Security personnel stand guard after multiple gunshots were heard at a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-type rifle got close enough to former President Donald Trump to shoot and wound him at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, a major failure of one of the agency's core missions.
The gunman, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service agent, fired multiple shots at the stage from “an elevated location outside the rally venue,” the Secret Service said.
Live Updates: Authorities say shooter at Trump rally is 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania
An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery from the scene, found that the shooter was able to get surprisingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking. Video posted to social media and located by The Associated Press shows the body of a man dressed in gray camouflage clothing lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump's rally was being held.
The rooftop was within 150 meters (yards) of where Trump was speaking, close enough for a skilled marksman to successfully hit a human-sized target (150 meters is the distance U.S. Army recruits must shoot a scaled-down, human-sized silhouette in basic training to be qualified to use an M16 assault rifle). The AR-15 used by the Trump rally shooter is a semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.
The FBI identified the shooter early Sunday morning as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
read more: Five things to know about the Trump rally shooting
The Secret Service was not present at a late-night news conference where the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police briefed reporters on the shooting investigation. FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek said it was “amazing” that the gunman was able to fire before killing someone.
Members of the Secret Service's anti-sniper and anti-assault teams were present at the rally, according to two law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
A sniper stands on a roof during a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. Photo taken from social media. Glenn Van Triff/TMX via Reuters
The heavily armed counter-assault team, known by the Secret Service code name “Hawkeye,” is tasked with eliminating threats so other agents can protect and remove protected individuals. The counter-sniper team, known by the code name “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with sniper rifles to deal with long-distance threats.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the department and Secret Service were working with police to investigate the shooting, and that ensuring the safety of presidential candidates and their campaigns was one of the department's “highest priorities.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms this act of violence and commend the Secret Service for their swift action today,” Mayorkas said. “We are working with President Biden, former President Trump and their campaigns to take every possible step to ensure their safety and security.”
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Calls for an investigation came from all quarters.
Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said he has contacted the agency for clarification and has invited Director Kimberly Cheatle to attend the hearing. Comer said the committee will send a formal invitation soon.
“Political violence in any form is un-American and unacceptable. There are many questions, and Americans want answers,” Comer said in a statement.
Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York called for an investigation into “security failings” at the rally.
“The federal government must constantly learn from security failures to avoid repeating the same mistakes, especially when those failures have national consequences,” Torres said.
read more: What political leaders said about the Trump rally shooting
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, posted on X that he and his staff were in contact with a security planning coordinator ahead of the Republican National Convention, which begins Monday in Milwaukee. “We should not be a country that tolerates political violence of any kind. That is not who we are as Americans,” Evers said.
The FBI said it was leading the investigation into the shooting, working with the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement agencies.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department would “devote all available resources to this investigation.”
“My heart is with the former president, those injured and the families of those killed in this horrific attack,” Garland said in a statement. “We cannot tolerate violence of any kind. Such violence is an attack on our democracy.”
Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
