BUTLER, Pennsylvania — The young man paced the perimeter of Donald Trump’s campaign rally, carrying a large backpack on his shoulders and peering through the lens of a rangefinder toward the rooftops behind the podium where the former president would stand.
His behavior was so strange, so different from that of the other rally-goers, that local police noticed it, radioed their concerns, and took a photo. But then he disappeared.
The image was distributed by officers stationed outside the security perimeter on that warm, sunny Saturday afternoonBut the man did not reappear until witnesses saw him climbing up the side of a low factory building 135 meters (157 yards) from the stage.
There, six minutes after Trump began speaking, he opened fire in an attempt to assassinate the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. The gunman killed one rallygoer and seriously wounded two others. Trump suffered an ear injury but was not seriously injuredand appeared at the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee a few days later with a small bandage over the wound.
Now come the questions, and there are plenty. Multiple investigations have been launched, both into the crime itself and into how law enforcement allowed it to happen. It is becoming increasingly clear that this was a complicated failure involving multiple missteps and at least nine local and federal law enforcement departments supposedly working together. Law enforcement has also warned of the possible for copycat attacks and more violence.
This story is based on interviews with eight police officers, several of whom spoke anonymously to The Associated Press about the investigation into Trump’s attempted killing.
The Secret Service always works with local law enforcement when a president, political candidate or other high-ranking official comes to town, and Saturday’s gathering was no different. An advance team arrives early to canvass the scene and identify potential trouble spots. They order vehicles to be moved. They set up barriers. They block roads.
In some larger cities, one or two local agencies may work with the federal teams. In more rural areas, a single local agency may not have enough manpower, so multiple agencies are often involved. Saturday’s show of force included members of at least six different agencies, including two sheriff’s offices, local police, state police, and multiple teams within the Secret Service, plus fire and emergency management officials. Within those agencies, there are separate departments with different responsibilities.
In theory, more manpower is better. But it can often create communication problems, and it’s unclear how information about Crooks was conveyed. For example, it’s unclear how widely his photo was distributed or whether everyone was equally aware of the potential threat.
Any additional agents could strain resources, overloading agencies. The Secret Service protects the president, candidates and others at any given time, and also presides over major national security events. The same goes for local police, who told the Secret Service they didn’t have enough agents to keep them outside the building all day.
The Secret Service checks the area inside the perimeter after people go through metal detectors. Local law enforcement should operate outside the perimeter.
The shooter, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooksdisappeared from the crowd of Trump supporters, decked out in red, white and blue. The stream of supporters coming through the metal detectors slowed. Trump prepared to move on.
The roof from which Crooks fired is in a complex of buildings that make up AGR International Inc., a supplier of automation equipment to the glass and plastic packaging industries. The building was closed that day except to law enforcement.
Crooks was spotted again when members A local SWAT team stationed at the building complex saw him walking around and looking at the roof. An officer snapped a photo of Crooks and radioed others to be on the lookout for a suspicious person looking through a rangefinder — a small device similar to binoculars that hunters use to measure the distance to a target.
Not long after, witnesses reported seeing him climb the low building closest to the stage, ready his AR-style rifle, and lie down on the roof, carrying a detonator in his pocket to set off crude explosives hidden in his car parked nearby.
Outside, a local police officer climbed onto the roof to watch. The gunman turned and aimed his rifle at him. The officer didn’t fire a single shot—or couldn’t. But Crooks did, firing into the crowd toward the former president and sending panicked onlookers scrambling for cover as Secret Service agents shielded Trump and pulled him off the stage. Two teams of snipers were stationed on buildings behind Trump, and the team farther away from Crooks fired once, killing him.
“We are talking about a failure,” said Homeland Security Minister Alejandro 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.”
Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have subpoenaed the director of the Secret Service Kim Cheatle. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would set up a task force to investigate, and some Republicans have called for Cheatle to resign. Security has been beefed up for Trump and Biden, and candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also received a protective detail.
President Joe Biden has ordered an independent investigation into the shooting. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general also opened an investigation into the The Secret Service’s handling of the shooting.
But it’s a big job. There were special agents, presidential protection teams, counterassault and countersniper teams on the scene that day. There were also about 50 firefighters and emergency personnel, plus dozens of officers from the Butler Township Police Department, Beaver County and Butler County troopers, and Pennsylvania State Police officers.
It will take weeks, if not months, to interview all the officers involved and determine exactly how Crooks was able to accomplish this. the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot from 1981.
The shooter had prepared himself for a massacre. Investigators found that he had multiple loaded magazines on him. He also purchased 50 rounds of ammunition on the day of the shooting. The gun had been legally purchased by his father years earlier.
Investigators found a bulletproof vest in his car and another rudimentary explosive device in his home, where he had received several packages in recent months, including some containing potentially dangerous material. The FBI gained access to Crooks’ cell phone, searched his computer, home and car, and has interviewed more than 100 people so far.
But the investigation has failed to solve the mystery surrounding the biggest question: why did he do it?
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Long reported from Washington, and Balsamo reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer and Rebecca Santana in Washington and Maryclaire Dale in Butler, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
