Secret Service Blames Local Police for Not Securing Adjacent Areas at Trump Speech Site

The Secret Service has asserted that local law enforcement was responsible for securing the rooftop from which a shooter attempted to assassinate President Trump, saying it lay outside their designated perimeter.Anthony Gugliemi, a Secret Service representative, said patrolling the factory grounds of AGR International Inc., situated about 130 yards from Trump’s speaking stage on Saturday, was the duty of local Pennsylvania police, according to the New York Times.The Secret Service’s responsibility was limited to the immediate rally area, with local police providing auxiliary support and securing the surrounding vicinity, he said.But residents near the Butler Farm Show Grounds where the Trump rally was held told The New York Post they hadn’t seen any law enforcement presence, either local or federal, in the days leading up to or during the rally.“Nobody contacted me. Nobody. Nobody called me, nobody stopped here,” said Valerie Fennell, who lives adjacent to the fairgrounds and just beyond a tree line from AGR.“I kinda was thinking that as close as my house is, that I honestly thought this might be part of a command station at some point,” she told the Post.The security lapses reportedly extended into the rally itself. According to CNN, attendees observed 20-year-old Thomas Crooks behaving suspiciously near the rally’s metal detectors. Local law enforcement was alerted, and warnings were broadcasted to the Secret Service to monitor for him.Eyewitnesses also claimed to have seen Crooks with a rifle outside a security checkpoint and later observed him jumping across rooftops before settling on the AGR factory. Despite these alerts, local police were unable to locate him until reports came in of an armed individual on the AGR roof.

Secret Service Blames Local Police for Not Securing Adjacent Areas at Trump Speech Site

Secret Service Blames Local Police for Not Securing Adjacent Areas at Trump Speech Site

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