On the 13th of July 2024, Donald Trump, the former President of the United States and the presumptive nominee for the 2024 presidential election, was shot and injured during a campaign rally held in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was speaking to the audience when he was shot by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old male from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Crooks fired eight rounds with an AR-15-style rifle from a nearby building outside the rally venue, killing one audience member and seriously injuring two others. The Counter Sniper Team of the United States Secret Service executed Crooks immediately.

After being shot, Trump took cover and was surrounded by Secret Service agents before being helped to his feet, blood visible on his right ear and cheek. He raised his fist and shouted “Fight” before being taken to the hospital. He was later released in stable condition. Law enforcement agencies are investigating the shooting as a potential domestic terrorist act and an attempted assassination.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties have called for increased protection for the major candidates in the election. It is unclear what Crooks political views were or whether the assassination attempt was related to them, as there are no known posts or writings on social media platforms that indicate them. 

Political and security experts saw the shooting as a sign of political polarization within the United States, and prominent political figures advocated for a reduction in tensions. Many people are skeptical about the events, with some saying that they could be a staged event by Donald Trump to gain popularity.

The failed assassination of former President Donald Trump will be remembered as the biggest Secret Service crisis in decades. Everyone is curious as to how a 20-year-old gunman was able to climb a rooftop with a rifle and fire shots at Trump from less than 150 yards (0.14 km) away. Moreover, this will be regarded as a monumental failure for the United States Secret Service, which is renowned for its exceptional security intelligence gathering capabilities. 

The Secret Service is not only responsible for the safety and security of the protectee, but also for the safety and security of the masses. Based on how the US Secret Service handled the entire situation, there were three security mistakes that were largely overlooked.

1. Lack of Communication Gaps Between Security Agencies

In a video that made the rounds in the media shortly before the shooting, the gunman, Thomas Crooks, was seen crawling on a roof as people were heard pointing him out. The fact that the alerts were not heard by any officers could be considered a massive communication failure, given that the event was serenaded by various security agencies. Knowing the numerous security challenges that America has encountered over the years, the Secret Service agents are expected to be located right next to the police, aided by police radio and other communication tools.

If there is any security threat to the former president or the masses at large, everyone in the security team should know right away. Not only that, but if Trump’s security details had been earlier informed of a gunman making his way onto the roof, they would have evacuated the former president without inflicting any harm on him.

There are certain security protocols that are followed within the Secret Service security structure. Usually, the Secret Service and the local police work together in circles around each other. There are also highly trained Secret Service agents stationed around Donald Trump on the main stage.

In the middle perimeter, there is typically a blend of Secret Service and local law enforcement personnel, who may oversee portions of the motorcade and any pre-event screenings. And in the outer perimeter, local law enforcement agencies are responsible for security.

Because the building the shooter climbed in Butler County was technically not part of the rally, we could see why the Secret Service did not arrive immediately. Regardless, the Secret Service was still to be held accountable for failing to execute their strategy to safeguard the internal and external areas. Since there were no checks to ensure that the correct implementation was implemented, the Secret Service is to blame.

According to Sheriff Michael Slupe of Butler County, a local officer was reported to have climbed onto the building before the shooting and attempted assassination. However, the officer subsequently fell to the ground when the shooter fired his rifle at him. There are also questions as to why the counter-sniper teams located behind Trump did not take out the shooter earlier, even though they appeared to be facing in his direction. They had every chance to take down the target once the shooting started.  

When the opportunity to take down the shooter was brought to their attention, they messed up badly by putting themselves in the decision loop. In a security situation of this magnitude, this was clearly not good enough.

2. Failure to Anticipate a Security Lapse

There are many questions about why the entire security structure was compromised on the day of Trump’s assassination attempt. The investigation into what went wrong will also examine what happened before the event took place. The Trump campaign had already announced the Butler rally 10 days in advance, according to reports. This should give the Secret Service plenty of time to do what is known as site advance planning. The line of sight from the building where the gunman was stationed in front of Trump’s stage could have been prevented if site advance planning had been implemented.

In this particular instance, the site where Trump planned to hold his rally was constructed before its commencement. As part of its protocol, the Secret Service usually conducts a risk analysis to determine things like what the stage will look like and where it will be.  Based on that analysis, they begin to investigate potential threats, including areas of high ground, and determine the optimal approach to safeguard against those threats through their comprehensive security plan.

I looked carefully at the pictures and videos of the buildings near Trump’s stage in Butler. The high risk was evident, and well-trained secret agents should have been aware of it.  It is important to recall that the same assassination attempt on Donald Trump can be compared to what killed former president John Kennedy in 1963. Before Kennedy was assassinated, there was also a man who stood on a roof with a rifle.

The irony of this is that the same protocols that were established in 1963 and are still in place today require that high places or high-rise structures, where anyone could launch an attack, be given top priority. This is because any man with any level of expertise, in that position, could easily kill a president or anyone. How was this not thought of by the US Secret Service?

3. Lack of Coordination with Former President Trump

Another security failure by the Secret Service was not informing the former president to refrain from reacting in the manner he did following his unsuccessful assassination attempt. Although it may not be ideal from a security standpoint for Trump to raise his fist, the security team was able to escort him to his vehicle, in a manner commonly known as the spare. 

Video footage also demonstrated that the team located near the spare was clearly disoriented during the transportation of Trump to his vehicle. It was obvious to millions of people, and you could see it. Despite their failures and widespread criticism on social media, the only thing the US Secret Service did correctly was the evacuation of the former president after he was shot.

The quick response to protect the former president was decisive. If you listen closely to the video clips surrounding the internet, you can hear the Secret Service’s instructions to former President Trump to get down so that they can protect him effectively. Even though we were unable to hear much of the communication being relayed to the agents via the radios from the command post, the counter-sniper team may have given the Secret Service the all clear to evacuate the president.

Since communication from the command post handles oversight affairs, they are going to do what they are instructed to do. If they are informed that it is now safe to move the former president to safety, then they will comply with the instructions. 

Conclusion

As expected, President Biden has pledged a swift investigation led by the FBI into the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. In the upcoming days, it is hoped that the mystery surrounding Trump’s attempted assassination will be unravelled.   

In the future, the US Secret Service may need to restructure their security apparatus and work more effectively with all involved federal, state, and local agencies to prevent what could have been an unfortunate incident from happening again.

Credits

Image Photographs by Doug Mills, Anna Moneymaker and Evan Vucci, CNN