Former Secret Service agent weighs in on security at Trump rally
Former U.S. Secret Service agent Patrick Fitch, an attorney in Washington, said he was “astonished” when he heard Saturday night that a 20-year-old man carrying a semi-automatic rifle had climbed atop the roof of a manufacturing plant and fired multiple shots at former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler.
“I was astonished. When I heard there was a shooter, an assassin on the rooftop within 130 yards – that’s what I’d consider the front porch of an event – I was very surprised,” said Fitch, who spent nearly 20 years in the Secret Service, where he received an exclusive assignment with the Presidential Protection Division in Washington, D.C., and personally protected Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He also provided security for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
“How does that happen?” he said during an interview Monday.
Fitch, who lives in Greene County, said the Secret Service’s responsibility is to “identify a security plan at every site, and that has to be done methodically, meticulously and thoroughly to ensure those areas are as secure as possible.”
Securing elevated positions around a venue is key to ensuring a protectee’s safety, and it was a significant security failure, he said, to allow someone to reach the rooftop.
“When you have a rooftop that close to an event site, that’s a vulnerable area. What I would have done – and this is just me, I can’t speak for the agents and I do not know what resources they have in Butler County – but recognizing that building was an absolute threat, where anyone on that rooftop has a clear line of sight about 130 yards away, I would have placed police officers on the northeast corner of the building and the southwest corner of the buildings so that all four sides of the building are covered,” said Fitch. “All windows would have been closed, and nobody would have been allowed inside the building and anyone approaching is to be stopped immediately. I would make it inaccessible to anybody, and minimize and reduce the rooftop threat as a vantage point.”
Once the shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, started firing, agents responded appropriately, Fitch said, folding themselves over Trump to shield him and then guiding him into an armored vehicle.
“They did a great job. You notice how they enveloped the protectee, they covered him, they got the protectee evacuated,” said Fitch.
One man was killed Saturday before Secret Service counter snipers shot and killed the shooter.
Fitch said Saturday’s assassination attempt will result in an extensive investigation that will be led by the FBI and will involve state and local agencies to determine what happened.
“The Secret Service is the lead agency for protection of a protectee, and here you have a strong candidate running for president, he’s not been officially nominated but he’s a front-runner, and when there’s an attempt, it’s the Secret Service’s job to get the protectee off the stage. The FBI now takes over the investigation,” said Fitch. “How did that threat get onto the rooftop and why wasn’t he neutralized immediately? You can’t wait. Seconds do count, and seconds did count on Saturday.”
Saturday’s assassination attempt was the first time a president or leading presidential candidate had been shot since Ronald Reagan and three others were shot on March 31, 1981, in Washington, D.C.
“(Attempts) happen more than the general public knows, but we don’t want to give attention to that,” said Fitch. “What happens sometimes is someone will see a heavy, uniformed presence and magnetometers at an event and it deters them.”
Rallies like the one held in Butler County – in an open area – are challenging, Fitch said, because of the amount of area that has to be secured.
“I’m not sure if rallies will change moving forward, in regard to open venues, but they’ll use the same protective methodologies they’ve used to ensure the safety of the protectee,” he said.