Former Army Sniper: Trump Should Have Been Rushed Off Stage Immediately After Cop Encountered Gunman
Former Army Sniper and Congressman Cory Mills said a message should have been conveyed to get Trump off stage immediately after the gunman was seen on the roof by a law enforcement officer.
The Associated Press reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks was confronted by a police officer on the roof of the building from where he launched the attack before firing off any shots.
The officer then retreated after Crooks pointed his weapon at him and the gunman went on to position himself to shoot at Trump.
According to Mills, this incident should have immediately been communicated to the Secret Service so they could rush Trump off the stage.
No such message was sent and despite frantic eyewitnesses pointing out the gunman to authorities for a matter of minutes, he was still able to shoot off eight rounds before being neutralized.
Congressman Mills said the building from where the gunman fired his shots should have been secured because of its close proximity to the stage where Trump was speaking.
He also speculated that Secret Service agents could have misconstrued the shooter for a law enforcement officer.
“There should have been comms. The minute that local law enforcement officer had a rifle pointed on him, there should have been an emergency frequency comms channel that said we have a shooter on the roof,” said Mills.
“Secret Service should have rushed the stage and immediately took the president and took him off and then responded with a counter sniper – the shot should not have gone off, that’s the failure in itself,” he added.
Mills noted that the role of the Secret Service is to stop shots from being fired in the first place, noting that a police squad car should have been positioned in the parking lot of the building in question to put off any potential shooters.
“This was massive negligence to the point of me speculating what was intentional and what wasn’t,” said Mills.
Meanwhile, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi said the building from where Crooks fired at Trump was “outside of the designated perimeter” of the rally, and therefore was the responsibility of local law enforcement, not Secret Service agents.
People have reacted with skepticism to that claim given that Crooks was able to position himself just 150 yards away from Trump with a direct line of sight.
Former Secret Service Director Julia Pierson told USA Today that anything within 1000 yards of the president should have been secured by the Secret Service.
“I think 1,000 yards is the sniper capability that we have a concern about for the President. So anything that’s within that range, that is a professional, makable shot… and you want to know about it,” Pierson said.
As we highlighted yesterday, an eyewitness to the attempted assassination told NBC News that security, particularly on rooftops, was noticeably lax compared to a previous Trump rally he had attended nearby four years earlier.
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