A shooting at Donald Trump‘s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania is being investigated as an attempted assassination of the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, law enforcement officials say.
One attendee was killed and two were critically injured. Trump said on social media that a bullet “pierced the upper part” of his right ear before agents whisked him off stage.
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The Secret Service said it killed the suspected shooter, who attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue.
People going into the rally were screened, but the shots were fired from outside the secret service security perimeter.
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The gaps in security are being pointed out by experts and are being considered in terms of impact to future campaign events.
“Smaller in scale. I see as far as the amount of attendees allowed to join the rally. I also see a greater increase in your fusion centers, your intelligence piece.” said one security expert.
“It’s unfortunate this is where we’re at. The violence has been escalating, we’ve seen this over the last couple years.” he added.
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Experts agree that the shooter's ability to secure an elevated position to take a shot at Trump was frightening, since those are positions that should normally be secured.
It is known that there were likely K9s sniffing for explosives and other weapons and the former President had a significant security detail that emerged after the shots were fired, but it still marks a historic security failure on many levels.
The Secret Service has not responded to requests for comments yet.
