BUTLER, Pa. — Two women who attended former President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday at a neighboring property described what they called lax security measures beyond the event’s security perimeter.
Valerie Fennell and Deb Kuminkoski had tickets to go to the rally, but because of the heat and the large crowd, they decided to stay behind and watch from Fennell’s backyard, which overlooks the area where the rally was held.
Fennell’s backyard is in a grassy area between where the Trump crowd gathered and the AGR factory, where the shooter was perched on the roof of one of the buildings, about 150 yards away.
The shooter’s bullets passed over their heads toward Trump and his supporters as they watched the event, they said.
Fennell was pressed against the fence, watching Trump make his opening remarks, when she noticed some “commotion” behind her, people running in different directions, she said.
Someone nearby told him that a man with a backpack was on the roof of one of the nearby buildings. It was during this commotion, Fennell said, that attendees began alerting police that someone was on the roof with a backpack.
Moments later, the shooter opened fire.
Fennell didn’t see the shooter, but said her son did and saw the rifle.
She said she also saw police snipers “get into position” and aim in the general direction while positioning themselves in line with where the shooter was.
Fennell said her son turned to see what they wanted.
“He looked up and saw the shooter,” Kuminkoski said, “a person with long hair straightened out, ready to shoot. He saw it before any shooting happened.”
Fennell and Kuminkoski said they did not see any security at the location where they were stationed outside the event. “As far as I knew…nothing was secured on this side,” Fennell said.
When she thinks about it now, Fennell said, she is shocked.
Because she lives so close to where the event was held, Fennell said, she expected authorities to contact her, even knock on her door, before the rally. She thought they could set up a security station on her property because it’s so close.
The call never came, and on Saturday, she said, she was looking around the area to see where security had set up but didn’t see anyone.
Instead, the entire area outside the event perimeter was open and people walked freely within 500 feet of where Trump spoke, with no visible security, they said.
Fennell said there “could be” two or three police cars, as well as local police, parked nearby, but that she did not see them stopping anyone walking nearby.
Asked whether Saturday’s incident was a security breach, Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters Saturday night that an investigation is underway to determine whether there was a breach.
He said the Secret Service would be responsible for security at the site, including outside the security perimeter where the shooter was located, noting that it is the Secret Service who conducts the site survey and determines where security locations should be throughout the site. .
Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said Saturday night that there were 30 to 40 members of his force on site at the event, with additional resources in the area, but that it is “incredibly difficult to have a location open for the public and protect it against any possible threat, against a very determined attacker.”
Fennell and Kuminkoski shared photos of a woman with a Trump flag riding a horse through the area and a gap between two side-by-side fences — separating the land where the shooter was standing from the rally — secured only with cable ties.
Fennell said she is feeling “every emotion possible” since Saturday’s shooting, where one bystander was killed and two were seriously injured, and that she, along with many others, is “traumatized” by what happened at the peaceful location. area.
“I’m probably going to sell my house and I’ve only been here a year and a half,” Fennell said. “I like sitting in my backyard and looking at the fields and the grass, but I will sit there and forever know what happened.”
Tom Llamas and Ignacio Torres reported from Butler and Rebecca Cohen in New York City.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
