The Pennsylvania State Police commissioner testified on Tuesday that the gunman who attempted to kill former President Donald Trump was known to be suspicious prior to the shooting because he was loitering but never made an attempt to enter the campaign rally on July 13. This suspicion was further raised when he was observed carrying a rangefinder.
At a hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee, Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris stated that Thomas Crooks, 20, initially aroused suspicion because he “was mingling, and he caught their attention because he never went to the venue’s point of entry.”
When Crooks was later observed using a range-finder—a tool for determining a target’s distance—the suspicions intensified.
According to Paris’ testimony, he was informed during his briefings that three other individuals had been flagged as questionable in addition to Crooks.
According to Paris, the state police received the suspicion and a picture of Crooks from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit (ESU), which was in charge of guarding the structure where Crooks fired. The state police subsequently forwarded the information to the Secret Service.
Butler County ESU officers saw Crooks from a second-story window and abandoned their station to look for him, according to Paris, who added that he was unable to provide a precise time frame.
According to Paris, Crooks wasn’t considered a real threat until just before he started shooting. One rallygoer was killed and another was injured by the gunfire, which also hit Trump in the ear.
Paris stated that two days prior to the shooting, during a final security planning walk-through, one of his area commanders specifically asked the Secret Service about a plan to safeguard the facility.”Several Secret Service agents told us Butler ESU was in charge of that area,” Paris remarked.
According to Paris, the Pennsylvania State Police accompanied the Secret Service to Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, presidential campaign rally.
According to Paris, the Pennsylvania State Police accompanied the Secret Service to Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania, presidential campaign rally.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, according to three sources who spoke with NBC News, in response to several requests from lawmakers for her to do so in the wake of Trump’s assassination attempt.
Her resignation follows intense questioning from lawmakers during a House Oversight Committee hearing, during which she was questioned about whether the Secret Service had guarded the building from which the gunman fired and how he got access to the roof. She resigned just one day after the congressmen questioned her.
Paris reported that the state police contributed thirty-two personnel, the principal duties of which were to assist in moving Trump and guard posts within the perimeter. In order to “perform roving duties,” he claimed, the Pennsylvania State Police additionally supplied two marked cars with troopers in uniform outside the security perimeter.
According to Paris, the agency has conducted 100 interviews and obtained 1,000 pieces of evidence as part of its investigation into the shooting.