Reports indicate that law enforcement officers saw former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin and relayed security concerns in the moments before the gunman opened fire on the MAGA leader.
During a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Thomas Matthew Crooks gained access to a building approximately 130 yards from the former president’s podium. Ultimately, Crooks fired multiple shots from the building’s rooftop, killing one rally attendee and critically wounding two more as he attempted to assassinate Trump. Multiple witnesses said they could see Crooks on the rooftop with a rifle, warning police and the Secret Service about the gunman ahead of the attack on the ex-commander in chief.
Now, law enforcement officers stationed at the Pennsylvania rally are coming forward, saying they also voiced concerns about Crooks before his deadly attack last week.
According to the Beaver Countian, a Beaver County police officer saw Trump’s shooter with a rangefinder. The police officer took a picture of Crooks, according to CBS News, and warned a command center ahead of the gunman’s attack on the former president. The same officer, who served as a countersniper in the same building where Crooks took shots from on Saturday, reportedly warned the gunman was scoping out the facility’s roof.
After the gunman momentarily left the scene, returning to the building later with a backpack, the countersniper again radioed the command center.
Multiple local law enforcement officers involved in arranging security for the Pennsylvania rally say that “extremely poor planning” and insufficient manpower put Trump in harm’s way on Saturday.
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The security agency sources from Washington, Beaver, and Butler counties voiced their concerns during an interview with the Beaver Countian.
The Secret Service has come under fire from critics who say the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, should be fired for overseeing the security nightmare last week. Cheatle has refused to resign as her agency shifts the blame for the security breach to local police. The Secret Service said the rooftop Crooks used to launch his deadly attack was outside the perimeter of the agency’s security footprint. According to the agency, local Pennsylvania officers were responsible for guarding the area that lay approximately 130 yards from the stage Trump used to address rally attendees.
