Local members of law enforcement testified on Capitol Hill yesterday detailing the events of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers posed questions to Butler County ESU Commander Edward Lenz, Butler Township Patrolman Drew Blasko, and State Police Lieutenant John Herald.
Lenz said the Secret Service did not ask for coverage of the AGR building.
“At no point during the planning process was Butler County ESU to secure the AGR complex nor the perimeter surrounding the area. At no point in the process was the Butler County ESU asked to deploy a sniper team to the roof of the AGR complex,” Lenz testified. “At no point in our operations plan did we say we would deploy a sniper team to the roof of the complex.”
During the hearing, lawmakers expressed their surprise at the lack of communication between Secret Service and local officers. Congressman Mike Kelly, who chairs the task force, showed a new video from the dash cam of a state police cruiser. The video showed Thomas Crooks on the roof of the AGR building at 6:08 p.m. It also shows the Butler Township officers that attempted to lift an officer up onto the roof at the AGR complex.
Kelly said there was numerous cases of people seeing Crooks with suspicious around the area.
“I’m constantly going to be wondering at one point did somebody say ‘We’re not sure the area is secure and safe’,” Kelly said. “Of all the people that were on the grounds that day, thousands of people, there is only one consistent person that was identified. It was ultimately the shooter.”
