Secret Service Chief: ‘Sloped Roof’ Used by Trump Shooter Prevented Agency From Securing Area

The stage where former President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pa., on July 14, 2024. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said that the sloped roof of the warehouse building from which a would-be assassin fired at former President Donald Trump was too dangerous for Secret Service agents to secure.

Over the past weekend, questions have emerged about whether the Secret Service or local law enforcement did enough to secure the area around a Pennsylvania rally where the former president was speaking. FBI officials said that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired at the former president from an elevated position on a warehouse building about 400 feet away.

Witnesses have told media outlets, including The Epoch Times, that they saw the suspect on the roof of the building before gunfire erupted, which grazed the former president’s ear and left one victim dead and two others injured.

In an interview with ABC News on Monday, Ms. Cheatle was asked whether the agency or law enforcement should have secured the warehouse’s roof. She said that local counterparts were tasked with securing the outer perimeter, including the warehouse.

Ms. Cheatle also said there was no sniper placed on that building, which “has a sloped roof at its highest point.”

“And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there, that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she said. “And so, you know the decision was made to secure the building from inside.”

Ms. Cheatle also confirmed reports suggesting that law enforcement officials had identified Mr. Crooks as a suspicious individual before the shooting.

“I’m being told that the shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion,” she said. “Units started responding to seek that individual out. Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president.”

Comments From Local Police

Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe told media outlets that a local officer climbed to the roof and encountered Mr. Crooks, who saw the officer and turned toward him just before the officer dropped down to safety.

The officer, Mr. Slupe added, could not have wielded his own gun under the circumstances. Butler Township Manager Tom Knights told media outlets that the officer lost his grip and was not retreating when he fell and severely injured an ankle.

Also during the ABC interview, the agency director said that the “buck stops with me” in response to questions about the security incident.

She has resisted calls to resign.

President Joe Biden said Sunday he has directed an independent review of the security at the rally. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, suggested in a Monday interview with ABC News that the agency erred in allowing a direct line of sight to the former president. He pledged a review of the incident.

His agency will “study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service” on how to move forward, he said, adding that the agency has one of the “most vital missions” in the federal government.

“We have to learn everything about the assailant who, of course, the Secret Service so bravely neutralized,” Mr. Mayorkas said.

The FBI believes Mr. Crooks, who had bomb-making materials in the car he drove to the rally, acted alone with a gun purchased by his father. But the agency has not identified an ideological motive.

The FBI said Monday that analysts had gained access to the shooter’s phone.

In response to unconfirmed reports about a joint security bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security about the possibility of related terrorist attacks, a spokesperson for the FBI told The Epoch Times on Tuesday that the agency would not confirm or deny the bulletin was sent out.

“Generally speaking, we continue to face very real threats from those who seek to undermine our elections. The FBI remains vigilant in our efforts to detect and assess possible threats and, as always, we encourage the public to promptly report suspicious activities which could represent a threat to public safety,” the FBI said Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.