A few seconds later Thomas Matthew CrookesAge 20 years and resident PennsylvaniaFiring at former president’s rally Donald Trump In Servantwas fatally shot Saturday night secret Service.But how did a special sniper team fail to prevent its worst security breach in decades?
an analysis of Washington PostIt was created using over 40 videos and photographs, as well as satellite images and terrain analysis 3D model showing the rally location and shooter’s positionfound that two Secret Service countersniper teams may have been hampered in their ability to initially see the shooter as he crawled across the roof because of the sloping edges. It is likely that Trees near the rally will help the shooter hide At least one team in charge of locating and neutralizing potential snipers.
The Secret Service is responsible for the overall coordination of security measures During an event, the agency’s director said they have tasked local law enforcement to secure the building from where the miscreants allegedly opened fire and that officers were unable to stop them from reaching the rooftop.
Asked if the slope of the roof or trees would impact the teams’ ability to respond, the Secret Service declined to comment.
evaluation of Post Were Reviewed and confirmed by three former law enforcement officialsIncluding two retired snipers and a former Secret Service agent, as well as a former Marine sniper.
3D model of the Post set him up Both units could be obstructed due to the sloping roof The building in which the crux was found has a height of about four feet from the outer walls to the top. According to the analysis, which involved placing a camera within sight of the teams, The bad guys might not have been visible when he was crawling across the roof to take up his final firing position. Reconstruction of the Post It turns out that the Secret Service sniper team positioned to the north and closest to the suspect – just 140 metres away and on top of a barn about 7 metres high – may have had more difficulty seeing him because of the two trees located between them.
The second sniper team was positioned about 170 meters from the shooter, although even further away, according to the reconstruction, there might have been a less obstructed view. PostBecause they were located slightly to the west and the trees would not have been in their line of sight.
Counter-sniper teams often look for threats with binocularsThat provides a wider field of view than rifle optics, said Jason Lawless, a retired officer who served as a sniper on the Tulsa Police Department’s Special Operations Team. But about two minutes before the shots were fired, The northernmost team had already taken up its rifle positions.suggesting they were looking for a potential threat at the time. It’s unclear at what point the rogue became visible to the Secret Service snipers.
“If they are being targeted, they have been informed of something.”Lawless said. As soon as Crooks fired his first shot, one of the countersnipers from the northernmost team said, he looked away from his sight and readjusted his position.
The southernmost countersniper team, which can be seen facing south in earlier images, appeared to reorient itself to the north before the miscreants reportedly opened fire, suggesting that they too They were aware of the existence of the danger.
The positions of both the teams on the roofs of the barn were about five to eight feet above the roof from where the miscreants had allegedly fired. This meant that Both teams were probably not at a high enough altitude to see the crux As he crawled to the other side of the roof, as the model in the post showed.
A law enforcement official with knowledge of the shooting said Sloping roof could create a visual barrier The sniper who killed Crooks spent a few moments trying to assess whether he had a weapon and posed a threat and then was shot seconds after Crooks himself opened fire, the official said on condition of anonymity, according to the investigation.
Authorities have not said which member of Trump’s security team shot and killed the gunman.
How the miscreants climbed onto the roof of a nearby buildingAn active investigation is underway more than 120 metres from where Trump was speaking without being detained by law enforcement.
Verified by aerial images Post revealed that His body was found about 12 metres from the eastern edge of the building.which overlooks a parking lot. A few meters away from it was a rifle, and even lower, on the roof, was an object resembling a bag.
3D reconstruction of the Post This suggests that, although there are trees between the shooter and one of the Secret Service teams – which could have provided him with a hiding place -, according to Lawless and other experts The view between the shooter and the stage where Trump stood was practically clear.
The aerial images revealed that The ladder was leaning on a structure attached to the building from where the miscreants had allegedly fired, Where there are also air conditioning units. It is not clear how the attacker reached the roof of the building, which is more than 5 meters high at its lowest point.
While countersniper teams would have difficulty seeing Crooks when he was on the far side of the rooftop, Spectators outside the rally could easily see this Before the first shots were fired, there were questions about the effectiveness of local law enforcement patrols.
Several videos were recorded and verified by those present outside the perimeter of the concentration Post reveal their efforts to alert law enforcement to the presence of a man on the rooftop who they thought might be armed. Police officers seen in the video walk near the building from where the miscreants fired shots. A video verified by Post shows the People were yelling at officers that there was a man on the roof at least 86 seconds before the first shots were fired at 6:11 p.m.
“There should have been police officers nearby who could have denied him access initially, or responded to the call promptly,” said Derrick Bartlett, a retired SWAT sniper with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and president of the American Association of Snipers. “So there was a hole in the security.”
At 6:11 p.m. the sound of gunfire filled the air.
Two audio experts –Rob Maherfrom Montana State University, and steven beckFrom Beck Audio Forensics – Total Counted 10 shots After analyzing verified images of the assassination attempt and the law enforcement response that followed. The first eight had similar sound characteristics and were fired over six seconds. According to them, they were immediately followed by a shot from a different location and, 16 seconds after the shooting began, a final shot was fired. These last two shots had different acoustic signatures than the previous ones, suggesting a security response. Both Maher and Beck cautioned that the exact origin of these gunfire cannot be determined by audio analysis alone.
On Tuesday, Secret Service Director Mo. Kimberly Cheatlesaid local police were tasked with securing the building’s perimeter and officers were inside when the miscreants were on the roof. He said one of the reasons the agency did not ask for an officer on top was safety concerns for someone standing on the sloping roof.
analysis of Post It turns out that Countersniper teams were deployed on high rooftops.
On July 14, the day after the shooting, President Biden ordered an independent review of the incident. In a statement, Cheatley said his agency is “working with all federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from happening again.”
Methodology
To create a 3D model of the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, The Post examined videos, photographs, satellite images and lidar data from the site. The dimensions of the permanent buildings on the site, including the structures in which the shooters and the USSS were located, were calculated using satellite measurements and lidar data. These data were processed in QGIS to calculate the height of the buildings’ walls and the inclination of their roofs. The resulting data were combined with photographs of the buildings to arrive at their final representation. The site’s temporary structures, such as stands and stages, were modeled by analyzing their features from multiple perspectives in videos and photographs to understand their scale in relation to the site’s measurable objects.
Two trees located south of the shooter were measured using lidar data referenced with image and video analysis; from these dimensions, The Post scaled professionally produced 3D models of the trees within the scene. The trees were chosen to best represent the overall density of leaves and branches, but these are not exact reconstructions of the foliage.
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