A glass equipment supplier in Butler, Pennsylvania, remains closed following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump this past weekend. The former president held a rally at the Butler County Farm Fairgrounds on Saturday when Thomas Crooks, 20, climbed the roof of AGR International Inc.’s headquarters and fired multiple shots from an AR-style assault rifle. The rounds grazed Trump in the ear, killing one supporter and wounding two others.
AGR supplies quality assurance and process automation equipment for the global glass packaging market. Its Butler facility is just 130 yards from the Butler County Farm Fairgrounds. Nearly a week after the shooting, the facility remains closed, according to a recorded company phone message. AGR officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
According to media reports, it’s unknown how Crooks scaled AGR’s roof. It is believed that he purchased a five-foot ladder from Home Depot before the shooting, but it was not found at the scene. While questions persist as to how he accessed the roof, reports indicate that multiple warning signs were noticed before the shooting.
Per CNN, attendees reported seeing Crooks acting suspiciously near rally metal detectors. Local law enforcement officials were notified, who warned Secret Service agents to be on the lookout for him. He was also reportedly seen with a rifle outside of a security checkpoint near the rally entrance and later spotted jumping “roof to roof” before settling on the AGR facility.
The New York Times (NYT) reports that local police and Crooks were in the same AGR warehouse, with snipers positioned inside or near the same complex of buildings.
“The director of the Secret Service said the local forces were in the very same building, an account suggesting that the gunman was essentially on top of them,” reports NYT. “A local law enforcement official told The New York Times on Tuesday that was not the case, and the local officers were in an adjacent building.”
Secret Service representative Anthony Gugliemi told NYT officials that AGR’s facility was not in their area of operations but in the scope of local Pennsylvania state police. He explains that the Secret Service covered the grounds where Trump’s rally occurred, just 500 feet from AGR’s headquarters. Media reports also state that law enforcement never visited residents around AGR’s facility before the rally, some living in close proximity to AGR.
AGR has been in business for more than 90 years and employs around 200 workers in 13 offices worldwide.