
Why did Secret Service wait 42 seconds before neutralizing Thomas Matthew Crooks during Saturday’s attempted assassination on Donald Trump? An issue of gross incompetence and negligence or as some now claim an insider job or at least a ploy to allow the sniper suspect to at least get shots off to take the former President down?
In the aftermath of the Donald Trump attempted assassination over the weekend, disturbing questions have arisen as to why so much time elapsed between the initial sighting of the sniper suspect and before any attempt was made to preempt any attempt the gunman may have had or at the very least get the former President off stage.
The lack of what many have decried as a genuine and timely attempt to respond to Thomas Matthew Crooks’ sudden and unwanted (?) intrusion has since raised the awful and deeply unsettling question, was the sniper able to get their shots off because of gross incompetence as a result of lax and disorganized security or because as some now fear part of some insider job to have Trump killed?
Plenty of time and opportunity to eliminate the threat. #J13 #MAGA2024 pic.twitter.com/WemvQ4E2yn
— Beyond The Masks (@_BeyondTheMasks) July 15, 2024
How was sniper gunman suspect allowed to make their way unimpeded?
Or at least take advantage of the presence of a gunman and give them a first unfettered chance to at least get their shot(s) off before only then being forced to respond?
One of the foremost prevailing questions circulating on the web was whether the Secret service had rebuffed the Trump’s campaign’s request for increased security?
There is ‘an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,’ Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote on X. ‘This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.’
The Secret Service’s denial appears to come in response to an allegation by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had refused to boost Trump’s protective measures.
‘I have very reliable sources telling me there have been repeated requests for stronger secret service protection for President Trump,’ Waltz wrote. ‘Denied by Secretary Mayorkas.’
Large political rallies generally have tight protective measures, including metal detectors that prevent attendees from bringing weapons inside the security perimeter. Notably, the shooter’s location was outside the security perimeter, raising questions about both the size of the perimeter and efforts to sweep and secure the American Glass Research building where Trump would address supporters, and how the shooter was able to obtain rooftop access.
But in this instance, Thomas Crooks had proceeded to take action from outside the area where congregants had attended, the the surprise and dismay of witnesses who had sought police to intervene, with some even loudly screaming that there was a gunman crawling on the rooftop un-encumbered by security.
EYE WITNESS describes to BBC News reporter seeing man with rifle on roof of building firing shots at President Trump rally in Pennsylvania before being shot by Secret Service pic.twitter.com/8Dfk19FsgH
— Georgina (@gs_mick) July 13, 2024
‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle…’
Accounts from the rally show first how close people were to the stage without being inside the security perimeter, and second, that they saw a man with a gun.
One witness, identified only as Greg, told the BBC that he was having a party outside the rally and was planning to walk up through a nearby field and listen to Trump when he started speaking. But as he was walking up, about five minutes into Trump’s speech, Greg told BBC, ‘We noticed a guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us.’
Adding, ‘We’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof… the police are down there running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle … and the police were like, ‘Huh, right.’ They didn’t know what was going on.’
Greg said his group kept trying to flag down law enforcement with little success.
‘Next thing you know, I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ I’m standing there pointing at [the gunman] for, you know, two or three minutes. The Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn. I’m pointing at the roof, just standing here like this… Next thing you know, five shots came out.’
Greg estimated the shooter was on the roof, in plain view, for at least three or four minutes before opening fire. He said it’s possible that the agents on top of the barn and on the ground couldn’t see the man because of the slope of the roof.
‘Why aren’t there Secret Service on all the roofs?’ Greg asked, seeming incredulous. ‘This is not a big place.’

Secret Service wait 42 seconds before taking shot to neutralize gunman after marking suspect (but only after they get their shots out first)
The sighting of Crooks seemingly unobstructed by security as he crawled along the roof with rifle in tow led many to wonder how was it that the Secret Sniper team —who was captured training their guns at least 42 seconds before Crooks got his shots off — before ‘neutralising’ the sniper threat.
Had someone told the secret sniper team to hold off, to let Crooks at least get his first shots off? Or again was this just another incidence of incompetence and gross negligence to properly perform security detail?
Surely by now the Secret Service sniper team had been notified of the unmitigated presence of an individual with a long gun crawling along a roof some 130-150 yards away from where Trump had just started speaking. In fact video showed the SS sniper marksmen training their guns on Crooks, but still no attempt is made to guard Trump or at the very least get Trump to take cover. Why had security detail allowed Crooks to get his shots off before finally responding to the threat?
The shooter was reportedly crouched on a roof about 150 yards from the former president for several minutes and yet no attempt was seemingly made to deal with the real active threat.

Investigation to follow
The Secret Service responded saying there were four counter-sniper teams – two from USSS and two from local law enforcement.
‘The issues about having to get within 150 yards, that is very concerning, that should never have happened,’ former FBI agent Christopher O’Leary said on NBC News according to the Daily Beast. ‘My assumption would be that that was left to be covered by state and local law enforcement and there was a breakdown and somebody was able to get in there.’
Republicans have since criticized Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and other Democratic lawmakers for introducing a bill in April that would end Secret Service protection for any federal official upon sentencing for a felony conviction. A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts in his hush money trial.
President Joe Biden on Sunday said he directed US Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle ‘to review all security measures – all security measures – for the Republican National Convention.’
As questions continue to surround how a 20 year old intruder with a ladder and an AR-15 style rifle was able to make their way round seemingly unimpeded and eventually firing off their shots, Trump’s team had by now assured voters that the former president would indeed be attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, albeit with heightened security measures.