WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 A U.S. Secret Service sniper killed the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump in a split-second decision, taking out the man perched on an adjacent rooftop.
has publicly praised the sniper's quick work on Saturday. But the Counter Sniper Team is now subject to a review by the Office of the Inspector General, which aims to determine how well the team is "prepared to respond to threats at events.鈥
The Secret Service was already subject to a more general probe from the Inspector General as well as congressional subpoenas regarding the shooting at the Trump campaign rally, in what has become the most intense scrutiny the agency has faced since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
Here's what to know about the agency's elite sniper group.
Sniper team is 鈥榲ery elite and difficult to get into鈥
The Counter Sniper Team was established in 1971. It provides intelligence and observations of potential threats from far away in an effort to protect U.S. presidents, vice presidents, first ladies and others, according to a 2020 report by the Government Accountability Office on federal tactical teams.
Those who join the team have already worked for the Secret Service for at least two years, according to the agency's website. They must undergo 11 weeks of counter sniper selection and basic training, along with a color vision test. Counter snipers must have excellent eyesight and hearing.
鈥淚t's very sought after, it's very elite and difficult to get into,鈥 Pete Piraino, who spent 23 years with the Secret Service, including five years in the presidential protective division, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
They typically work in pairs
The counter snipers are on the look out for threats from far away, even beyond the established security perimeter, said Piraino, who is now vice provost for academics and a criminal justice professor at Tiffin University in Ohio. They often work outdoors, focusing on rooftops and the windows of surrounding buildings.
They typically work in teams of two 鈥 one serves as a spotter while the other trains their rifle's sight on the same area.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e trained to scan an area, remember what they see and come back to scan it again and see if there's any change,鈥 Piraino said. 鈥淚t's not just a matter of picking up their binoculars and looking around. They are trained very thoroughly and specifically with rangefinders and their equipment.鈥
If they don鈥檛 qualify, they don't work
The counter snipers, code named 鈥淗ercules,鈥 can respond to a threat from a distance with their .300 Winchester Magnum rifles, according to Ronald Kessler's 2009 book, "In the President鈥檚 Secret Service." And they have to prove they can do so on a monthly basis.
鈥淐ounter-Snipers are required to qualify shooting out to a thousand yards each month,鈥 Kessler wrote. 鈥淚f they don't qualify, they don't travel or work.鈥
The snipers shoot with a rifle called a JAR, said Paul Eckloff, a retired Secret Service agent who served on details protecting three different presidents during his 23-year career.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e never heard of it because the Secret Service makes them,鈥 Eckloff said.
It stands for 鈥渏ust another rifle鈥 and they鈥檙e built specifically for each counter sniper by the Secret Service鈥檚 armorer to take into account things like the length of the shooter鈥檚 arms, wrists and trigger finger.
Eckloff wouldn鈥檛 disclose how many counter sniper teams there are but noted that it鈥檚 a finite resource and they could always use more.
What happened?
Police learned of outside the fairgrounds , before Trump took the stage. Minutes into his speech, shots were fired.
A counter sniper shot and killed in the seconds after he opened fire from a rooftop some 150 yards (135 meters) from the stage. Secret Service agents threw themselves on top of the former president before hustling him off stage.
Stephen Colo, who retired from the Secret Service in 2003 as an assistant director, that presidential candidates and former presidents don鈥檛 typically get the same level of protection as the sitting president.
Colo said he was surprised that the agency had staffed the event with a counter sniper team because there are not many of those highly trained operatives and they are usually reserved for the president.
Kessler told the AP that the Counter Sniper Team should not be the focus of all of the scrutiny and investigations. He said the Secret Service members working closer to Trump and moved him to safety as soon as they heard reports of a suspicious person in the crowd and then on a nearby rooftop.
鈥淭hey should have just evacuated as soon as there was any hint of danger,鈥 Kessler said.
Trump was not seriously injured and two days later he arrived in Milwaukee, , to the adulation of his supporters at the Republican 好色tv Convention.
The shooting had more serious ramifications for others at the rally. Former fire chief was shot and killed and two other people were wounded.
Cheatle, the Secret Service director, that the sniper who shot Crooks made a 鈥渟plit-second decision."
鈥淭hey have the ability to make that decision on their own. If they see that it鈥檚 a threat and they did that in that instance,鈥 she said.
鈥淎nd I applaud the fact that they made that decision and didn鈥檛 have to check with anybody and thankfully neutralized the threat.鈥
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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
