Trump shooting security 'failure': Secret Service knew roof was vulnerable spot, reveals report

Donald Trump is one of the most protected political figures on the Earth, yet, somehow, on Saturday (July 13), an untrained assassin managed to aim a rifle at his head. As per a damning report, this happened even as the roof which shooter Thomas Crooks used to shoot at Trump was identified as a high-priority vulnerability spot for the Secret Service agency.

Citing a former senior Secret Service source familiar with the Butler, Pennsylvania rally site, NBC News reported that the site was known from previous Secret Service protections. In fact, the spot was a well-known vulnerability.

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Security 'failure'

The Security Service source called the assassination attempt a security "failure" and told NBC that two counter-sniper teams were there on site. They did not need approval to shoot, added the source.

"I mean, I think anybody with a little common sense, with no prior experience, just looking to the right of the stage, [would know] that is a very, very vulnerable spot to have a building for one thing, with a roof."

"You have multiple teams, you know, the CAT [counter assault team], the CS [counter sniper] team, the CAT team, the actual site, advance team, supervisor. I mean, they should have all called that out," he added.

Where did the shooter fire from?

Thomas Crooks, identified as the shooting suspect by the FBI, was on the roof of a nearby building, around 500 feet (152 m) from former US president Donald Trump.

Richard Goldinger, the district attorney for Butler County, Pennsylvania, has also expressed his shock at the shooting.

"That's the most surprising thing to me, when we have a former president here, that a guy was...able to get up on a roof and take a shot," he said in a conversation with MSNBC.

"We had some law enforcement in that building, (making it) even more surprising that he was able to get up there," he added.

It's not just him. Officials and common people are all wondering how such a major security lapse happened.

Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, who previously worked as a White House official under George W. Bush, has called for "a detailed investigation into this egregious security failure."

"If there is a rooftop within rifle range of a president or a presidential candidate, it's the Secret Service that should be on that rooftop."

"Have they ever heard of the Texas Book Depository?" he asked, referring to the building from where President John F Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald murdered him using a long-range rifle in 1963.

"The shooter was outside the Secret Service perimeter. What kind of a perimeter is that? We know that any crackpot can all too easily buy a high-powered rifle in the United States. The perimeter needs to be as far as the eye can see," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)