After a week of oversights and failures, the officers protecting former President Donald J. Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., still had one last chance to get it right.
It began when a local police officer peered over the roof of the AGR International warehouse near the rally grounds and found the suspicious man he and other officers were hunting.
Ninety minutes of confusion about Thomas Crooks’s intentions and whereabouts had ended in an instant.
“Long gun!” the officer broadcast over the local law enforcement radio system, according to congressional testimony from the Secret Service this week.
It was urgent news that should have instantly traveled to a command center shared by the local police and the Secret Service, and then to agents close enough to throw their bodies in front of Mr. Trump.
Persons:
Donald J, Trump, peered, Thomas Crooks’s, “
Organizations:
Service
Locations:
Butler, Pa