Trump was shot in the right ear on Saturday while giving a speech in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. His attacker was identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks20 years old, who ended up shot down by the same Secret Serviceaccording to authorities. He used a gun that had been legally purchased by his father.
Thomas Matthew Crooks had been placed in the roof of a building located less than 150 meters away from the platform where Trump he was giving a speech.
An undated image taken on July 14, 2024 shows a photograph of the driver’s license of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the alleged shooter of former US President Donald Trump. (AFP)
/
Investigators have not yet determined the motives for the attack.
On Monday, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkasadmitted that The attack was possible because there was a security “failure.”
“When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are talking about a failure”said Mayorkas to CNN.
“We are going to analyze, through a independent investigationhow it happened, why it happened, and make recommendations with the findings to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”he added.
Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof from where he shot Trump. (TMZ).
The rooftop caught the attention of the Secret Service
NBC News reported this Monday that days before the rallyhe Secret Service had identified the rooftop from where they tried to kill Trump as a potential security risk.
The media explained that the building is owned by a glass company and is next to the Butler Farm Showthe open-air venue where Trump was presented.
“Someone should have been on the roof or securing the building so that no one could get in.””a former senior Secret Service agent who was familiar with security planning at the site told NBC News.
He Secret Service He said security at the building was the responsibility of local authorities, although Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger has denied that version.
“They had meetings the week before. The Secret Service was running the show. They were the ones who designated who did what,” Goldinger said. “In the hierarchy of command, they were at the top, they were number one.”
The place where the assassination attempt on Trump took place. (AFP)
Outside the security perimeter
The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos and photographs taken at the rally. Trumpas well as satellite images of the place. In one of the videos Crooks’ body is seen lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant north of the Butler Farm Showwhere the event took place rallyAnother image shows the attacker wearing a grey T-shirt and with a bleeding wound on his head.
When going out to answer the questions, Authorities have confirmed that the shooter was outside the security perimeter of the event.. But this statement leads analysts to wonder if a distance of 150 meters is sufficient for the Secret Service have a high-profile politician secured as Trump.
For example, the AP agency claims that 150 meters is a distance from which a decent shooter could easily hit a human-sized target..
He adds that 150 meters is a distance that US Army recruits must reach in a human-sized silhouette to qualify for the M16 assault rifle in basic training. He also notes that the AR-style rifle, like the one carried by the gunman at the Trump rally, is the civilian semi-automatic version of the military’s M16.
“Basically, one of the most basic elements of site security, especially at a site that is outdoors and largely uncontrolled, is to eliminate sight lines into this space where the protected person will be speaking.”former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told CNN. “When you look at that map, it clearly points out the buildings that are within it, which are clearly within firing range.”he added.
Trump supporters try to protect themselves during the attack on the Republican candidate. (Rebecca DROKE / AFP)
/
Was there enough security?
On Sunday, the president Joe Biden He said he ordered the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle“review all security measures for the Republican National Convention,” which runs from Monday to Thursday in Milwaukee.
CNN reported that the order includes a review of whether the Secret Service had sufficient means to protect Trump and whether procedures were followed to conduct security checks in the building that provided an observation point for the attacker.
For his part, the representative Mark Greena Tennessee Republican who chairs the House Homeland Security Committeesaid that the Secret Service had rejected the campaign’s requests Trump for additional security.
However, a Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmisaid Sunday that those allegations were “absolutely false” and that resources and technology had increased as campaign travel increased.
He Secret Service He stated that there were four teams of snipers: two from the Secret Service itself and two from local security forces. There were also members of the counterattack team.
The AP explained that the counterattack teamwho is heavily armed and whose code name in the Secret Service is “Hawkeye”, is responsible for eliminating threats so that other agents can protect and take away the person they are guarding.
The team of snipersknown by the code name “Hercules”, uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with rifles capable of dealing with long-range threats.
Law enforcement snipers took up position ahead of Trump’s arrival on a rooftop near the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (EFE/EPA/DAVID MAXWELL)
Opinion…
The Secret Service’s failures
By Andres Gomez de la Torre
Defense specialist
The United States Secret Service is one of the oldest government agencies, dating back more than a century. It was created to gather intelligence and manage counterintelligence. But in 1901 there was a famous assassination, that of President William McKinley, and since 1902 this federal agency has been providing protection to presidents, vice presidents, former presidents and presidential candidates.
It is a specialized agency with operational powers that is not part of the United States intelligence community. Since 2003, following the major reform of the United States’ national security bureaucratic structure, it has been directly dependent on the Homeland Securitythis great ministry of homeland security.
Although it is not part of the intelligence community, it does receive input from the National Intelligence Directorate, the governing body created in the US in 2004; from the CIA itself if it is a possible attack with foreign links; and from Homeland Security itself.
What happened on Saturday was a security error. This agency has failed in a resounding way by not detecting the intentions of a man who was with that weapon 150 meters from Trump, and who had the possibility of directly attacking a presidential candidate.
I think two mistakes are being made: the first was the failure to detect this lone wolf, and there are precedents of lone wolves with this type of profile, such as the assassination of the president. John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald; the young Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan who killed the senator Robert F. Kennedy; and the attack he suffered Ronald Reagan in 1981, where the author was declared unaccountable because he was insane.
The second mistake is that there was no quick evacuation of Trump. The Secret Service should have immediately cut off and evacuated the candidate. He took a risk by raising his fist and exposing himself, because in those circumstances you don’t know where the shots are coming from or if there aren’t other snipers aiming at you.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/UJT4BAODL5DUFHIGNUDJSTABSY.jpg "How could Trump's attacker shoot undetected? Serious questions about the Secret Service 6")
How did he get up to the roof?
According to CNN, before the rally Thomas Matthew Crooks was seen by local authorities near the metal detectors of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) who were at the entrance to the premises. Their attitude seemed suspicious to them.
The police then radioed that they would be watching him and that information was also passed on to the Secret ServiceCNN reports.
Crooks He was also seen by people outside the event and alerted authorities about an armed person on the roof.
According to CNN affiliate KDKA, a witness said he told officers that He saw a gunman moving “from roof to roof”moments before the attempted murder.
Ben Macer said he was standing by a fence when he saw “the guy moving from one rooftop to another. (I) told an officer that (the alleged attacker) was on the roof,” KDKA reported.When I turned around to go back to where I was, that’s when the shooting started, and then the storm broke out chaosand we all ran out, and that was it.”
He FBIwhich is leading the investigation into the attempted murder, has not said how the attacker was able to gain such easy access to the roof.
Possible security lapses are being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Service and Congress.
