The Secret Service is investigating how a gunman who shot and injured Trump was able to get so close

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 2:13 AM EDT, July 14, 2024


The U.S. Secret Service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR-style rifle was able to get close enough to shoot and injure former President Donald Trump at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania, a monumental failure of one the agency’s core duties.

The gunman, who was killed by Secret Service personnel, fired multiple shots at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the agency said.

An Associated Press analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos taken at the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking. A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows the body of a man wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds, where Trump’s rally was held.

The roof was less than 150 meters (yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-15, like the shooter at the Trump rally had, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/secret-service-trump-rally-4e3415b1461f5acefbc8e1fadad0375b

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A CNN article had an annotated areal image of the location - https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/politics/trump-rally-shooting-distance/index.html


Source: Google (image)
Graphic: Amy O'Kruk and Renée Rigdon, CNN

[Walleye]

1. Remember Trump on January 6? Turn off the mags they're not here to hurt me.

He can’t believe that people hate his guts. And the violence could be turned against him. We’ll see if he thinks differently now.

[gab13by13]

3. According to Michael Cohen, TSF is a coward

I look for him to have bullet proof glass around his next event.

[Comfortably_Numb]

22. The Mango Jesus will want a bigger pope mobile than the actual pope's. With gold rims and other gauche appointments.

[yorkster]

28. A gauchemobile....

[Probatim]

62. Douchemobile...

[paleotn]

23. He'll remote it in. He ain't going near a stage or podium for a while.

[mahina]

68. I want Joe to have that too

[TomCADem]

65. Exactly. Trump Demanded Secret Service Lower Security For His Supporters

This incident brings to mind how Trump has repeatedly ignored and disparaged the Secret Service's efforts to keep him safe. For example, Trump wanted to be right in the thick of efforts by his supporters to engage in an insurrection, but the Secret Service did not think that placing the President in a violent insurrection would be safe.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/secret-service-repeatedly-defied-trumps-orders-on-january-6.html

Months after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump began publicly insisting he would’ve joined the rioters himself if it hadn’t been for those pesky Secret Service agents. “I said I was going to go down with the crowd. But they wouldn’t let me go,” he told journalist David Drucker in May 2021. “I think if I did go down there, I would have stopped the people from doing anything bad.”

While this initially sounded like an empty boast to assure his most ardent supporters he sure would’ve liked to have been by their side as they assaulted Congress on his behalf, it now seems at least partially true. In this summer’s most explosive House January 6 committee hearing testimony, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top White House aide, said she was told Trump tussled with a Secret Service agent in the presidential SUV, trying to grab the steering wheel himself when he was told it wasn’t safe to head to the Capitol with his supporters.

* * *
The Post reports that, in other internal emails, agents said Trump was angry about agents keeping him from the Capitol, suggesting that he didn’t accept their rationale for returning to the White House once it became clear the protest had turned into a riot.

The new revelations come from more than a million pages of records the Secret Service turned over to the House committee after drawing heavy criticism for deleting agents’ text messages from January 6, 2021. They will likely revive the debate over whether the agency has the authority to override the president’s decision to put his life at risk — though, in this case, “the agents were wrong for all the right reasons,” as Jonathan Turley put it in an opinion piece for The Hill. Trump may have been telling the truth about his desire to join his supporters at the Capitol, but it’s still hard to see how his presence there on January 6 would have “stopped the people from doing anything bad.”

[Walleye]

66. He could easily have walked to the Capitol, like he told his supporters to do

But being such an out of shape coward, he didn’t even try

[gab13by13]

2. Does the Secret Service have an Inspector General

to investigate itself?

James Comer is also investigating.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. DHS, which is who the SS falls under as an agency, has an Office of Inspector General

https://www.oig.dhs.gov/

[TomCADem]

67. What if the conclusion is that Trump Ignored Advice Like He Always Does?

For example, Trump’s campaigns are notoriously light on logistics and has been known to strand its supporters. You can only imagine that they don’t give a crap about the Secret Service’s concerns.

Of course, if the Secret Service pushes back like they did in January 6, you have experts like Jon Turley complaining about the push back.

[Think. Again.]

4. This is bad, something is very wrong with this article...

This is an AP article and yet they wrote this..

"The roof was less than 150 meters (yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training."

Meters and yards are not the same distance, and I don't know but I assume the U.S. Army uses yards not meters (can someone clarify that?)

Was the shooter 150 yards or meters away?, and does the Army use 150 yards or meters for qualification? It could mean a very different comparison than what is printed in the article.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. US military is metric because metric works better. Rest of country should get with the program and the world

Yards are close enough. The estimates have a greater margin of error than the difference between yards and metres (39 inches vs 36 inches).

[Think. Again.]

11. Thank you! So the difference in question is only about 12 feet or 4 yards.

Thanks again.

[Scruffy1]

25. I have had to constantly convert English and metric measurement my whole life.

In the mid 70's England became all metric and we were supposed to so I held off on new purchases of measuring equipment. Fifty years later we are still having to do this and Republicans are against. The sad part is we have been officially on the metric system since 1869. For a hundred years all measurements were traceable to a one meter bar at the National Bureau Standards. The stupidity of this truly hurt US exports. Nobody oversea wanted a machine that required oddball fasteners and wrenches. Just a few years ago I heard some idiot R in Congress defending the American measuring system. It was laughable. Where I live it can be difficult to buy metric fasteners and they cost a lot more. All of US manufacturing went metric in the 90's, but we are still dealing with it in the construction business.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

27. Ronald Reagan brought it in. If it is good enough for Saint Ronnie and the sainted US Army, should be good for MAGA. .nt

[IA8IT]

9. 150 Meters 164.04199 Yards.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "Meters and yards are not the same distance"

1 yard = 36"
1 meter = ~39"

When talking about a large area like this, it's probably not that consequential.

As a former labby, we mixed metric with imperial/standard measurements continually and it was a PITA.

[Think. Again.]

14. I didn't realize pita bread had a specific size, thanks!

[BumRushDaShow]

16. It's a variation of

naan bread.

[Think. Again.]

17. Yes, flat bread, love it!

[robbob]

64. 150 meters is 164 yards

The two aren’t interchangeable, but not as off as, for example, comparing kilometres to miles…

[doc03]

5. This will be followed by the SS let it happen conspiracy, like the 911 conspiracies

Bannon pushed like the twin towers were a controlled explosion.

[JohnnyRingo]

26. Yep. At some point I expect to hear Jesse, Sean, or Laura use the words....

... "Biden's boys" when referring to agents on duty.
"They couldn't get him during the search warrant, so they tried this".

Dammit.

[former9thward]

51. Bannon?

I read those posts frequently on this site.

[underpants]

6. So the sniper, on the barn, or his spotter didn't notice him in street clothes with a gun

on top of another building? The sniper was above where the shooter was.

No one was up on the roof/high ground at all?

There are no local cops walking around outside the venue?

Unless he assembled the AR15 there, he was walking around with a long gun? I could imagine it being in a sleeve of those gold out chairs that come with a carrying case but no one was on the lookout for that?

[Bengus81]

15. No helicopter over the area prior to Trumps arrival either?

Who could have seen anyone anywhere on top of a FLAT ROOF especially. The SS "claims" they swept the area up to 1000' from where Trump would be standing.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

42. They lied

All of them need to be fired

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

48. A flat WHITE roof!

I just looked at the location on Google maps and holy cow was he close! High ground for the area for sure as the building was approx. 2+ stories. Roof is bright white on that building. No idea how he wouldn't have stuck out like a sore thumb, especially from police helicopter.

[DemocraticPatriot]

52. I read today that the SS detail of a former president is not supported by aircraft...

[TheRickles]

20. A spectator notified the police about the guy on the rooftop with a rifle, but nothing was done until too late.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/14/trump-rally-shooting-fbi-names-20-year-old-from-bethel-park-as-subject-involved|

"The man, whom the BBC did not identify, said he and the people he was with started pointing at the man, trying to alert security and police to the “guy on the roof with a rifle”. But no police responded, and within a couple of minutes, the man fired several shots toward Trump."

[underpants]

21. I've seen that.

Seems like they screwed up all over the place.

As I asked in another thread, what took so long for the vehicle with him in it to get the hell out of there?

[Farmer-Rick]

41. Oh, that explains why he didn't wait for a better shot

The shooter Crooks started shooting when Pedo Trump was at an angle. He would have had to wait to get better aim. But he couldn't wait with people pointing him out.

His shooting expertise was questionable but he was in a hurry.

[Historic NY]

30. Witness says he struggled to climb with a rifle

you are right the place was probably loaded with cops, state police, etc. Butler police have 20 officers, so additional people would have/should been brought in. Why was the place chose and who made the arrangements?

[brewens]

33. Open carry state. If that's allowed at all, a Trump rally is the place they should be parading around with their

AR-Penis Extensions.

Hey. If the crowd was filled with good guys with guns, no one would dare try, right?

[Farmer-Rick]

43. Yeah,

Maybe Pedo Trump will hand out rifles at his next rally. You know, to protect himself.

[underpants]

45. I was wondering about that.

Thanks.

[brush]

7. The outfit that erased all its J6 texts and emails shouldn't be allowed to investigate itself.

Whitewashing coming up.

[Think. Again.]

12. That's a good point.

[ancianita]

37. True. But don't expect the SS to conclude what the public can clearly see -- that they failed to properly cover

rooftops and thus failed to protect their protectee. It will be hard for the public to excuse the Secret Service's inadequate protection less than 164 yards out.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

38. Seems to me the Secret Service took a nosedive when moved from Treasury to Dept of Homeland Sec.

[brush]

54. I think you'r right. That happened in the W Bush admin with Tom Ridge?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

56. I had to look it up. Wikipedia says 2003

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secret_Service

[twodogsbarking]

18. They fucked up. Captain Obvious.

[BadgerKid]

19. Mention of "army" worries me

That a trump presidency would lead to an official maga army.

[paleotn]

24. Well, that's good. After royally screwing up. That's good.

[groundloop]

29. Will they also investigate why it was so easy for the shooter to obtain an assault weapon?

[brewens]

31. Trump's SS detail is hand-picked and every one of them would have qualified for the Nazi SS back in the day.

Stephen Miller probably vetted them for loyalty picking the most degenerate, oaf creeping, white nationalist vermin available. People like that might be loyal but they are unreliable.

[onenote]

46. I"m curious as to how you know this.

How many agents are in Trump's Secret Service detail? How do you know their backgrounds? Do you know their names or how long they've been agents?
You seem to have information that isn't generally available to the public.

[Deminpenn]

32. Didn't read it, but watching the book tour interviews with

Carol Leoning, author of "Zero Fail", it seemed like her investigative work showed the secret service screws up more often than they acknowledge.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Looks like things got "exciting"

in your neck of the woods!

[Deminpenn]

36. Yeah, the local news had fininshed reporting about the rally

and were doing the weather forecast when CBS interrupted with "breaking news" about the shots being fired.

Butler, where the rally was, is probably a 45+ minute drive from where I am.

[Deep State Witch]

57. Yeah, I grew up in near Wexford

My mom worked in Cranberry for many years. I recognized the area right away.

[onetexan]

34. Shooter's dead, they shld be investigating the guy stoking violence

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

39. They need to fire everyone in the PA rally detail

[Vinca]

44. It shouldn't be hard to figure out. This is a pro-Trump, pro-gun area and the shooter was outside

the perimeter. Probably should have noticed a guy on a roof, but the gun is probably as common as a MAGA hat. Remember J6 when people outside the magnetometers were up in the trees with weapons? Trump wanted them let through the mags.

[FakeNoose]

58. The shooter might have come on the grounds in the wee hours of the morning

I'm pretty sure these Butler fairgrounds aren't fenced in. Who knows if there's a night watch guard, other than to protect property? Chump and the Secret Service didn't show up there until late morning or early afternoon. He never comes the night before, if he can avoid it.

I hope they're questioning the shooter's father, who is also the legal owner of the gun. If the father knew what his son was contemplating, and if Dad didn't stop it, then he has liability too. Maybe as much liability as his son.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

47. My guess

MAGAt campaign paid him.

[Lulu KC]

50. Nothing would surprise me

It sounds cuckoo since more people were hit, but really. NOTHING would surprise me.

[Lulu KC]

49. BTW: I'm just reentering the news cycle from last night

And I am still seeing these headlines that say he was shot when I thought it had been established that his teleprompter had been shot. Researching. My point is, MSM is glorifying this for maximum insanity, again and still. Just sayin'.

[DemocraticPatriot]

53. It had been initially reported that his teleprompter had been shot,

but later photos seemed to show them to be intact...

[mucholderthandirt]

55. 150 meters?

Fuck, I could have hit him center mass at least a couple of times from that distance, with an AR. My eyesight isn't what it was, but that's practically close enough to spit on the bastard. It would certainly have been a different conversation today, wouldn't it?

[intheflow]

63. The shooter was rushed.

Local LEO came up on roof & scooted when the shooter pointed a gun at him. The shot was sloppy because the shooter had to hurry.

[twodogsbarking]

59. Was there supposed to be a security company in charge that Trump hadn't paid?

Just curious.

[LudwigPastorius]

60. Looks like he could have parked remotely.

And, walked up to the north side of the building complex, climbing on the roof of the the northernmost building under cover of those trees.

From there he could walk to the his shooting spot along the roofs of the buildings. There are covered walkways between the buildings that look like they would make it easy to travel from one end of the complex to the other. Once on the closest building he gets down and crawls, avoiding police and SS observers, but not apparently those standing nearby.

on edit: There is also a photo on the internet that supposedly shows a ladder covered by a large bushy tree up against one of the walkways.

[Crowman2009]

61. The local police were probably giving the shooter the Kyke Rittenhouse treatment.

As in high-fiving him while he was open-carrying his weapon, probably gave him water.