A veteran whose team holds the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill has spoken out about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Dallas Alexander, who served on a sniper team for the Canadian military for 14 years and protected top world leaders including the Canadian prime minister, suggested in a video that the 20-year-old who opened fire on the former president’s rally Saturday night may have had inside help.
“I’m very familiar with the setup of these types of things and what the task is supposed to be, and what happened yesterday, I have no doubt that the shooter had assistance from somewhere within an agency, an organization or the government,” he said.help in a video posted on his Instagram and X account.
Authorities said the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, lay on the roof of a building just 400 feet from where Trump was speaking, visible to supporters as he fired toward the stage.
But Alexander says he shouldn’t have gotten so close.
Dallas Alexander, who served on a sniper team for the Canadian military for 14 years and closely protected key world leaders, including the Canadian prime minister, shared his thoughts on the shooting at a Trump rally on Saturday
“When I saw that aerial photo of what they said happened, it just blew my mind,” he said.
‘You can’t get onto a roof that’s a few hundred meters away during the day. [of the president]. You can’t get in that position with a gun while a president is speaking.
“That can’t be,” Alexander insisted.
‘You don’t even have to be a sniper – it’s the most f****** obvious place in the whole world.
“You might be like a seventh grader and think, ‘What do we do for safety?’ Well, let’s look at those rooftops that are almost within gun range,” he joked.
“So something happened, and I’m not blaming anyone. It’s just too obvious that this guy had help getting there.
“So whether someone looked the other way or it was strategically planned, it had to be planned to some extent. Because these types of events, this type of security, it’s not a small thing. It’s a logical issue.”
Alexander suggested that shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks “had help” getting within a few hundred yards of former President Donald Trump and readying his AR-style rifle
Authorities said the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, lay on the roof of a building just 400 feet from where Trump was speaking, visible to supporters as he fired toward the stage.
Alexander said the shooter should not have gotten so close to the former president
Alexander went on to say that he would find it “very strange” that if ‘someone is good enough to sneak up on one of the world’s most difficult-to-stalk targets within 200 yards,’ he wouldn’t miss the shot.
“If you have the skills to get in there and bypass all those different layers of security, then you have the skills to survive the first round,” he explained.
‘It does not make any sense.’
The bullet apparently intended for Trump on Saturday night flew past his right cheek and hit his right ear.
“So my opinion is – and whether this comes out now or much later – that this man had help somewhere, and of course I find that worrying,” said Alexander.
“I think it’s going to take a while, this is all you’re going to see for the foreseeable future,” he added.
“But anyway, since I keep getting asked, this is my opinion.”
The bullet apparently intended for Trump on Saturday night flew past his right cheek and hit his right ear
Both Democrats and Republicans are now demanding an investigation into the Secret Service’s actions
Alexander’s video comes as both Republicans and Democrats are demanding an urgent investigation into the Secret Service’s response to the shooting.
Witnesses said they alerted police to a man armed with an AR-style rifle climb a building.
He was also spotted and then watched by police at the Trump rally location because they sensed something was wrong, according to reports, but then lost sight of them before the carnage unfolded.
Some officials have since suggested that the Secret Service should have conducted routine checks to rule out all potential threats.
In a scathing statement Saturday night, FBI agent Kevin Rojek also said it was “surprising” that Crooks was able to fire so many shots before being shot dead by agents.
Participants in the protest said they saw the gunman climb onto the roof
Crooks was eventually shot by the Secret Service
There were also allegations that Trump’s team had asked for more protection for the campaign, but that the request had been denied.
The Secret Service has since denied the claims, but remains under intense scrutiny for what has been called an “absolute failure.”
Addressing Americans from the White House on Sunday, President Joe Biden promised an “independent investigation” into the events at the meeting.
‘I am leading an independent investigation into national security [at] “We will also share the results of the independent investigation with the American people,” Biden said.
Rally participants took cover as Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop on Saturday
Former Secret Service agent Joseph LaSorsa also told DailyMail.com Those protections should be improved for former presidents, and Trump will now have nearly the same protections as President Joe Biden.
He also explained why officers from the agency under fire may not have been able to see the shooter.
“Remember they’re monitoring 360 degrees and you’re monitoring seconds. They might monitor that it was 240 degrees in that case.
“They looked at multiple places and it only took a few seconds for that person to be there. And luckily he was 20 years old and not a very good shot.
‘Luckily for all of us as a country he was only 20.’
He added: ‘If he hadn’t been knocked out, he could have shot again.
“The fact that there was an anti-sniper team that took him out is very coincidental and very fortunate for the country, because this could have been a thousand times worse.”
House Republicans now plan to bring in Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle for what is expected to be a heated hearing on July 22 as lawmakers demand answers.