Butler Township Edward Natali fired back at the Secret Service, reiterating that local police did not have the responsibility to secure the rooftop where Thomas Crooks sat and shot former President Donald Trump.
However, we recently learned that local law enforcement had three snipers in the building.
Natali vented his anger on Facebook. You can feel the heat:
I want to say as clearly as can be said, the Butler Township Police Department (“BTPD”) had no security detail for this event. There were seven officers all assigned to traffic detail. Period!! The BTPD was NOT responsible for securing AGR or any other location. Anyone who says so, reports on it, implies it, etc… is uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides. I trust I am being loud and clear. To read this article and stating an unnamed USSS agent pointing the finger at “Local Police” is a very transparent deflection. I am disappointed this article was even published by Butler Radio Network.As Sheriff Slupe stated, the BTPD officers in the general vicinity left their traffic detail to respond to the report of a suspicious person. With reports of the suspect on the roof, a first officer being assisted by a second officer was pulling himself up to see on the roof. The suspect turned his firearm on the first officer, who as Sheriff Slupe stated, was not in position to wield his weapon to defend himself. He fell to safety and was injured in the process. The fact of the matter is the encounter with the officer most likely forced the shooter to hurry his shots.It is completely disgusting to see finger pointing has become the priority, when we had four people shot, with one of the four fatally wounded. I am sure it is comfort to all family members, including President Trump’s family, that it is more important to affix the blame, rather than the problem.The men and women who serve in the BTPD are dedicated to their jobs, the wellbeing of their fellow citizens, and they love their community.Edward R. Natali, Butler Township commissioner.
Secret Service representative Anthony Gugliemi claimed the local police had to secure the building.
Instead, the Secret Service only had to cover “the grounds where Trump’s rally took place, with local police being recruited to assist with those efforts and secure the area outside the rally.”
Those who live near the Butler Farm Grounds said no local or federal law enforcement visited them before the rally:
“Nobody contacted me. Nobody. Nobody called me, nobody stopped here,” said Valerie Fennell, whose home backs up on the fair grounds and is just beyond a stand of trees from AGR.“I kinda was thinking that as close as my house is, that I honestly thought this might be part of a command station at some point,” she said.And it wasn’t just Fennell who wasn’t contacted by law enforcement — she said her entire neighborhood was bafflingly left alone despite their proximity to the rally grounds.“I was talking to my neighbors yesterday, and none of them had gotten a call. Or anything,” she said, while her sister, Debra, agreed.“I guess it’s kind of the same question that everybody has. I guess, as far as like, why that area wasn’t secure.”
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