Donald Trump's Secret Service detail was warned that local police officers were searching for a suspicious person before the assassination attempt on the former president, NBC News reported, citing a U.S. official.
Following the shooting on Saturday, the agency has faced scrutiny over security lapses that allowed a would-be assassin to crawl onto a rooftop armed with a rifle and fire several shots at the former president as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump's right ear was pierced in the shooting, and he made his entrance at the Republican National Convention on Monday with a bandage over the ear. Rallygoer Corey Comperatore, a former firefighter, was killed in the shooting, and two other attendees were seriously injured. Secret Service agents fatally shot the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Rallygoers outside the event had flagged a suspicious person—later identified as Crooks—to local police officers, the Associated Press and NBC News reported, citing unnamed officials. The attendees said they saw Crooks pacing and acting suspiciously near the magnetometers, the outlets reported.
