Pennsylvania state police commissioner reveals stunning details about Trump shooting
CTV
A local law enforcement commissioner revealed during a House Homeland Security hearing on Tuesday stunning new details about the security failures that led to the near assassination of Donald Trump, raising more questions for the embattled U.S. Secret Service.
A local law enforcement commissioner revealed during a House Homeland Security hearing on Tuesday stunning new details about the security failures that led to the near assassination of Donald Trump, raising more questions for the embattled U.S. Secret Service.
Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris’s striking testimony comes just one day after now-resigned Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee and largely declined to answer questions about the shooting at the former president’s Pennsylvania rally.
Paris told lawmakers about the communications between the Secret Service and local law enforcement who initially spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin. He also described a more detailed timeline from when officers first spotted Crooks in the crowd to when the 20-year-old opened fire on Trump.
Here’s what to know from Tuesday’s hearing:
Two local law enforcement officers left a building with vantage points overlooking the roof where Crooks took aim at the former president before he fired shots, Paris testified.
Paris said that two officers with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a tactical force with sniper capabilities, left their posts in the building to look for a suspicious individual they spotted first and alerted to other law enforcement. That person was Crooks.
The lawmakers watched video taken during a congressional tour of the rally site Monday, from the building where the ESU officers left their post, showing the roof where Crooks eventually climbed and took shots at Trump.
