Video from the aftermath of the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump shows local police complaining they had warned Secret Service to cover the warehouse where the gunman shot at Trump from, The Hill reported.
One person was killed and two people were critically injured in the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"I f—ing told them that they needed to post guys f—ing over here. … I told them that f—ing Tuesday," a Butler Township officer said in audio captured on his body camera obtained by The Wall Street Journal. "I talked to the Secret Service guys. They're like, 'Yeah, no problem. We're going to post guys over here.'"
Another video shows a police officer calling the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Michael Crooks, "a gentleman with a flat face that we were looking for earlier. He was creeping people out. He was watching people out in the woods by the water tower. I'm not sure he is the gentleman down or not."
Police were also stunned to learn no one was on the roof where Crooks fired his shots.
"I thought you guys were on the roof. I thought it was you. I thought it was you," one officer said to another. "What the f---? Why were we not on the roof? Why weren't we?"
The Secret Service and law enforcement officials have been criticized for not protecting Trump despite being notified of the would-be assassin's presence well before the shooting started.
Last week, the Secret Service's acting director said police in Pennsylvania warned that there was a man with a gun on a roof, but the message did not reach its agents on time.
Local authorities and Secret Service agents were using different communications channels, which prevented the warning from getting through before the shots were fired, Secret Service acting Director Ronald Rowe told reporters.
At the time shots rang out, the Secret Service were aware local police were dealing with an issue on the periphery of the event, but did not know about a weapon, Rowe said.
In testimony to Congress last week, Rowe had blamed the failure on local law enforcement while also saying he was "ashamed" of the security lapse that occurred on the day of the shooting. Rowe also noted that the Secret Service had not been present in a command post set up by local law enforcement in Butler, Pennsylvania for the outdoor campaign rally by the former president.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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