WASHINGTON (AP) — Two local police officers stationed at the building complex where a gunman opened fire on former president Donald Trump went out to look for the man before the shooting, the chief of the Pennsylvania State Police said Tuesday, raising questions about whether a key pole was left unattended while the shooter climbed onto the roof.
Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris told a congressional committee that two officers from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit were stationed in a second-story window of the complex of buildings that make up AGR International Inc. Thomas Matthew Crooks acting suspiciously on the ground and left their post to look for him along with other police officers, he said.
Paris said he did not know whether officers would have been able to see Crooks climbing onto the roof of an adjacent building if they had remained at the window. Video taken by a lawmaker who visited the scene of the shooting on Monday shows that a window on the building’s second floor had a clear view of the roof where Crooks opened fire; It was unclear whether the video showed the window where the officers were stationed.
The Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner’s testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee provides new insight into security preparations for Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, but raises other questions about the decisions of the authorities before Crooks opened fire.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger, who oversees the emergency services unit, did not immediately respond to a text message from The Associated Press on Tuesday. A Secret Service spokesperson did not respond to AP’s questions, including who gave the order for these officers to leave their post.
The revelation comes amid growing questions about a numerous security flaws this allowed the 20-year-old gunman to climb onto the roof and fire eight shots from an AR-style rifle into the crowd shortly after Trump began speaking. One spectator died and two others were injured. Trump suffered an ear injury but was not seriously injured.
Director of the Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesdaythe day after she had scolded for hours by Democrats and Republicans over the agency’s failure to protect the Republican presidential candidate. Cheatle told lawmakers on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday that the assassination attempt was the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades.
The Homeland Security Committee also asked Cheatle to testify, but lawmakers said she refused. Cheatle’s name was on a card on a table in front of an empty chair during the hearing, which began shortly before his decision to resign became public.
Multiple investigations into the shooting by the Biden administration and lawmakers are ongoing. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday they are supporting a bipartisan task force to investigate the attempt on Trump’s life. The House could vote as early as Wednesday to establish the task force, which will be made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats.
Local authorities began searching for Crooks after they noticed he was acting strangely and saw him with a rangefinder, a small binocular-like device that hunters use to measure the distance to a target. The police went looking for him but did not find him in the building and a local police officer went up to the roof to investigate. The shooter turned and pointed the rifle at him. The officer did not – or could not – fire a single shot. Bandits opened fire on the former president seconds later, authorities said.
Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service had been briefed on a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting, but there was no indication at that time that he had a weapon. She also revealed that the roof from which Crooks opened fire was identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally. Cheatle said Trump would never have come on stage if the Secret Service had known there was a “real threat,” but Crooks was only considered a “threat” seconds before he began shooting.
Authorities have been searching for clues about what motivated Crooks, but have not found any ideological bent that could help explain his actions. Investigators who searched your phone I found photos of Trump, Biden and other senior administration officials and discovered that he had looked up the dates of the Democratic National Convention as well as Trump’s appearances. He also searched for information about major depressive disorder.
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Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed.
