Corey Comperatore dove in front of his family and died on a grassy field in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Two years later, a federal report answered the one question nobody in Washington wanted asked.
What one Secret Service agent was doing at the exact moment Crooks fired has never been reported – until now.
Secret Service Agent Googled Thomas Crooks Rooftop Location as Shots Rang Out in Butler
At 6:09 p.m. on July 13, 2024, local law enforcement called the Secret Service communications room with an urgent warning: a suspicious person was on the roof of the American Glass Research complex – 155 yards from the stage where Donald Trump stood speaking to tens of thousands of supporters.
The Secret Service counter drone operator heard the warning.
He didn’t ask where the building was or radio the protective detail.
He opened Google.
According to the 64-page DHS inspector general report released this week, the operator was still searching the internet for the AGR building's location when Thomas Crooks fired his first shot two minutes later.
The future president was on stage with no protection between him and a rifle.
Secret Service Missed 102 Radio Calls Warning of Gunman on the Roof
That detail is one piece of a collapse so wide and deep it reads like deliberate negligence.
Local law enforcement had been tracking Crooks for over 30 minutes before he fired.
At 5:42 p.m., officers radioed that a young male had been spotted near the AGR building with a rangefinder, sighting the stage.
At 6:08 p.m.: "I have someone on the roof with white shorts."
At 6:11 p.m.: "He's armed, I saw him. He's laying down."
Seconds later: "You need to deploy to the AGR building … male on the roof with a long gun. Shots fired!"
The Secret Service received none of it.
While local law enforcement sent 102 radio transmissions tracking Crooks in real time, the Secret Service communications room got five phone calls and three text messages – the result of the agency's refusal to establish a joint command post with local police.
The supervisor didn't even remember being told about the man on the roof. He had handed off the call to the drone operator because it was a "busy time" on radios.
So the operator Googled it.
DHS Report: Secret Service Identified AGR Rooftop as Threat and Left It Unguarded
The Secret Service already knew the AGR building was a threat.
One day before the rally, the site agent proposed placing trucks between the AGR complex and the stage to block the line of sight.
Trump campaign staff said no. The trucks would be too close to the president's press shot.
Security decisions are the Secret Service's call – not the campaign's. The agency had the authority to override that objection and didn't.
An alternative placement was agreed on – then ignored. The trucks were never moved, and no supervisor ever checked whether they had been. The DHS inspector general concluded the Secret Service knew the rooftop was a vulnerability and failed to ensure it was addressed.
Separately, classified intelligence about a long-range threat to Trump had reached senior Secret Service officials ten days before the rally. The agents on the ground in Butler – the ones responsible for planning and executing security that day – never received it.
The people who needed it most never got it.
Two Years After Butler Assassination Attempt on Trump Not One Agent Has Been Fired
Two years after Corey Comperatore was buried and Trump's ear bled on national television, the accounting is this: six suspensions. No firings.
Sen. Rand Paul had to issue a subpoena just to find out that much.
"What happened in Butler was not just a tragedy – it was a scandal," Paul said after releasing his own Senate committee report last year. "Despite those failures, no one has been fired. And we only know what little discipline was handed out because I issued a subpoena. That's unacceptable."
The Secret Service's deputy director went on record defending the approach. "We aren't going to fire our way out of this," he told reporters.
The man placed in charge of Trump's protective detail that day – Sean Curran – was promoted to director of the Secret Service.
As of this month's DHS inspector general report, the agency still has not developed a complete, documented plan to prevent a repeat of the sightline failures that let Crooks get into position.
The OIG is holding that recommendation open – the Secret Service has not provided evidence that supervisors are required to approve mitigation plans before events take place.
The DHS inspector general titled the report: The Secret Service Missed Opportunities to Prevent and Disrupt the Attempted Assassination of President Trump on July 13, 2024.
What actually happened was a federal protective agency watching a man climb a rooftop with a rifle – and Googling where the building was while he pulled the trigger.
Corey Comperatore deserved better.
Sources:
- Victor Nava, "Secret Service member was Googling rooftop location of Trump's would-be assassin when shots rang out in Butler, Pa.: DHS report," New York Post, July 2, 2026.
- OAN Staff, "DHS's Office of Inspector Gen. Report: U.S. Secret Service had 2-minute warning of gunman on roof before Trump was shot," One America News, July 2, 2026.
- Jim Hoft, "Bombshell IG Report: Secret Service Was Searching the Internet for the Shooter's Rooftop Location During the Butler Assassination Attempt," The Gateway Pundit, July 3, 2026.
- Sen. Rand Paul, "Chairman Rand Paul Releases Final Report Detailing Secret Service Failures in Attempted Assassination of President Donald J. Trump," Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, July 14, 2025.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley, "Grassley Report Concludes Secret Service Failure to Share Threat Information Allowed for Preventable Tragedy in Butler," Senate Judiciary Committee, July 12, 2025.
- Fox News Staff, "Rand Paul slams Secret Service 'cultural coverup' after Trump shooting," Fox News, July 13, 2025.
