TRUMP SHOOTING IS SECRET SERVICE NIGHTMARE but here’s the key bit:
Typically, the Secret Service has an advance team assess a location ahead of a campaign event to make a security plan, Mihalek said. Agents will take physical measures of the area, determine the necessary personnel and work with counter snipers to examine nearby buildings and their distances to where the president or the presidential candidate will be. . . .
Cheatle returned to the Secret Service after working as a senior director at PepsiCo North America overseeing facilities, personnel and business continuity.
In her previous stint at the Secret Service, she was the first woman to serve as assistant director of protective operations. Her appointment to lead the Secret Service made her the agency’s second female director. When he appointed her director, Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden got to know Cheatle while she served on his security detail during his vice presidency.
“She has my complete trust,” said the president in 2022.
Trump’s Secret Service detail was given additional assets that is part of the protocol for the presumptive nominee due to his heavy campaigning, which includes additional manpower, counter-sniper, drones and robotic dogs, the law enforcement official said. On Saturday, there were four counter-sniper teams on site, the official said.
Additionally, Trump’s teleprompter is protective and the flag and podium banners are made of steel, the law enforcement official said.
A man who was at the rally said that soon after Trump started speaking, he saw a man “bear crawling” up the building.
“We’re pointing at the guy,” said the witness, named Greg, adding, “he had a rifle — you could literally see him with a rifle.” He told the BBC that he and others told the police and were pointing him out to U.S. Secret Service agents, and he estimated that the man was on the roof for “three or four minutes” before shots were heard.
Other witnesses told CBS Pittsburgh station KDKA that they also saw the gunman and tried to alert officers before the shooting.
I don’t understand why buildings with a clear sight line weren’t either secured, or at least held under constant observation.
Plus: “Federal investigators said the gunman was not carrying identification, so they analyzed his DNA to provide a biometric confirmation of his identity.” I’m surprised they had a DNA sample to compare it to so fast. I wonder where that came from?