Trump assassination attempt exposes security communication failure
5:13 PM EDT, July 15, 2024
– It was a distance of about 130-150 yards. The assailant was not eliminated earlier because communication between the services apparently failed, said Paweł Mateńczuk "Naval," a security expert and veteran of the GROM Military Unit.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was shot in the ear on Saturday during an election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Two people were killed, including the assailant, and two others were seriously injured. According to CNN's geolocation analysis, the former president was around 130-160 yards away from the would-be assassin.
How did 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks manage to get just over 100 yards from Donald Trump and fire several shots before being shot dead by Secret Service agents? That’s a question American services need to answer. According to Mateńczuk, communication between the security services clearly failed in this instance.
– With so many participants and representatives from various services securing the event, proper target identification becomes a problem. Legal procedures in the specific state also play a part and must be quickly adapted and interpreted, said Mateńczuk.
Agents clearly surprised by shots
He explained that there were Secret Service agents, Trump’s personal bodyguards, FBI agents, and local police officers at the election rally. – In such cases, an Operation Center is created, where each service has its liaison officer. All information flows there, and decisions are made there. Human error from misinterpreting the target could have influenced the snipers not immediately eliminating the assailant, said the veteran of combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The assailant was armed with an AR-15 rifle. Semi-automatic weapons are a common tool of crime for mass shooting perpetrators in the USA. The rifle is small and light, using 223-caliber bullets. American media reports stated that witnesses saw the 20-year-old man climb and then lie down on the roof with the weapon, and their accounts indicate that the authorities were informed about this.
Moreover, a video appeared on social media showing the moment of the assassination attempt on Trump and the reaction of two snipers who were securing the rally from the roof of a nearby building. The video shows that the agents were clearly surprised by the shots.
There could have been a scuffle between services
– At such events, services secure individual sectors. There is a division of sectors, and responsibility for their security often overlaps. If the information that someone is on the roof reached one of the sectors, there could have been a scuffle between services. No one wanted to take responsibility for the area where the assailant was located. Precious seconds were lost then, said Mateńczuk.
He emphasized that American services should have immediately raised a "red flag" upon seeing a 20-year-old man lying on the roof.
– No one lies alone on the roof, and no one acts alone. Worldwide, people work in pairs or even threes. There is an observer who sees what’s happening nearby with a wider angle and better visibility, and next to him lies a sniper who has a scope and sees the target. They communicate with each other. If someone told me there was one person lying on the roof, the services’ reaction should be immediate, said the former military officer.
Mateńczuk noted that the assailant climbed the roof knowing he would likely die.
– This is a sniper fight "barrel to barrel." The distance was about 130 yards. In this case, weather conditions don’t have as much impact as they do at greater distances. At 110-160 yards, it’s a point-blank shot. The 20-year-old man wanted to kill Trump. He didn’t miss by accident, said Mateńczuk.
