Donald Trump assassination attempt: How could the attacker shoot undetected?

At the beginning, everything was as usual. In Butler, in the US state of Pennsylvania, Donald Trump puffed himself up surrounded by supporters and security forces, taunted his challenger Joe Biden, insulting him as the “worst president of all time”. Then there was a bang. Trump touched his ear and ducked under the lectern. Panic in the audience. Then Trump reappeared with blood on his ear and face, throwing combative slogans into the audience before being escorted off the stage under protection by agents of the US secret service.

After the incident at the campaign event, one spectator is dead, two others are seriously injured, and the country is in shock. Where the shots came from, who was behind it and why someone targeted the presidential candidate remains completely unclear in the hours that followed.

However, an eyewitness claims to have seen the suspected attacker climb onto the roof of a building with a gun during the event, about 100 meters from the stands. “I saw the gun, 100 percent,” he told the . The police officers milling around were not interested when he and his group of friends tried to alert them to the man. Shortly after the shots were fired, he asked himself: “There are only a few buildings here. Why isn’t the Secret Service on all of these buildings?” In other words: How could the attacker shoot at the event with a gun without being detected?

On the lookout – in close proximity to Donald Trump

For the FBI, the incident came as at least a “surprise,” as a special agent from the security agency said at a press conference. “We are still working through the security measures that the Secret Service has put in place to find out what might have happened,” it said. The spokesman announced an investigation. This will take months.

Meanwhile, several media outlets have analyzed dozens of videos, photos and satellite images. The suspected shooter came surprisingly close to Donald Trump. According to reports, the man positioned himself on a roof about 120 to 150 meters from the stands. For comparison: 150 meters is the distance from which US Army recruits have to hit a human-sized silhouette in order to qualify for basic training with the M16 assault rifle. According to US media reports, the shooter used an AR-15. This is a semi-automated version of the military assault rifle.

According to the Secret Service, the shots were fired from an “elevated position” outside the rally area. Law enforcement sources said the suspected attacker fired from the roof of a building near the event site, CNN reports.

One of the photos shows the motionless body of a man in gray camouflage clothing on the roof of a manufacturing facility north of the site where Trump held his campaign. It is unclear whether this is the suspected shooter.

Have the US authorities failed?

The US authorities are now investigating the events. Several US media outlets have already raised the question of the extent to which the security service failed in the incident. Weeks ago, the US Department of Defense had already warned that “weak points within the agency” could endanger national security. There is also heated debate about whether the Secret Service’s recruitment and training procedures should be tightened. The background to this is an incident in which a bodyguard for Vice President Kamala Harris is said to have attacked a superior.

Following the incident in Pennsylvania, the state police’s lieutenant colonel, George Bivens, defended his colleagues: “It is incredibly difficult to secure a venue open to the public against every possible threat from a very determined attacker,” CNN quoted him as saying.

Trump’s campaign appearance, like most before it, took place outdoors. The Farm Show Grounds in the town of Butler are located between meadows, a pond and several buildings near the town’s airport. For such events, streets are closed and traffic is diverted.

The Republican himself is protected around the clock by secret service agents. This is more than any previous US president. One reason: Trump’s predecessors have mostly withdrawn as far as possible. Trump, on the other hand, is running for the White House again.