Trump survives assassination attempt: Services' failure in Butler
- It was a distance of about 120-140 metres. The assailant was not neutralised earlier because communication between the services seemingly failed, says Paweł Mateńczuk "Naval", a security expert and veteran of the GROM Military Unit.
Former US President Donald Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Two people were killed, including the assailant, and two others were seriously injured. According to CNN's geolocation analysis, the former US president was around 120–150 metres away from the would-be assassin.
How did 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks manage to get just over 90 metres from Donald Trump and fire several shots before being shot dead by Secret Service agents? That’s a question American services need to answer. According to the security expert and GROM Military Unit veteran, communication between the services clearly failed in this instance.
- With so many participants, as well as so many representatives from various services securing the event, proper target identification becomes a problem. Legal procedures in the specific American state also come into play, which must be quickly adapted and interpreted, says WP Paweł Mateńczuk "Naval".
Agents clearly surprised by shots
And as he explains, there were Secret Service agents, Donald Trump's personal bodyguards, FBI agents, and local police officers at the election rally. - In such cases, an Operation Centre is created, where each service has its so-called liaison officer. All information flows there, and decisions are made there. A human error resulting from misinterpreting the target could have weighed in on the snipers not immediately eliminating the assailant – the veteran of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan tells us.
The assailant was armed with an AR-15 rifle. Semi-automatic weapons are a common tool of crime for mass shooting perpetrators in the USA. The rifle is small and light and uses 5.56mm bullets. American media reports stated that witnesses saw the 20-year-old man climb and then lie down on the roof with the weapon. Their accounts indicate that the services were informed about this.
Moreover, a video appeared on social media showing the moment of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump and the reaction of two snipers who were securing the rally from the roof of a nearby building. The video shows that the agents were clearly surprised by the shots.
There could have been a scuffle between services
- At such events, services secure individual sectors. There is a division of sectors, and responsibility for their security often, unfortunately, overlaps. If the information that someone is on the roof reached one of the sectors, there could have been a scuffle between services. No one wanted to take responsibility for that particular place with the assailant on the roof. Precious seconds were lost then, says Paweł Mateńczuk "Naval", security expert and veteran of the GROM Military Unit.
And as he emphasises, American services should have immediately had a "red flag" when they saw a 20-year-old man lying on the roof.
- No one lies alone on the roof, and no one acts alone. Worldwide, people work in pairs or even threes. We have an observer who sees what’s happening nearby. He has a wider angle and better visibility. Next to him lies a sniper who has a scope and sees the target. And they communicate with each other. If someone told me there was one person lying on the roof, the services’ reaction should be immediate, says the former military officer.
And as he points out - the assailant climbed the roof knowing he would die.
- This is a sniper fight "barrel to barrel." It was a distance of about 120 metres. In this case, weather conditions don’t have as much impact as they do at greater distances. At 100-150 metres, it’s a point-blank shot. The 20-year-old man wanted to kill Trump. He didn’t hit by accident, believes Paweł Mateńczuk "Naval".
