The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump have sparked a slew of investigations as officials scrutinize — and seek to understand — the missteps that preceded the Saturday shooting at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Video, witness accounts and details given by law enforcement have revealed what unfolded in the moments before the attack. Cellphone video shows rally attendees pointing toward the shooter, later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, and trying to alert authorities to his presence — a full two minutes before he opened fire on the former president.
Even before that, a sniper from a local tactical team deployed to assist the U.S. Secret Service took a picture of the gunman and saw him looking through a rangefinder and radioed to a command post, a local law enforcement officer with direct knowledge of the events.
The gunman’s motive in the attack is still unclear five days after he killed a rallygoer and wounded Trump and two others. And the U.S. Secret Service is facing mounting questions about the shortcomings that enabled the shooter to fire from a rooftop near the rally.
Trump has since made three appearances at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee with a bandage over his right ear and with increased security around him. The former president’s son, Eric Trump, told CBS News his father has a “nice flesh wound” but is “in great spirits.”
Investigations are focusing on the gunman and the shooting itself, and on how the assassination attempt was able to happen.
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