The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle was able to get close enough to shooting and wounding former president donald trump at a meeting On Saturday in Pennsylvania, a monumental failure of one of the agency’s core functions was revealed.
The shooter, who was killed by Secret Service personnel, several shots fired at the stage “from an elevated position outside the meeting venue,” the agency said.
An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos taken at the Trump rally, as well as satellite images of the scene, shows the shooter got astonishingly close to the podium where the former president spoke. A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows the body of a man in gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a factory just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump’s rally was being held.
The roof was less than 150 yards from where Trump was speaking, a distance at which a decent sniper could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 yards is the distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify for the M16 assault rifle during basic training. The AR-15, like the one the shooter at the Trump rally was carrying, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military’s M16.
The FBI identified the shooter Sunday morning as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
The Secret Service had no one at a late-night news conference where FBI and Pennsylvania State Police officials briefed reporters on the investigation into the shooting. FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said it was “surprising” that the gunman was able to fire at the stage before he was killed.
Members of the Secret Service’s counter sniper team and counter assault team were present at the meeting, two law enforcement officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
The heavily armed counter assault team, whose Secret Service code name is “Hawkeye,” is responsible for eliminating threats so that other agents can shield and capture the person they are protecting. The counter sniper team, code named “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with sniper rifles to engage threats at long range.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement to investigate the shooting. Maintaining the security of presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of the department’s “top priorities,” he said.
“We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today,” Mayorkas said. “We are committed to President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.”
Calls for an investigation came from all sides.
James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said he contacted the Service for a briefing and summoned Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing. Comer said his committee will send a formal invitation soon.
“Political violence in all forms is un-American and unacceptable. There are many questions and Americans demand answers,” Comer said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, called for an investigation into “safety lapses” during the meeting.
“The federal government must continually learn from security failures to prevent them from happening again, especially when those failures impact the nation,” Torres said.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, posted on X that he and his staff are in contact with security planning coordinators ahead of the Republican National Convention kicks off Monday in Milwaukee. “We cannot be a country that accepts political violence of any kind — that is not who we are as Americans,” Evers said.
The FBI has said it will lead the investigation into the shooting, working with the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will devote all available resources to this investigation.”
“My heart goes out to the former president, the injured, and the family of the bystander who died in this horrific attack,” Garland said in a statement. “We will not tolerate violence of any kind and this is an attack on our democracy.”
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Associated Press reporters Colleen Long and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.