One year after Trump rally shooting, witnesses say investigations leave more questions than answers
"I'm highly dissatisfied with the lack of preparation," said Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., who was seated in the front row at the rally. "The failures were almost unbelievable," he told Fox News Digital, echoing a widespread view that the breach was the result of avoidable missteps by law enforcement.
Despite probes by multiple federal agencies and a formal congressional investigation, both local residents and lawmakers say they're still left wondering what went wrong.
"The task force was bipartisan. And frankly, I don't think to this day they've gotten all the answers," Meuser said.
Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed by law enforcement at the scene. Since then, the Secret Service has undergone a series of high-profile shakeups.
A congressional select committee found in its report a "lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners," adding that the agency had been alerted to Crooks' suspicious movements for over 10 minutes before he fired a shot.
But for those who were there, major questions remain:
What was Crooks' motive? Why weren't agents stationed on a nearby pitched roof? Why was Crooks' presence on top of the AGR building not acted on sooner? How was he able to fire eight rounds before being neutralized by a Secret Service countersniper?
In the absence of concrete answers, some attendees have drawn their own speculative conclusions.
"There were certain stock transactions that transpired right beforehand," one rally-goer said.
"CNN never airs Trump's rallies. Why did they air this one?" another asked. (CNN has said it aired the Butler rally in anticipation of Trump announcing his vice presidential pick.)
"I don't think it was [Crooks]," another witness claimed. "Nobody that went to school with him believes he could have engineered that kind of event."
Zach Scherer, a Butler local who has worked on all three of Trump's presidential campaigns, voiced ongoing skepticism.
"We don't know anything about this kid from Bethel Park," he said. "The Comperatore family needs answers. The rest of the community does too. It affected every single person who was here."
Corey Comperatore, a local firefighter, was killed during the shooting.
"Investigations that were already done are very inconclusive," said Erin Autenreith, a GOP activist and rally attendee from Glenshaw, Pennsylvania. "There's just so much technology now – these videos have such high resolution they can actually see the bullets."
"The American people, they don't trust the investigations," she added. "Nobody believes it. So I don't think it's good."
Jim Hulings, chairman of the Butler County GOP, criticized Pennsylvania officials for what he called apathy toward the case. He singled out both the Republican district attorney and state attorney general.
"Murder was never investigated," Hulings said. "We asked for the district attorney to call for a grand jury. He wouldn't do it. We gave him a letter and 8,000 signatures on a petition. He still wouldn't do it."
"The AG doesn't really care either," Hulings added. "We got Dave Sunday elected, and he went persona non grata."
Some argue the investigation should be elevated to the federal level, given its national implications.
But longtime rally-goers agreed on one thing: a scant security presence was noticeable from the start of the day in Butler last year.
"All the other rallies I'd been to, there was Secret Service everywhere, so I just assumed they were going to be there. And they weren't," said Lucie Roth.
"There was no counter sniper teams visible. There was no drones. There was no helicopters," said Hulings. "Very few police."
A number of factors have been blamed: technical issues with drones, high temperatures prompting Secret Service to seek refuge in the air conditioning, a force that was spread thin by long hours and unexpected overtime.
A Senate report found that key resource requests were denied, and some were not even made: Secret Service did not request a surveillance team to help patrol the rally of 15,000 attendees, while an event for first lady Jill Biden had one assigned for her event of 400 individuals roughly an hour away.
Until a fuller picture emerges, those who lived through that harrowing day say they won't stop pushing for accountability – not just for Trump, but for Comperatore and a shaken community still seeking closure.
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