Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - In the hours after the attempted assassination of former President, and soon-to-be Republican nominee for U.S. President this November, Donald Trump, reactions continue to certain elements of the shooting, including security measures.
Jeff Rinaldo from Vista Security Group was one of the officers who helped plan Trump's rally in Buffalo back in 2016 when he was still a captain with the Buffalo Police Department. From firsthand knowledge, Rinaldo says there was an extensive amount of planning and coordination for security detail with not only the Secret Service, but other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
"When former President Trump was in Buffalo, he spoke at KeyBank Center indoors. He had zero outdoor presence, and we still had an enormous amount of perimeter security that stretched pretty far out from KeyBank Center, so we could ensure the route he traveled was safe so that there was the ability to get first responders in-and-out of KeyBank Center quickly, as well as the plan for protesters, which we did have. Thankfully, we did not see any violence at his event here in Buffalo," said Rinaldo on Sunday with Joe Beamer on WBEN.
When evaluating the nature of Saturday's shooting at Trump's rally in Butler, Pa., Rinaldo feels there's a lot of questions that need to be answered with how the shooter was able to carry out the shooting, and get as close as he did.
"Outdoor venues pose a number of challenges," Rinaldo explained. "With my company, we do security at almost every event in Western New York. If you're going to have a high profile attendee at an outdoor venue, it does pose a number of challenges and risks. But based on different media reports, based on some interviews I saw yesterday where an individual claims he alerted police to this possible shooter's climbing over the roof, it is very concerning. That building, especially being elevated, was not so far away that it should have been outside of law enforcement's concern area."
Rinaldo says when there are elevated positions, there should be a scout team and/or a counterassault team higher than the highest position so they can get the best vantage points of those buildings or rooftops.
"In today's day and age with drone technology and other things, you would think they would have had eyes on those buildings, considering how they were directly in line of sight of his stage. So the investigation into this is going to take quite some time, and it's going to involve interviewing not only the attendees, but the law enforcement officers," he said. "Who said what to who? Who did you report it to? And ultimately, who was responsible for keeping eyes on those rooftops?"
When it comes to responsibilities for security with large events like a Presidential rally, Rinaldo says local law enforcement agencies play a vital part. When Trump was in Buffalo in 2016, agencies like Amherst Police, Tonawanda Police and SWAT teams from all over Erie County, in addition to the Erie County Sheriff's Office all had their own role in security detail.
"At KeyBank Center, when you walked in, you went through airport-style screening, and that was the Secret Service's uniform division that handles that portion. And then inside of the venue, it was a combination of our Buffalo Police dignitary protection team, as well as the majority of the Uniform Law Enforcement Agency, and there was the Erie County Sheriff's," Rinaldo detailed. "You also had some private security that was responsible for access control in certain areas of the arena."
When it comes to the Secret Service, its focus is to protect the President, Vice President, or whoever qualifies for Secret Service protection.
"Their job is to get that individual into and out of that venue safely," Rinaldo said. "Problems that arose at KeyBank Center and the crowd with protesters, things of that nature, the Secret Service does not get involved in that. That is up to the local law enforcement agency to handle, especially on the outside of the building. Again, that was a number of the Erie County Law Enforcement Agencies' SWAT teams that were deployed to do overwatch, and be quick reactionary forces to respond if, God forbid, there was an active shooter in the crowd."
Rinaldo believes that moving forward, there will probably be see a strong push on both sides of the Presidential election to make sure any rallies or other events held are more secure, and held in more tightly controlled areas.
Like Rinaldo, Rich Andres from North Tonawanda was a bit shocked to hear there was no sort of security detail to ensure the shooter did not get the chance to climb to where he pulled the trigger. Andres was a part of the motorcade operation when George W. Bush came to town years ago as President.
"Why was somebody not up on that roof? It wasn't maybe only Secret Service that was up on the roof, or local law enforcement or whatever, it seems like somebody would be there," said Andres when joining David Bellavia on WBEN. "When I was in that motorcade, every roof, there was someone on it. It was noticeable, it was comforting, in a way. It was shortly after 9/11, but it was a pretty concerted effort to have someone on every rooftop and every bridge that we passed under. It's surprising to me that this is something that goes on, especially in a place, it's a farm field. There's not many rooftops to even guard."
When part of the motorcade operation, Andres admits he was stunned at the amount of sharpshooters and Secret Service present throughout, including those on every single bridge the motorcade passed under.
"When we got to Kleinhans, every rooftop had a Secret Service agent that anyone that had a view of the entrance of that building, there was a Secret Service, or some sort of law enforcement, on top of that building already. Private houses, everything. And to think that in this open area, as I kind of looked at it on the news like everybody else, there's not a wild amount of buildings that are surrounding this place," Andres said. "I just am shocked that they had this building left unattended, and open to somebody just to climb up it. It just doesn't check out."
Andres is among those heading to the Republican National Convention next week, and, of course, the concern now is their security going forward.
"You get concerned if there's blind spots in a place that they know he's going to, it's pretty rural. What's it like in a city, where everybody knew he'd be there for years prior? That's certainly concerning to me, and probably the other delegates as well," he said. "They miss this one, where there's only a small amount of buildings around. What's it like when you've got a city atmosphere?"
Going forward, the FBI is now going to lead the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
Peter Ahearn worked 29 years with the FBI, and is now the founder and president of Ahearn Consulting, LLC. Ahearn says once there's an attempt of an assassination, kidnapping, assault on the President, the FBI will take over a jurisdiction to do the investigation for potential prosecution.
"Should this shooter have lived, they would have that to support the U.S. Attorney where the case is and the charges will be made. That's how this works," said Ahearn with WBEN. "What's happening now, once they take this over, they don't roll in and say, 'We got this. Everybody in law enforcement go home.' It's orchestrated. This is a crisis management thing that the FBI does, and does well, in coordinating efforts, gathering the intelligence."
Ahearn adds the FBI will bring in their assets from Quantico and its crisis teams that will come in to support this effort as well.
"They will start that deep dive of getting search warrants at the house, getting search warrants on the computer, all the devices, all the social media, which from what I'm hearing right now, there's not much there. But they're going to drill down into the family, into the shooter, go back in his life to try to find out, most importantly, any kind of motive to do this," Ahearn said.
Ahearn says the role of the FBI in this investigation is to gather information, gather intelligence, and present it to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The agency will not be drawing any conclusions with its findings.
"Secret Service will be there working with them. They need to try to figure out what could have happened, and all that is going to be done, but the FBI's job is not to criticize and recommend. They need to get all the evidence, part of that, without a doubt, will be events leading up to the shooter," Ahearn said.
When it comes to the timing of this investigation, Ahearn says the FBI is going to prioritize this matter, and it will take some time before they conclude their findings.
"Right now, that priority will be the shooter, as far as knowing about him, any other threats, that type of stuff. They will already start collecting all of that video, and I can tell you it's better than it was when Kennedy was assassinated. But that technology, frankly, I've seen it work. It's pretty quick with what they can do. And it's changed so much, and it continually changes. That technology wasn't around when I was in at all, but it will take weeks," Ahearn says. "I'm not saying it's gonna take days. It's gonna take a long time to get all of this put together, and analyze, to put that picture together.
"The evidence response teams who are very good at what they do are on scene right now, and that's their job. Every division has ERTs, the Buffalo division had a tremendous ERT, all of them are very good. And they will be doing their job to recreate the scene, looking at everything that happened physically, as well as technology wise. It's gonna take a while."
Most Popular
Comments / 0