlooking the rooftop where Crooks took aim at the former president before firing shots, Paris testified.
Paris said two officers from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit (ESU) left their posts in the building to look for a suspicious individual they first spotted and alerted other authorities. That person was Crooks.
Lawmakers watched video taken during a congressional tour of the rally site Monday, of the building where ESU officers left their post, showing the roof where Crooks finally climbed and shot Trump.
“So you’re saying, as far as you know, those ESU officers left the place where they could look out the window to go look for this person?” asked Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina.
“That’s what I understand,” Paris said, adding that officers went searching with other local officers in the area. “I don’t want to establish a minute-by-minute schedule because we don’t have that yet.”
Bishop also questioned whether the two officers who left their posts could have seen Crooks climb onto the roof if they had stood still. Paris said she didn’t know.
Crooks shot eight times
Investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots before he was killed by snipers, Paris said.
“I believe the number is eight,” Paris told the committee. “Eight shell casings were recovered.”
Authorities had previously confirmed only that the gunman fired multiple rounds at the rally earlier this month.
Paris also told members of Congress that “several Secret Service agents” told the state police commander during a survey of the area before the rally that the Butler County Emergency Services Unit was responsible for protecting the building where Crooks fired the shots. shots.
Minutes on the roof
A local police officer came face-to-face with Crooks during the several minutes the alleged killer was on the roof before Crooks shot Trump, Paris testified.
Paris said the brief confrontation occurred when two local police officers who learned of Crooks’ position on the roof tried to go up and confront the shooter. But while the officer was “hanging” from the roof, Crooks pointed his rifle at him and the officer fell.
Paris told lawmakers that Crooks was on the roof for about three minutes, but only a few seconds passed between the time the officer confronted him and the time he shot Trump, correcting a time gap he previously gave in the court hearing.
“When one local policeman hoisted the other and subsequently fell,” Paris said, Crooks was “already, I believe, close to being in his final position there. And I’m told it’s – again, sequence of events, not a timeline based on previous established criteria – but seconds after that is when the first shots rang out.”
Paris said whether or when the confrontation was relayed to the Secret Service or other law enforcement agencies at the rally “remains under investigation.”
Communications between the Secret Service and local police
Paris also detailed communications between officials about Crooks before Trump took the stage at the rally earlier this month.
According to Paris, “there was a chain of messages” with members of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, some of whom initially spotted Crooks and reported him as a suspicious individual.
“At some point, when he used the rangefinder, suspicion grew,” Paris said of Crooks.
State Police then received a call and text message from ESU about Crooks’ activity which they immediately passed on to the Secret Service. Local, state and federal authorities were in a unified command post at the rally.
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