In wake of Trump shooting, future Sacramento visits expected to see increased security

If either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump make campaign stops in Sacramento ahead of the November election, security will likely be increased compared to Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump, two former Sacramento County sheriffs agreed.

The assassination attempt occurred during a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh, and killed one man and injured two other men besides Trump. The 20-year-old gunman, who was killed by Secret Service sharpshooters after shots rang out just after 6 p.m. Eastern, was able to gain access to a rooftop just 450 feet from the president.

One of the most “basic elements” of securing a site is to eliminate sight lines to where a protected person will be speaking, even if they are outside the traditional perimeter of the event, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Law enforcement typically place people around those buildings or on top of them, or place barriers that would block any shots fired, he said.

Saturday’s attack marked the first publicly known assassination attempt of a president or former president since 1981 when Ronald Reagan seriously hurt in a shooting as he exited a Washington hotel. The gunman was a lone shooter, John Hinckley Jr., who was trying to impress a celebrity. Following Saturday’s attack, the FBI has said its initial findings were that Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, also acted alone though authorities were working to uncover his motives in the attack.

During events where presidents or former presidents have spoken in Sacramento, local law enforcement officials have taken their direction from the U.S. Secret Service, said former sheriffs Scott Jones and John McGinness.

“We’ll know where their snipers are,” said Jones, who was sheriff from 2009 to December 2022. “We’ll know where they’re assigned, they’ll know where we’re assigned. You want to put your mind in the place of someone wishing to do the person harm and looking at vulnerability. They changed protocols after Reagan was shot and I’m certain they’ll do so here as well.”

McGinness, Jones’ predecessor, agreed.

“I think, across the spectrum, this will be a case study for incoming Secret Service agents and law enforcement agencies across the country and beyond,” McGinness said. “I guarantee this will be part of the curriculum going forward.”

Security at campaign rallies and White House events surpasses the most stringent security measures most of the public sees in everyday life. Journalists, dignitaries, guests and those near the president or key candidates at events undergo thorough background checks and submit to inspections and searches of bags and equipment. Many of the buildings and surrounding areas are screened, surveilled and secured well in advance as officials assess an array of threats.

But attendees at Saturday’s rally say not all structures around the venue were covered by the Secret Service, according to an eyewitness who spoke to the BBC.

Greg Smith told the British broadcaster that he spotted the shooter crawling on a nearby rooftop before shots rang out. Smith and others pointed at the gunman for three to four minutes, he said, as they tried to alert police or the Secret Service to his presence.

And the Associated Press reported Sunday that a local law enforcement officer at the rally had climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks. The gunman pointed what has been described as an AR-15-style rifle at the officer, who retreated as Crooks quickly took a shot at Trump. The encounter that killed Crooks lasted seconds, two law enforcement officials told the AP.

Smith said he suspected that other officers and agents could not see the man because of the slope of the roof where he was positioned. Other eyewitness photos shared on social media from the rally show the suspect lying on his stomach with a rifle. A video shared on X shows a chaotic scene of people shouting, “He’s got a gun!”

Smith said, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ ”

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi on Sunday addressed criticism over a lapse in security in a statement posted to X. Guglielmi said it was not true that Trump’s camp had “requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed.”

“In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” Guglielmi said.

Butler County District Attorney Richard A. Goldinger told CNN on Saturday that the gunman was outside the grounds where Trump was speaking.

“Quite frankly, I don’t know how he would have gotten to the location where he was,” Goldinger said. “And I think that’s something that we’re gonna have to figure out how he got there.

Trump’s last visit to the capital region was in September 2020, when he visited McClellan Park, where he met with Gov. Gavin Newsom for a televised discussion on California’s ongoing wildfires. There was no public rally, but a few hundred Trump supporters gathered near the tarmac while the president answered questions from the media.

McClellan Park, a decommissioned Air Force base, has buildings that are a few hundred yards from the tarmac where Trump and Air Force One were located, similar to how close the Pennsylvania shooter was, said Jones. He said he did not recall whether the security security had officers stationed at or on top of those buildings.

Neither Trump nor Biden have announced campaign stops to Sacramento or Northern California ahead of the November election, though both men have held fundraisers in the Bay Area as recently as May.

Biden canceled a planned appearance Monday in Austin, Texas, after the shooting while Trump campaign officials said the schedule would go on for Monday’s start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. On Sunday from the White House, Biden said he directed the Secret Service to review security measures for the four-day event. He also ordered an independent review of Saturday’s rally “to assess exactly what happened.”

Increased security measures for Newsom and local Sacramento elected officials were not planned as a result of the assassination attempt. Law enforcement agencies from across the region did not indicate threats to any dignitaries and declined to comment on any actions they would take because of Saturday’s assassination attempt.

Newsom’s office declined comment on matters regarding his security, referring questions to California Highway Patrol’s Dignitary Protection Section, said Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesman. Jaime Coffee, a CHP spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Sacramento City Council meetings, where tensions have been running high, already have robust security. Before entering the chamber, all attendees must walk through a metal detector while police officers thoroughly inspect all bags. The same process happens at the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meetings.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.