Trump shooter's assassination attempt shocks former FBI task force officer: 'Blown away'

A veteran Nevada law enforcement officer, who served in the elite FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, said he was left "blown away" after a barrage of gunfire broke out at former President Trump's rally in Pennsylvania.

Ashton Packe, a retired Las Vegas detective, shared an inside look into the investigation of the assassination attempt in Butler.

"I was initially just blown away," he said. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing was actually happening because we put so much faith and belief in the system of the Secret Service to protect former presidents, current presidents and their families."

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Republican candidate former President Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

Packe applauded the U.S. Secret Service personnel who quickly surrounded the former president without hesitation.

"I think I counted less than three seconds from the initial shot to an agent throwing himself on President Trump's body," he said. "I've analyzed the video. I've gone through it several times myself."

I was initially just blown away…

— Ashton Packe, former FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force member

Former President Trump was hit in the ear in an apparent assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)

The law enforcement veteran said the suspect, who was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was "amateur hour."

"As far as the suspect is concerned, it was amateur hour," he said. "Anyone you know with an AR-15 rifle or a M4 variant is very effective within 150 yards of where that shot was taken. 

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"And so he failed at this, as I'm sure he's failed at many things in his life," Packe said.

Former Buffalo Township Fire Chief Corey Comperatore pictured with his daughters in an undated family photo. Authorities say Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, on Saturday struck and killed Comperatore in the crossfire. Secret Service agents returned fire, killing Crooks. (Helen Comperatore/Facebook)

Corey Comperatore was attending the rally when he was killed in the gunfire. Packe praised Comperatore’s quick decision to use his body as a shield against the bullets flying toward his wife and daughter.

"It's always about the victims. There was a victim that died there yesterday," he said. "A man who was there protecting his daughter through his body when the shots rang out, just like the Secret Service threw their bodies on President Trump."

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"And that was the job of that father, and so I think we need to talk about victims and the amazing lives that they lived and not the unfortunate, horrible decisions of one individual," he said.

Police snipers return fire after shots were fired while Republican presidential candidate former President Trump was speaking at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Packe said that he thinks that Americans will begin to realize in the coming days the severity of the attack on the former president.

"I don't think a lot of Americans realize just how bad last night could have been, and in the weeks following could have been, had Mr. Trump had been killed," he said.

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The law enforcement veteran said that his hope is that this attack would prompt the country to "come together."

"It's my hope that we as a country can come together and take a deep breath and realize that, you know, most of us are a little left. Most people are in the middle or slightly right or slightly left," he said.