Security protocols questioned after Trump rally shooting
DALLAS — In the moments before President Donald Trump was shot and injured at a campaign rally on Saturday, crowd members say they spotted the shooter. Two law enforcement sources told CBS News officials momentarily lost track of the gunman, who crawled up the side of the shed before opening fire at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Many are now asking how that could have happened and how the gunman got so close to the former president in the first place.
Texas leaders are among those wanting answers.
Rich Emberlin is a 30-year Dallas Police Department veteran who spent his career on the SWAT team and as a liaison for the Secret Service protecting dignitaries like presidents and foreign of heads of state. Like all Americans, he watched in horror as the president was targeted in an assassination attempt on Saturday.
"I was very surprised," said Emberlin. "Somebody dropped the ball somewhere and they know it."
He said typically in situations like this, the Secret Service and local law enforcement will work together to secure the area long before an event begins.
"There's an advance," said Emberlin. "We get the layouts of the buildings we get the people that are gonna be in the building ... "You assign everybody a spot, no stone goes unturned, and they didn't assign anybody to that building and I think that was the problem."
According to law enforcement officials, the shooter was approximately 400 feet away from Trump. That's more than the length of a football field.
"The rifle he had is very capable of shooting that distance," Emberlin said. "It's a layup shot though, if you know what you're doing."
He said the shooter came within millimeters of taking the former president's life.
"He was in, I don't even know, how infinitesimally small amount of a head turn would have gotten him killed," said Emberlin.
Some North Texas lawmakers are calling Saturday's assassination attempt a Secret Service failure.
"We need to do a better job of protecting him given the vitriol of the left, the hatred of Donald Trump, the fear of Donald Trump," said Rep. Keith Self, who represents Texas' 3rd congressional district. "The Secret Service has got to step up their game."
"How in the world, question No. 1, does a shooter get within 130 yards of the leading candidate for president of the United States and a former president of the United States," asked Rep. Pat Fallon, who represents Texas' 4th congressional district. "How does he get on the roof? How is that building not neutralized?"
But Emberlin said it is too soon to place blame.
"Those agents did exactly what they were supposed to do," said Emberlin. "They ran towards gunfire instead of running from it ... I think they need to wait and find out what happened. There was a failure, it's just where did it fall."
Secret Service said sniper teams "had" the gunman within seconds — the threat was neutralized almost immediately after shots were fired, two law enforcement sources said.