BUTLER, Pa. – Two women watching former President Donald Trump’s rally On Saturday, a neighboring property described what they called lax security measures outside the incident’s security perimeter.
Valerie Fennell and Deb Kuminkoski had tickets to go to the rally, but because of the heat and the large crowd, they decided to back out and watch from Fennell’s back yard to the rally grounds.
Fennell’s yard is in the grassy area between the Trump crowd and the AGR factory. the shooter was sitting on the roof of one of the buildingsabout 150 meters away.
The shooter’s bullets flew over Trump and his supporters as they watched the event, they said.
While watching Trump’s opening speech, Fennell said, he leaned against the fence when he saw some “hooting” behind him, people running in different directions.
A bystander told him there was a man with a backpack on the roof of a nearby building. It was during that commotion, Fennell said, that attendees began alerting police that someone was on the roof with a backpack.
A few minutes later, the shooter opened fire.
Fennell did not see the shooter, but said his son did and saw the rifle.
He saw and said law enforcement snipers “position” and aim in their general direction by standing where the shooter is.
Fennell said his son turned to see what they were aiming for.
“He looked up and saw the shooter,” Kuminkoski said, “a man with long hair laying down, ready to shoot. He saw it before the shooting.”
Fennell and Kuminkoski said saw no security at their location, outside of the event. “I knew nothing was guaranteed on this side,” Fennell said.
Now that he thinks about it, Fennel said he’s shocked.
Because he lives so close to the event, Fennell says he expected authorities to contact him, even knock on his door, before the rally. He thought they could set up a security post on his property because it was so close.
That call never came, and on Saturday, he said he looked around to see where security was set up, but saw no one.
Instead, the entire area outside the perimeter of the event was open and people walked freely with no security in sight within 150 yards of where Trump was speaking.
Fennell said there “could have been” two or three police cars nearby, as well as local police, but he did not see them stopping anyone passing by.
Asked whether Saturday’s incident was a security failure, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office Kevin Rojek told reporters late Saturday that an investigation is underway to determine if there was any failure.
He said the Secret Service will be responsible for securing the scene, including outside the security perimeter where the shooter was located, noting that it is the Secret Service that conducts the site survey and determines where security locations should be throughout the location.
Lt. Col. George Bivens with the Pennsylvania State Police said Saturday night that the event had 30 to 40 personnel in the area with additional resources, but “it’s very difficult to have a venue open.” to protect the public and that from any possible threat, a very determined aggressor.
Fennell and Kuminkoski shared photos of a woman riding in the area and zipped between two side-by-side fences — separating the area where the shooter was from the rally — with nothing but a zipper.
Fennell said he was feeling “every emotion there could be” after Saturday’s shooting. one spectator was killed and two were seriously injuredand he, along with many others, is “traumatized” by what happened in an otherwise peaceful area.
“There’s a chance I’m going to sell my house and I’ve only been here a year and a half,” Fennell said. “I enjoy sitting in my yard and seeing the fields and the grass, but I’ll sit there and know what’s going on forever.”
Tom Llamas and Ignacio Torres reported from Butler and Rebecca Cohen in New York.