Secret Service agents used Google to search for the location of a nearby rooftop while a gunman fired upon Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general.
Communications Failures
The 64-page report stated that the Secret Service missed multiple opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt the attempt by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks to kill Trump. These failures included communications breakdowns that left the president’s protective detail unaware that an armed man had climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research International (AGR) complex, located 155 yards from the stage.
Local law enforcement contacted the Pennsylvania State Police communications room and the Secret Service at 6:09 p.m. to report a suspicious individual on the AGR roof. The report notes that the agency’s counter-drone operator and the communications room supervisor neither requested the complex’s location nor immediately recognized it as a threat. The supervisor stated he did not remember being told about the individual because he had assigned those communications to the counter-drone operator during a “busy time” on radio channels.
The counter-drone operator searched online for the AGR complex instead of asking local law enforcement for the location, and was still searching when Crooks fired his first shots at 6:11 p.m. Crooks fired eight rounds, which injured several people, killed one attendee, and grazed the president’s ear.
Systemic Issues
The report found that Secret Service decision-makers protecting Trump on stage were never made aware of Crooks’ presence. Because the agency chose not to establish a joint communications room with local law enforcement, the Secret Service missed 102 radio transmissions reporting a suspicious individual. This included a 5:42 p.m. warning about a younger white male
with long hair using a rangefinder near the AGR building.
In a separate review of security issues from the assassination attempt, a federal watchdog report found that agents have put national security at risk by using personal smartphones and laptops with unsecured messaging apps for operations. The report attributed this behavior to outdated or glitchy government-issued devices.
