Retired FBI agent discusses possible future of large scale political events

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — With Pennsylvania remaining a crucial swing state, it’s likely that political rallies will continue to take place in the Keystone State in spite of Saturday’s deadly security failure.

Channel 11 sources report that the alleged shooter who attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump was spotted nearly 30 minutes before the shots were fired.

>>> Local officer encountered gunman just before he shot toward Trump at rally, sources tell AP

>>> Butler Trump rally attendees describe panic as shots rang out during attempted Trump assassination

Many questions remain surrounding the incident and whether attendees of future events should fear for their safety.

Channel 11 spoke with retired FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas, who spent thirty years with the bureau. He has a lot of experience covering major events.

Trombitas said that it’s a “tremendous effort” to prepare for these events, and significant planning begins well in advance.

“I truly believe the Secret Service, when it comes to protecting our presidents and our candidates, are the best in the world,” he said, and cautioned the public against jumping to conclusions regarding what led to this.

“At this point, we want to learn from the incident. If there were some shortcomings, then, let’s get them corrected, let’s make sure they don’t happen again and move onto the next event.”

Trombitas told Channel 11 that regardless of the significant planning and security for high profile political events, it’s impossible to guarantee that something won’t go wrong.

“The reality is, there are so many moving parts, so many different things can happen, human error, things that you never expected to happen - you know, a fire in the next building, I mean, just so many things that can disrupt your plan.”

He said that law enforcement does prepare for the unexpected, however, and comes up with contingency plans.

Typically, securing an outdoor event is much more challenging that an indoor venue.

“When you have an inside venue, it’s a lot easier to control who’s getting into the venue through magnetometers and other security devices... but when you have an outside venue, that threat area is increased substantially and so the Secret Service does not have the manpower nor does really any agency have the manpower to cover everything themselves.”

It’s unclear if future rallies will be exclusively held indoors in Pennsylvania moving forward.

“It’s hard for me to predict, some of these events are planned well in advance. They may just elect to continue to hold the event and just try to increase security,” Trombitas said.

He told Channel 11 that Secret Service could opt to move an event if they believe they can’t provide maximum security.

“It will be interesting to see what happens in the future, if there are more on the agenda, whether Secret Service takes another look at those outside venues, if there are going to be any, and say ‘hey, we’re looking at this and there are just too many areas where things can go wrong so we need to consider another location.’”

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