FBI agent’s perspective on the shooting at Trump rally

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The big question on everyone’s mind after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump is why the Secret Service did not secure the area.

This is a map of the fairgrounds in Butler County, Pennsylvania, the location where the attempt took place.

Credit: New York Times / Google Earth

Some sources have said that the Secret Service did not sweep the building or include it in the perimeter, leaving it up to local law enforcement.

WINK News reporter Annalise Iraola spoke with a retired FBI agent who gave insight into setting up a perimeter.

According to him, the level of difficulty changes drastically for an outdoor event like the rally seen in Butler, Pennsylvania.

An outside event is much more difficult for a perimeter to secure.

Now, the Secret Service is facing scrutiny after former President Donald Trump was almost assassinated on Saturday.

The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the gunman who shot and grazed former President Trump in the ear, killed Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperator, and wounded two other men.

Bret Hood, a retired FBI special agent who worked with the FBI for 25 years, spoke with WINK News about how this could have happened.

“When you’re an outside venue, the scope, the range is just it’s so expansive, there are different positions all over the place that need to be searched need to be controlled, and that makes it very, very difficult because there’s just too much real estate to cover,” explained Hood. “You had people telling law enforcement, there’s a person on the roof, there’s a person on the roof, but they couldn’t react fast enough to stop the shots were being fired in time.”

Breakdowns in communication between agencies are not uncommon, but they can lead to catastrophic results.

“It sounds like there was a communication issue, which is not uncommon when one agency is dealing with another. I’m sure there were directives given to whatever agency to cover that roof. And obviously, in this case, there was clearly a miscommunication error on who was supposed to be on that roof,” said Hood.

In a statement, Kimberly Cheatle, the U.S. Secret Service director, said, “The Secret Service is working with all involved federal, state, and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again. We understand the importance of the independent review announced by President Biden yesterday and will participate fully.”

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