Fmr. Secret Service agent breaks down attempted assassination

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Limited resources and location created what a former Secret Service calls “a perfect storm” that led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The shooting left the Republican candidate with a graze wound to the ear, two people in the hospital, and a spectator and the shooter dead.

The event has turned the fairground in Bulter County into a crime scene.

“Everybody in the Secret Service would tell you the same thing. That is if guns have to come out if they’re shots fired, right? And if we have to evacuate the person that we’re protecting, obviously there’s a failure,” said Jason Russell, founder and president of Grand Rapids-based Secure Environment Consultants.

Russell served in the Secret Service from 2002 to 2010. He says campaign stops and similar events involve site visits and working with local and state police. It’s a resource-intensive process.

“Often, resources are limited. You might want 15 police officers, but they can only give you 5,” says Russell.

While the rally was held at a fairground, it was next to a private business, which is where police say the shooter fired from. Being off the property can add another obstacle to the security detail.

“It’s not controlled by the entity that controls the fairgrounds. So, the Secret Service can’t just go absorb somebody’s private property and say, ‘hey, you know, you got to close your business or close your close your doors down,'” says Russell.

It was just some of the pieces of what Russell calls a “perfect storm” that concealed the gunman until shots rang out.

Agents can only take action when they are certain they see a threat Russell says.

” I worked many times where the counter snipers would identify something that they identified as a suspicious thing that was a maintenance person, that was, you know, on a roof where they shouldn’t be or it opened the window,” he says.

He says agents performed well in the immediate aftermath, both in shooting back and escorting Mr. Trump away.

“They neutralize the threat. Unfortunately, the reality is he was able to get a couple of shots off that were tragic,”

Russell says you can be active in your own security by being aware of your surroundings and reporting unusual things when you see them.

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