Nation shocked after Trump’s assassination attempt

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The nation remains in a state of shock less than a day after a man in Pennsylvania tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally on Saturday, killing one rally attendee.

Matthew Schneider, appointed by Trump as the U.S. Attorney for the eastern half of Michigan, has a background working with the Secret Service. He says this is “certainly the worst thing that could ever happen in any agent’s career.”

“It’s not what they want to happen, but it is what they plan for,” Schneider said. “This is exactly what the Secret Service trains for, what their obligation is to do, and they’re going to be going back and looking at exactly what took place.”

Schneider said there will be a thorough investigation and review throughout the government, similar to what took place after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Secret Service believes that the shooter, since identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was outside of the secure zone for the rally. The gunman was shot and killed by U.S. Secret Service agents, the Associated Press reports.

After the shots were fired, Trump first dropped to the ground and was then whisked away by Secret Service with what appeared to be blood on his face. His campaign soon said he was “fine.” The AP reports the shooting is being investigated as an assassination attempt.

“When you have a reaction to this, the first thing that they want to find out is are other people involved other than this particular shooter? So, they’re trying to identify every single aspect of this shooter’s life. As soon as they found out who he was, I can guarantee you that they were on the way to his home to find out all of the activities that he had been doing there, preparing search warrants, working with assistant United States attorneys, looking at phones, looking at phone records, looking at employment records — trying to find out who his associates are,” Schneider said.

He continued by saying that the search would be throughout the state of Pennsylvania as well as the country.

With the election coming up in November, Schneider said this adds an additional challenge for the Secret Service.

“Because, I can guarantee you that Donald Trump is not going to be coming out of the medical facility and say that, ‘I’m done campaigning.’ He’s going to say, ‘We’re going back out on the campaign trail and we’re going to do some large rallies.’ And that means that the Secret Service has to up its game and rise to that challenge. And Joe Biden will be doing the same thing,” he said.

Schneider said that in addition to the candidates’ eagerness to campaign, voters might be eager to go to a rally to show support, “that they are resilient and they are not going to bow to this kind of pressure…”

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