The chief of the Secret Service said at a press briefing Friday that agents on the ground in Butler, Penn. did not know Thomas Crooks had a weapon until he fired his first shot at former President Donald Trump from the roof of a nearby building on July 13.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said the agency took “full responsibility” for the law enforcement failings that day, when one of the bullets fired by Crooks grazed Trump’s ear and nearly took his life.
Corey Comperatore, a former volunteer fire chief from Pennsylvania, was killed in the gunfire.
Also injured in the shooting were 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
“This was a Secret Service failure,” Rowe said. “There should have been better security to prevent anyone from getting up on that roof.”
“We should have had better coverage on that roofline.”
The Butler rally was the first time Secret Service counter-snipers were deployed to support Trump’s detail, Rowe revealed. It was a member of that team that fired the single shot that killed Crooks and likely stopped more bloodshed.
“It is my understanding that personnel were not aware that the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots,” Rowe said.
There will now be counter-sniper coverage for Trump, his running mate JD Vance, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate once they are announced.
Crooks was identified as suspicious because he was initially loitering the perimeter of the rally in Butler.
Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris previously told lawmakers that Crooks pointed his rifle at an officer “seconds” before the first shot was fired. That incident evidently did not make it to the Secret Service detail on site in time. Rowe said there could have been radio communication about it that the Service was not aware of.
Jeff James, a retired Secret Service special agent in charge, told Fox News after the press conference that the agent who relayed the concerns on the radio could have also been “stepped on” with other messages, and that spotty cell service in Butler may have also played a role.
“These outdoor events are a monster,” James said.
Rowe said his team is also reanalyzing where they post agents.
“We want to deter people from even thinking of doing something like this again,” he said. “Whether it’s an indoor site or an outdoor site, it’s on the Secret Service to ensure that we create a safe environment.”
Rowe said the agency will start deploying drones to rallies and other events going forward. He previously told Congress that cell issues delayed the Secret Service from launching a drone it planned to use to help secure the site in Butler.
“One of the changes that I implemented when I became the acting director is we are now going to leverage the use of unmanned aerial systems and sights now,” Rowe said.
“We are putting those assets out. We should have had better line of sight on some of those high ground concerns. We thought we might have had it covered with the human eye. Clearly we are going to change our approach now and we are going to leverage technology and put those unmanned aerial systems up.”
The information provided at the press release today was what Rowe knows with “certainty” as the Secret Service’s investigation continues.
Rowe, who has been part of the Secret Service for almost 25 years, took on the position as acting director after Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the wake of the failed assassination.
Unlike Cheatle, Rowe traveled to the site in Butler.
“It definitely raised a lot of questions in my mind,” Rowe said of his visit. “We’re at such a heightened environment that we’re making sure that we’re putting everything that we can so that we don’t have a mission failure…We all understand the gravity of this situation.”
Rowe said no agents had been fired or disciplined for the events of July 13, but that the investigation into the incident was ongoing.
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