Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger contested the testimony of Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris regarding security lapses during a rally for former President Trump.
Paris claimed that local Emergency Services Unit (ESU) officers were responsible for security and left their posts to investigate a suspicious individual, potentially missing the shooter, Thomas Crooks.
“We were told that Butler [Emergency Services Unit] ESU was responsible for that area, by several Secret Service agents on that walk-through,” Paris said.
“Neither officer could see Crooks on the other building due to the visual angle they had from their location to Crooks’ location,” one press release stated.
Goldinger clarified that two snipers had identified Crooks prior to the shooting and communicated his suspicious behavior to the command center.
He emphasized that while one officer briefly followed Crooks outside, another remained at their post, and the officers were fulfilling their assigned duties.
Goldinger characterized Paris’s statement as a misrepresentation of the events, asserting that local law enforcement was present and vigilant during the incident.
“Their post was the building,” Goldinger said. “While one of the officers did leave the building briefly, it was in response to a suspicious person who had not encountered law enforcement despite them notifying other law enforcement of the suspicious person. Even so, that officer returned to the post, and the post was never left vacant as the other officer remained in the building.”
“To say that these officers left their post is a misstatement,” he said.
“These ESU officers and all of the other ESU officers, volunteered their time to be present for the rally to assist the Secret Service. They performed the duties to which they were assigned.”
The Pennsylvania State Police maintained their support for Paris’s testimony, stating that the investigation is ongoing.
