July 13, 2024, coverage of the Trump assassination attempt

Two former FBI agents expressed surprise that the roof from which a gunman fired several shots at a Trump rally had not been secured, even though it was so close to the stage.

Authorities say the roof of the building from which the gunman fired the shots was directly in front of the venue where former President Donald Trump held a rally on Saturday. A CNN analysis found the roof was about 400 to 500 feet from Trump.

The FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He was killed by Secret Service agents.

Steve Moore, a retired FBI special agent in charge who worked as a sniper counter for two years, told CNN the roof should have been guarded.

Another retired FBI agent, Bobby Chacon, also told CNN on Sunday that he was surprised that no one was guarding the roof, which he called “the perfect perch.”

Moore said the fact that someone allowed the roof to remain unattended and unguarded could have been a mistake in planning or execution.

“They might have planned for this roof, and maybe something happened in the planning or in the implementation of the plan that left it unguarded,” he said.

While Secret Service agents may have been aware of the shooter’s location, their visibility may have been “very limited,” Moore added.

Moore says he expects “drastic changes” in security measures as a result of the shooting, including expanding the security perimeter and more careful security of rally sites.

“There are just too many ways to improve this situation,” Moore said. “That means the intelligence has to get it right every time, every single rally of every single candidate in every single month, every single year, they have to be perfect. The bad guys only have to get lucky or right once. So it’s going to happen, you just want to eliminate as many possibilities as possible that it could happen.”

Watch the full interview with Bobby Chacon here:

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– Source: cnn