Secret Service reveals reason roof at Trump rally left unsecured

The head of the Secret Service has admitted the fatal reason for not securing the roof where Donald Trump’s would-be assassin hid.

Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle is facing new calls to resign after revealing the roof where Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire was not secured “for safety reasons”. 

In an interview refusing to step down, Ms Cheatle said a “sloped roof” was the fatal reason there were no snipers perched on the vantage point with direct line of sight to Donald Trump.

“That building in particular 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 told ABC News.

“And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”

Two FBI investigators scan the roof of AGR International, despite the dangers of its sloped roof. Picture: AFP

Her reasoning behind the catastrophic security failure stands in stark contrast to the two snipers positioned on a sloped roof behind the former president.

The decision cost one audience member his life, injured two others, and almost led to the assassination of the front runner to be the next president of the United States.

The “safety concerns” of the sloped roof intensified the blame game over the massive security failure, which included reports that Crooks was spotted by an official 26 minutes before he fired his first shot.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” said Kyle Becker on Twitter/X. “She is bullsh*ting and getting away with it,” added Colin Rugg.

JUST IN: USSS director Kim Cheatle says sn*pers weren't on the roof where Thomas Crooks shot from because it was "sloped" and unsafe.

Ironically, the sn*pers who were behind Trump during the rally were on a sloped roof.

"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its… pic.twitter.com/Vg36tXr9rJ

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 16, 2024

NEIGHBOUR RECALLS SEEING GUNMAN 

Details have emerged about the family of Thomas Matthew Crooks as investigators struggle to determine a clear motive for the attack.

A Bethel Park neighbour of Katie Crooks, Thomas’ sister, described her to the New York Post as a “hardworking” woman who juggled two jobs and moved into her apartment building with the help of her brother three years ago.

An undated school yearbook image shows Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Katie Crooks is the older sister of Thomas Matthew Crooks. Picture: X

“The person who helped her, I couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female,” the neighbour told the Post of his initial reaction to Thomas, 20.

“A couple of days later I asked if it was one of her siblings and she said it was her brother. The one who shot Trump … He was real scrawny,” he added.

POLICE WARNED SECRET SERVICE OF SHOOTER

The Secret Service were warned by local police to be on the lookout for a suspicious person, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks.

Attendees on the way to the rally first reported Crooks to authorities as behaving strangely near the magnetometers, according to four officials quoted by NBC News.

The local officers began pursuing Crooks on foot and told the Secret Service they were looking for the suspicious person seen pacing back and forth near the metal detectors, the official said.

SECRET SERVICE BOOSTED SECURITY AMID IRAN PLOT TO KILL TRUMP

The Secret Service had increased security around Donald Trump in recent weeks after receiving intelligence of an Iranian plot to assassinate the former president.

There currently no connection between the Iranian plot and to shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, according to several people briefed on the matter.

CNN reported that US authorities obtained intelligence from a “human source” and that the Secret Service recently “added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail”, raising new questions about the massive security failure that saw Trump shot but survive.

Security concerns were so serious that the Trump campaign at one point stopped holding spontaneous off-the-record events where guests weren’t screened by the Secret Service, CNN said.

SHOOTER PLANNED GREATER CARNAGE

Thomas Crooks was poised to inflict even greater carnage in his attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump, it has emerged, as he had purchased 50 rounds of ammunition and was carrying a transmitter to an explosive device hidden in his car.

CNN reported that Crooks bought 50 rounds of ammunition and a short ladder from a Home Depot store on the morning of the shooting. It’s surmised Crooks used the ladder to access the roof of the building.

The bombshell CNN report quoted an unnamed law enforcement official who said Crooks practised his shooting at the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, where he was a member, on the Friday, and that he was carrying a transmitter linked to an improvised explosive device as he carried out his plan.

Authorities found a suspicious device in Crooks’ Hyundai Sonata, which was parked nearby, and another at the Bethel Park home where he lived with his parents. Some reports suggested there were actually two devices in the car. All were safely deactivated in the hours after Saturday’s shooting.

Thomas Matthew Crooks. Picture: Supplied

More disturbing video has emerged showing how bystanders tried to alert police after they saw the shooter crawling onto the rooftop where he fired at Trump. Picture: @DC_Draino on X

QUESTIONS EMERGE OVER FAILURES

With local and state police and the Secret Service all in attendance at the Butler County Farm Showgrounds, questions are emerging as to why communication between the agencies was so poor, and why it was that Crooks could be in a position with a direct line to the stage for so long.

In an interview with America’s ABC network, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle described the security failures as “unacceptable” but also appeared to apportion blame to local police agencies.

“There was local police in that building,” Cheatle told ABC, referring to the AGR International building where Crooks had positioned himself.

“There was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”

FBI CRACKS CROOKS’ PHONE

The FBI released a statement saying they had now unlocked Crooks’ mobile phone, and were using it to try to determine what prompted the 20-year-old registered Republican to attempt to assassinate the party’s nominee for the presidency.

In their statement, the FBI said they had completed their search of Crooks’ home and vehicle. Almost 100 interviews had been conducted so far – including with the gunman’s family – and the work was continuing, the agency said.

The circumstances through which Crooks had possession of his father’s rifle are still being investigated. CBS reported that Crooks’ father Matthew purchased the firearm legally in 2013.

Days on from the shooting, with no letter or manifesto from the dead gunman yet appearing, the enigma of Thomas Matthew Crooks appears to be getting deeper.

Police continue to block off roads around Crooks’ home as the FBI carries out its investigation into assassination attempt of former US President Donald Trump. Picture: Rebecca Droke/AFP

BIDEN BLAMED FOR INCITING VIOLENCE

Some Republicans including Trump’s running mate JD Vance had blamed the shooting on the alarmist language used by senior Democrats, especially President Joe Biden.

In an interview with NBC, Biden said it was a “mistake” to say he wanted to put his opponent Donald Trump in the “bullseye”.

“I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bullseye. I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing, focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate,” Mr Biden said.

CROOKS DESCRIBED AS ‘CONSERVATIVE’

The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Crooks’ former classmate Max Smith, who described the would-be assassin as someone who “definitely was conservative” and a person who “always stood his ground on the conservative side” during political debates in the classroom.

“It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate,” the Inquirer quoted Smith as saying.

CROOKS ‘QUIET AS A CHURCHMOUSE’

Earlier reports that Crooks was frequently bullied were contradicted by Jim Knapp, a former counsellor at Bethel Park High School. While Crooks was “quiet as a churchmouse”, other students “weren’t calling him names, kids weren’t bullying him”, Knapp told the New York Times.

It also emerged that Crooks completed an associate degree in engineering science at a community college in May, graduating with high honours. He had also been admitted to study mechanical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, but in March told the university he would not be pursuing the course.