Secret Service Oversight Agency Criticized for Missing 102 Radio Calls During Trump's 2024 Shooting
JAKARTA - The United States Secret Service did not receive 102 local radio transmissions about the shooter who tried to kill President Donald Trump in the 2024 campaign in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a government watchdog report released Thursday.
The agency was unaware of the transmission until July 13, 2024, because it failed to establish a common communications room with local law enforcement, which received a report of a suspicious person search that was later identified as Thomas Crooks, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General.
"Instead, we found that the Secret Service received only five phone calls and three text messages about Crooks," the report noted, citing Al Arabiya from Reuters (3/7).
"As a result, Secret Service agents did not inform President Trump's security detail of concerns about a suspicious person," he added.
Crooks, who was shot and killed by law enforcement in the campaign, fired shots while Trump was speaking on stage. A civilian was killed and several others were injured, including Trump, when a bullet hit him in the ear.
The perpetrator had accessed the roof of a nearby building with a direct line of sight towards Trump.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report found Crooks flew a drone over the area hours before he carried out the shooting.
The flight was undetected because the Secret Service's anti-drone system was not functioning, the report said.
The anti-drone system was operated by a single "undertrained" operator who had not tested it before the incident, according to the inspector general.
The operator spent hours trying to fix the problem, according to the report, which said during that time the suspect conducted a drone flight for nearly nine minutes without being detected.
Thursday's report is the latest in a series of investigations by government watchdogs and congressional panels that have identified major shortcomings in the Secret Service's security arrangements for the event.