BUTLER, Pennsylvania — Signs of unrest were evident in the minutes before the shots rang out at Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally: Police had received a report of a suspicious man walking near the magnetometers, and apparently exchanged photos of the suspect. Witnesses pointed and shouted at an armed man on a nearby rooftop.
When a police officer climbed onto the roof to see if anything was amiss, the gunman turned and pointed his gun at him. But the officer did not fire a single shot, or was unable to do so.
A sniper shot 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks within seconds of firing an AR-style rifle at the former president, but it was too late. Now investigators are trying to piece together the painstaking work that led an armed man with no military background to gain access to high ground and surprise teams of Secret Service agents.
President Joe Biden has ordered an independent investigation into the attempted assassination. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he has “full confidence” in Secret Service leadership but acknowledged the shooter should never have been allowed to reach that deadly position.
“We are talking about a failure,” Mayorkas told CNN“We will conduct an independent investigation to analyze how this happened, why it happened, and make recommendations and findings to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
At least a dozen police officers and sheriff’s deputies assisted the Secret Service and Pennsylvania State Police with security at the gatherings.
Several protesters reported to local police that Crooks was acting suspiciously and pacing near the magnetometers, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
It was a Butler Township police officer who encountered the shooter on the roof before the shooting. The officer was searching for the suspect when another officer hoisted him up so he could grab the edge of the roof, local officials said.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe said the deputy jumped back to safety when the gunman turned and pointed his gun at him.
Slupe, who was at the meeting location at the time of the shooting and did not witness the incident, said there was no way the officer could have used his own weapon under the circumstances.
“I think all law enforcement on the ground did everything they could, especially local law enforcement,” Slupe told The Associated Press on Monday. “I hope they weren’t scapegoated because they did their job to the best of their ability.”
Butler Township Manager Tom Knights said the officer lost his grip and didn’t back down after falling eight feet.
“He was literally dangling off the edge of a building, taking up whatever defensive position he needed at the time. He couldn’t hold himself up,” Knights said.
The officer, who has 10 years of law enforcement experience, suffered serious ankle injuries in the fall and was wearing a running shoe, Knights said.
Two bystanders were seriously injured in the shooting. A former fire chief, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was killed.
The FBI said it was investigating the attack as a possible act of domestic terrorismbut the agency had not identified a clear ideological motive. The FBI believes that Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the meeting, acted alone.
The agency said in a statement Monday that it had successfully gained access to Crooks’ cellphone and was analyzing all of his electronic devices for clues about a possible motive. The agency also said it had completed searching the suspect’s home and car.
The FBI conducted nearly 100 interviews with police officers, meeting attendees and other witnesses, and received hundreds of tips via digital media.
Authorities said they believe the shooter’s AR-style rifle was purchased by his father. Kevin Rojek, FBI special agent in charge of Pittsburgh, said investigators do not yet know whether Crooks took the rifle without his father’s permission.
The rooftop where Crooks lay was less than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance at which a decent sniper could reasonably hit a human target. That’s a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle.
