Crime
Secret Service Tells Senators They ‘Identified’ Shooter Roughly 50 Mins Before Trump Took Rally Stage, Sources Say
![](https://www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/tvrd-dowbiggin-trump-shooting-assassination-attempt-secret-service-gunfire-image-2024-07-15.jpg)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By NICK POPE
“I have no confidence in the leadership of Director Cheatle and believe it is in the best interest of our nation if she steps down from her position.”
The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and the FBI told lawmakers Wednesday that former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin was identified well before shots rang out at the Pennsylvania rally, according to sources familiar with the briefing.
Federal law enforcement held the briefing with lawmakers to go over specifics of the shooting that nearly killed Trump on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. During the call, USSS and FBI officials stated that the gunman, later identified as Thomas Crooks, was noticed about an hour before the shooting, or approximately 50 minutes before Trump took the stage to address the crowd, according to two sources familiar with the briefing.
“There was zero accountability from Secret Service,” one source familiar with the briefing told the DCNF. “They identified the shooter 60 minutes prior to the assassination attempt.”
Given that the shooter opened fire about 60 minutes after being identified, and about ten minutes into Trump’s speech, this means that the identification occurred roughly 50 minutes before the former president took the stage.
Another source familiar with the briefing confirmed this particular detail to the DCNF. One of the sources said the officials told senators that Crooks was spotted with a range finder.
Both sources familiar with the briefing described it as a major disappointment given the gravity of the subject it addressed.
“Multiple members” who wanted to ask questions on the video call were not granted the opportunity to do so, according to another source familiar with the briefing. “They did not have answers to basic questions,” the source told the DCNF in reference to USSS and FBI.
USSS also spotted Crooks on the roof from which he opened fire about 20 minutes before shots rang out, according to ABC News, citing its own sources familiar with the briefing.
The security lapses that allowed Crooks to get several clean shots off at Trump from close range have raised serious questions from Republicans, who have widely and sharply criticized the USSS’ performance on Saturday as one of the worst failures in the agency’s history.
USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle has been lambasted for her response to the situation, which has included a statement to ABC News that security was not present on the roof from which Crooks opened fire because it is sloped.
Several lawmakers went public with their criticisms after the briefing as well.
“I just got off a briefing with the Secret Service and FBI. I am appalled to learn that the Secret Service knew about a threat prior to President Trump walking on stage,” Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn wrote in a Wednesday post to X. “I have no confidence in the leadership of Director Cheatle and believe it is in the best interest of our nation if she steps down from her position.”
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee expressed a similar view in his own post to X after the briefing.
“Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle needs to step down immediately. Today’s (mostly) information-free briefing only confirmed that,” Lee wrote. “What little information she gave us was at once deeply troubling and glaringly incomplete.”
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming also ripped the Secret Service after the briefing concluded.
“This was a 100% cover-your-ass briefing. He was identified as being suspicious one hour before the shooting. He had a range finder and a backpack. The Secret Service lost sight of him,” Barrasso said in a statement shared on X. “No one has taken responsibility. No one has been held responsible. Someone has died. The President was almost killed. The head of the Secret Service needs to go.”
The FBI and USSS did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Crime
Venezuelan Migrant Says She’d ‘Return’ To Country After Living In Housing Taken Over By Venezuelan Gang
![](https://www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/tvrd-dc-venezuelan-gangs-take-over-appartments-denver-image-2024-09-07.jpg)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
A Venezuelan immigrant living in migrant housing in Aurora, Colorado, appeared to fight back tears while speaking to independent reporter Nick Shirley, saying she would return to her country after living in the U.S.
This week, the city of Aurora faced major pushback from Republicans after footage surfaced online of armed men inside an apartment complex in late August. Shirley was seen visiting various migrant housing units before stopping at the viral location to interview residents where the armed men had been spotted.
Shirley spoke with a Venezuelan woman who showed him the poor living conditions her family endures, stating she pays $1,200 per month for the apartment. The migrant stated that the electricity and hot water in her apartment weren’t working, telling Shirley that the landlord hadn’t accepted any payment for the “past couple of months.”
“Does your father still have to pay rent?” Shirley asked as they walked around her father’s apartment.
“The owner is no longer receiving any kind of payment, because he is also taking all this, that the gangs and the mafia are taking advantage of all of this to get us out as if we were dogs and it’s not fair,” the migrant stated, according to a translation.
Shirley asked if gangs had been charging people, to which the migrant replied, “no.” The independent reporter then asked if her life in the U.S. was what she expected after crossing the border.
WATCH:
“No, never. I would have stayed in my country. They say that here everything is different, the laws, everyone gets a good job, you get ahead, you can save money to take back to your country,” the migrant stated. “But not everything is as they say, the American dream is simply just a dream. When you get here you wake up, it’s not like they say.”
Shirley then pressed the migrant, asking in Spanish if she would take a “flight or opportunity to go back” to her home country.
“With all the love in the world I would return to my country,” the migrant said.
Republican lawmakers on Friday sent a letter criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s “open border policies” and local “sanctuary” policies over the reported presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which allegedly terrorized several apartment buildings in Aurora.
Reportedly beginning as a prison gang in 2014 within the northern Venezuelan state of Aragua, Tren de Aragua has grown into one of Venezuela’s largest criminal organizations. With around 5,000 members and stretching internationally across Latin America and the U.S., the gang has allegedly been connected to several high-profile crimes within the U.S., including the kidnapping and strangling of a Florida man last year.
This week, the Aurora Police Department announced the arrest of two confirmed Tren de Aragua gang members, Jhonnarty Dejesus Pacheco-Chirinos and Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos, following a July 28 shooting that left two men hospitalized with serious injuries.
Crime
Officials Arrest Father Of Suspected Georgia School Shooter
![](https://www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/tvrd-dc-georgia-high-school-shooting-image-2024-09-06.jpg)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
The father of 14-year-old Colt Gray, the suspected shooter at Apalachee High School, was arrested by Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) officials, according to a Thursday press release.
GBI officials announced the arrest of 54-year-old Colin Gray in connection with the Georgia high school shooting on Wednesday, which killed four people and injured nine others. Colin Gray is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to officials.
Colt Gray was arrested Wednesday morning after officials had received calls of a shooting occurring at the high school. GBI Director Chris Hosey and Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith confirmed during a press conference the 14-year-old had been a student at the school and will be “tried as an adult.”
UPDATE #2 – September 5, 2024:
In coordination with District Attorney Brad Smith, the GBI has arrested Colin Gray, age 54, in connection to the shooting at Apalachee High School. Colin is Colt Gray’s father.
(1/3)
— GA Bureau of Investigation (@GBI_GA) September 5, 2024
Local authorities had made contact with the Gray family in 2023 following anonymous tips to the FBI about alleged threats.
Colin Gray had allegedly bought the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack for his son at a local gun store as a Christmas present, a source told CNN. The timeline provided to officials by the 54-year-old father puts the purchase of the gun allegedly months after officials had first contacted the family to investigate school shooting threats made online, the outlet reported.
The victims of the incident have been identified by GBI officials as 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn, 14-year-old Christian Angulo, 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall and 53-year-old Christina Irimie.
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