Secret Service under scrutiny at Trump rallies
Homeland security begins active probe after assassination attempt while Ohio police shoots Wisconsin man mile away from RNC camp
WASHINGTON: The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general says its investigating the US Secret Service’s handling of security for former President Donald Trump on the day a gunman tried to assassinate him at a Pennsylvania rally.
The agency says in a brief notice on its website Wednesday the objective is to evaluate the Secret Service’s “process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.”
No date was given for when the investigation was launched. The shooting has raised questions about how the gunman was able to climb onto a roof with a clear line of site to the former president, who was injured. President Joe Biden already had directed an independent review of the security at the rally.
Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle said the agency understands the importance of the review ordered by Biden and would fully participate in it as well as with congressional committees looking into the shooting.
Knife-wielding man down, a mile away from RNC
Ohio police officers in Wisconsin for the Republican National Convention shot and killed a man who was wielding two knives near the convention, Milwaukee’s police chief has said.
Five members of the Columbus, Ohio, police department fired on the man, who had a knife in each hand, refused police commands and charged at an unarmed man before police fired, Milwaukee Chief Jeffrey Norman said at a news conference on Tuesday. Two knives were recovered from the scene, the chief said.
The shooting fuelled anger from residents who questioned why out-of-state officers were in their neighbourhood located about a mile from the convention site. “They came into our community and shot down our family right here at a public park,” said Linda Sharpe, a cousin of the man who was killed. “What are you doing in our city, shooting people down?”