Trump security was unaware of gunman until shots fired: Secret Service

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump´s security detail and a sniper team were not aware there was a gunman on a roof until he opened fire on the former president, the acting Secret Service director said on Tuesday.

Local law enforcement identified the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, as a “suspicious person” about 90 minutes before the July 13 attack at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to FBI officials.

Since the assassination attempt, questions have been raised about when the Secret Service became aware of the presence of the gunman on the roof of a building that overlooked the campaign event.

“Based on what I know right now, neither the Secret Service counter-sniper teams nor members of the former president´s security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the AGR roof with a firearm,” acting Secret Service chief Ronald Rowe told a joint Senate committee.

“The only thing we had was that locals were working an issue at the three o´clock, which would have been the former president´s right-hand side, which is where the shots came from,” Rowe said.

“Nothing about man on the roof, nothing about man with a gun,” he said.

FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said on Monday that a police officer was boosted on to the roof by another officer at 6:11 pm.

Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer, who “immediately dropped to the ground.”

“Approximately 25 to 30 seconds after this encounter, the subject fired eight rounds before being successfully neutralized,” Rojek said.