Local SWAT team attributes failed Trump assassination attempt to insufficient planning and communication

There appeared to be something amiss from the instant Beaver County SWAT marksman Gregory Nicol spotted a man skulking around the outskirts of the area where former President Donald Trump was set to appear on July 13.

From his second-story perch inside the AGR complex at the fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, Nicol observed the young man in a gray T-shirt, lurking.

“He was gazing up and down the building … It just seemed out of place,” Nicol, assistant leader of the Beaver County SWAT team, disclosed to ABC News in an interview that airs Monday on Good Morning America at 7 a.m. ET. “It just didn’t seem right.”

View ABC News’ exclusive initial interview with the local SWAT team on the ground during Trump’s assassination attempt, airs in its entirety on “Good Morning America” on Monday, July 29, at 7 a.m. ET.

Nicol observed an unattended bike and backpack. And he saw the man looking up and around, then pulling a rangefinder from his pocket. There was no apparent reason to have a distance-gauging device at a political rally featuring the man who, in a few days, would accept his party’s presidential nomination. The sharpshooter took pictures of the suspicious-looking man and the bike, then signaled it to fellow snipers from his team assigned to the event and reported it to the command group.

Nicol would be the first officer to issue a caution about 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. Within an hour, Crooks would open fire from the roof of that very building, less than 200 yards from the rally’s stage, injuring Trump on live TV, killing one person in the crowd, and critically injuring two more.

The marksman and his fellow Beaver County SWAT officers were assigned to Trump’s Butler campaign rally, and tasked with supporting the Secret Service and other law enforcement in the mission to keep the event and Secret Service protectee, safe.

They have not spoken publicly until now.

‘Something that we’ll always carry with us’

In their first public comments since the assassination attempt, the Beaver County SWAT team and their supervisors spoke with ABC News Senior Investigative Correspondent Aaron Katersky, marking the first time any of the key law enforcement personnel who were on site July 13 have offered firsthand accounts of what occurred.

The violent episode has already led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. And, in the wake of the assassination attempt, a series of law enforcement, internal, and congressional probes have been announced — with communications and coordination a key focus of investigators’ attention.

“This one is something that we’ll always carry with us,” assistant Beaver County SWAT leader Mike Priolo told ABC News.

Long before Crooks would fire his AR-style rifle that Saturday evening, Crooks’ presence wasn’t the only thing that didn’t seem quite right to the local SWAT team.

Team members said that the day of the rally, they had no contact with the agents on Trump’s Secret Service detail.

“We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived, and that never happened,” said Jason Woods, team leader for Beaver County’s Emergency Services Unit and SWAT marksman section.

“So I think that was probably a pivotal point, where I started thinking things were wrong because it never happened. We had no communication,” Woods said. “Not until after the shooting.”

By then, he said, “it was too late.”

The Secret Service, whose on-site team was supplemented as usual by local, county and state law-enforcement agencies, was ultimately responsible for security at the event, but none of the concerns apparently reached members of Trump’s detail. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Secret Service agents have complained they were not made aware of the warnings.

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi declined to respond directly to the comments Woods and his colleagues made to ABC News. He said the agency “is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again. That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations.”

“I have to imagine that they’re going to make some very serious adjustments — namely, probably, hold it inside where you have a lot more control over who’s coming in,” said Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible, who oversees the county SWAT unit. “If we’re asked for assistance, we will provide it.”