By Michael Biesecker and Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press

The US secret service is investigating how a gunman armed with an AR rifle was in a position to get close enough to shoot and injure former President Donald Trump at a rally On Saturday, Pennsylvania saw a monumental failure of the agency in carrying out one among its core missions.

The gunman who was killed by Secret Service agents fired several shots on the stage from an “elevated position outside the rally site,” the agency said.

An Associated Press evaluation of greater than a dozen videos and photos of Trump's rally, in addition to satellite images of the positioning, shows the gunman got here astonishingly near the stage where the previous president was speaking. A video posted on social media and geolocated by AP shows the body of a person in gray camouflage clothing lying motionless on the roof of a factory north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump's rally was held.

The roof was lower than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a great marksman could easily hit a human-sized goal. For reference, 150 meters is the gap from which U.S. Army recruits must hit a human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M16 assault rifle in basic training. The AR-15, as carried by the shooter on the Trump rally, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M16.

The FBI identified the shooter early Sunday as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

The Secret Service was not present at a late-night press conference where FBI and Pennsylvania State Police officials updated reporters on the shooting investigation. FBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Rojek said it was “surprising” that the gunman was in a position to fire on the stage before he was killed.

Members of the Secret Service sniper and counter-assault teams were on the rally, in response to two law enforcement officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to debate details of the investigation.

The heavily armed Counter Assault Team, whose Secret Service code name is “Hawkeye,” is accountable for eliminating threats in order that other agents can shield and take away the person they’re protecting. The Counter Sniper Team, known by the code name “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is supplied with sniper rifles to have interaction threats from long distances.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said his department and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement to research the shooting. The safety of presidential candidates and their campaign events is one among the department's “most important priorities,” he said.

“We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for its swift action today,” Mayorkas said. “We are in communication with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaign teams and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety.”

Calls for an investigation got here from all sides.

James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said he has contacted the service for a briefing and asked Director Kimberly Cheatle to attend a hearing. Comer said his committee will send out a proper invitation soon.

“Political violence in any form is un-American and unacceptable. There are many questions and Americans demand answers,” Comer said in a press release.

New York Democrat Ritchie Torres, a US representative, called for an investigation into the “security deficiencies” on the rally.

“The federal government must continually learn from security failures to avoid recurrence, especially when those failures have national implications,” Torres said.

Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers wrote on X that he and his staff had been working on Republican National Convention is scheduled to start in Milwaukee on Monday. “We cannot be a country that accepts political violence of any kind – that is not consistent with our identity as Americans,” Evers said.

The FBI said it is going to lead the investigation into the shooting, working with the Secret Service and native and state law enforcement.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department would “bring all available resources to the investigation.”

“My thoughts are with the former president, those injured and the family of the bystander killed in this horrific attack,” Garland said in a press release. “We will not tolerate violence of any kind, and violence like this is an attack on our democracy.”

Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Originally published: July 13, 2024 at 11:39 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) welcomes the July 1 arrest of a San Pablo man who allegedly fired shots at one other automobile during a DUI incident. This is the primary arrest aided by a brand new network of a whole lot of cameras around Oakland and the East Bay.

“The CHP is excited to see this new technology deployed on Bay Area highways,” said CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee. “Our investigators will use this technology to identify and apprehend those who commit criminal activity and endanger California's motorists.”

Governor Gavin Newsom announced In April that the CHP had hired Flock Safety, a Georgia-based crime safety technology company, to put in a network of the corporate's 480 cameras in Oakland and the East Bay, with about 290 of them to be placed on Oakland streets and 190 along East Bay state roads.

Detectives with the Highway Patrol's Special Investigations Unit reviewed the camera data and issued an alert to other law enforcement agencies to be looking out for the suspected shooter's vehicle – a 2016 Honda Accord – and its license plate. By 10:20 a.m., Contra Costa County Sheriff's officers had positioned the vehicle in Richmond and stopped the motive force. Inside the vehicle, they found a handgun believed to have been utilized in the shooting, and the motive force was later booked into the San Francisco County Jail. Charges included attempted murder, assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.

“By leveraging cutting-edge technology and deploying new officers, California is doubling down on efforts to keep our communities safe,” Newsom said.

The cameras not only discover license plates, but also can track vehicle type, make, color, license plate status, missing or obscured license plates, and other features comparable to bumper stickers, roof racks, or decals. The camera network may be set as much as alert authorities if considered one of the cameras captures footage of a vehicle suspected of being involved in a criminal offense. The data is stored for 28 days and made available only to California law enforcement, so Newsom's office.

A Costa Mesa woman whose boyfriend shot and killed a 6-year-old Aiden Leos He pleaded guilty to accessory after the very fact during a 2021 traffic altercation on a busy Orange County highway on Friday, April 26, but won’t serve any additional time in custody on account of credit for time already served .

Wynne Lee, 26, was sentenced to 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting, a felony, and misdemeanor carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle. However, she received greater than 4 years credit for her time served leading as much as trial and her good behavior.

Lee was released on bail under GPS monitoring since shortly after her arrest. Under state law, defendants in court-ordered home confinement receive the identical credit for time served and good behavior as those that remain in local custody pending trial.

It was not a plea deal negotiated with the prosecution, but moderately a plea that Lee made on to the court. Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard M. King clarified that Lee had not been given any assurances in regards to the amount of her sentence before her plea. The four-year prison sentence imposed by the judge was the utmost sentence permitted by law.

Lee confirmed to the judge in a soft voice that she understood what she was admitting and the rights she was giving up. She made no formal statement before her sentencing. Both Lee and her attorney declined to comment after the hearing.

Because Lee didn’t spend any additional time in custody, house arrest or on probation or parole, Lee's electronic monitoring was officially ended by the judge at the tip of Friday's hearing.

As a part of her plea, Lee admitted to helping Marcus Erizher live-in boyfriend escapes arrest, regardless that she knew Eriz was chargeable for Aiden's death. She also admitted that a firearm – belonging to Eriz – was hidden in a vehicle she was in charge of.

Judge King found that Aiden's death was against the law of great violence, involving a very vulnerable victim and deeply affecting the boy's mother. However, he also acknowledged that Lee had no previous criminal record.

Aiden's mother was not present on the trial or the sentencing. No one spoke to the court on behalf of Aiden or Lee.

Lee's driving during a strenuous morning commute on the 55 Freeway sparked the confrontation that led to Aiden's violent death.

Lee and Eriz were in Lee's Volkswagen Golf sports automobile on the way in which from their home in Costa Mesa to the Highland auto repair shop where they worked. Aiden's mother, Joanna Cloonan, took her son from their home in Costa Mesa to Calvary Chapel Pre-School in Yorba Linda.

Lee accelerated behind Cloonan's Chevrolet Sonic within the carpool lane, abruptly drove past Cloonan's automobile, after which immediately jumped back into the carpool lane, cutting Cloonan off and checking the brakes.

A “peace sign” Lee threw at Cloonan did little to calm the mother's anger, and as Cloonan began to drive away from the sports automobile to exit the highway, Cloonan gave her middle finger.

Cloonan later testified that he saw Eriz, who was sitting within the passenger seat next to Lee, smiling. Moments later, the mother heard a loud noise and Aiden, who was sitting in a automobile seat behind her, shouted “Ow!” When the mother looked back, she saw Aiden's head hanging down.

A single shot fired by Eriz had penetrated the trunk of Cloonan's automobile, entered Aiden's back, traveled through his liver and lungs, pierced his heart, after which exited his right abdomen. The mother screamed, “Aiden, Aiden, Aiden!” as he lay dying in her arms on the side of the road.

The Mass manhunt to seek out Aiden's killer and the vehicle from which the fatal shot was fired, spanned greater than two weeks.

As commuters passed under overpasses every day, banners read “Who Shot Aiden?” California Highway Patrol investigators and other law enforcement officers swarmed door-to-door to businesses along the 55 Freeway, trying to find footage from surveillance cameras trained on the roadway were. Meanwhile, the reward for locating those chargeable for Aiden's death rose to $500,000.

Lee and Eriz continued to commute every day from Costa Mesa to Highland in the course of the manhunt, although they later used Eriz's red pickup truck as a substitute of the sports automobile.

By the trim and tires of a suspect vehicle captured on surveillance footage and comparing them to DMV records, investigators narrowed their search to several dozen specific cars, including the one driven by Lee and owned by her parents. A tipster also contacted authorities and told them that Lee and Eriz were driving a vehicle matching the outline.

Eriz told police that he only learned he was chargeable for Aiden's death per week after the shooting and said he decided not to show himself in because he didn't consider Lee had done anything fallacious and didn't need to that she discovered in trouble.

Unlike Eriz's police interview, which was played during his trial, the complete details of Lee's conversations with police were never presented in open court. But an official had previously testified that after the shooting, Lee apparently denied the crime and told Eriz before his arrest, “You don't know for sure it was you.” The officer said that when Lee was asked why she hadn't come forward sooner, she replied, that she was “afraid of incriminating herself…or that she wasn’t sure if they were.”

There is not any evidence that Eriz knew the boy was within the automobile or that he intended to kill the mother.

During Eriz's trial, prosecutors argued that he felt disrespected by Cloonan and was waiting for a probability to make use of a weapon he had been carrying for months “in the hope that someone would step out of line.” The defense countered that Cloonan provoked Eriz and caused him to act rashly in the warmth of passion.

A jury in January convicted Eriz of second-degree murder. He was Sentenced earlier this month to 40 years to life in prison.

After Lee's sentencing, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said it was a disgrace to see Lee receive recognition for his time served and good behavior “while sitting at home instead of in a jail cell.”

“The day Aiden was laid to rest in his tiny casket, Wynne and Marcus kayaked and enjoyed a beautiful California summer day, knowing Aiden would never play in the sun again,” Spitzer said in an announcement. “A six-year-old little boy is dead, and as a substitute of coming forward while the remainder of Southern California desperately looked for his killer, she helped the killer hide vital evidence after which went on together with her life as if nothing had ever happened…

“Their behavior is despicable and I, along with our entire Orange County community, am outraged that the state legislature continues to water down our laws to give criminals charged with egregious crimes one break after another,” the added Prosecutor added.