Eyewitnesses saying that the suspect shooter was at the top of the roof adjacent to Donald Trump’s rally, where an assassination attempt was made on the Republican Presidential candidate, has raised serious concerns and apparent security lapses at the rally.
Another eyewitness told BBC that he was ignored by both the police and the Secret Services after he pointed out at a suspicious man with a rifle climbing on top of a barn, “barely 50 feet away” as Trump was speaking at the rally. With these latest revelations, the bigger question that arises – Was a potential threat overlooked?
Reports said that the shooter was positioned only “400 to 500 meters”, quoting eyewitnesses. An eyewitness told BBC that he informed both the police and Secret Service about a suspicious man on a roof with a rifle adjacent to Trump’s rally but his frantic calls for help were ignored. The shooter was neutralized by the Secret Service counter-sniper team, few seconds after he opened fire.
Probably 5 to 7 minutes of Trump speaking…We noticed the guy bear-crawling up the roof of the building…50 feet away from us. So we’re standing there pointing at the guy crawling up the roof…We can clearly see him with a rifle. We are pointing at him. The police are there running around on the ground,” the man told BBC, adding that the security didn’t pay any heed to them even after he was pointing “at the barn for 2-3 minutes.”
