I just posted this on another thread...
Everyone on the detail knows at that point because the witness pointed him out, or at least he tried to.
Did you see the pole shed? Its “flat topped”. The witness says the sniper was bear crawling up to the other end. A “flat topped” pole barn generally isnt flat, its sloped to one side with no middle peak. If the sniper is crawling up then he is crawling to the high side (toward Trump).
The SS may full well know that he is there but they cant see him because he is using the front of the building like a merlon.
The SS cant just start hosing down a building randomly because someone says there is someone else on the roof. They have to see him to aim which they cant do until he pops up.
Some will point out that a pole barn like that is effectively only concealment, not cover. True, that still doesnt mean that SS can chew the whole top front of the building off with gun fire.
The SS may full well know that he is there but they cant see him because he is using the front of the building like a merlon.
The SS cant just start hosing down a building randomly because someone says there is someone else on the roof. They have to see him to aim which they cant do until he pops up.
This could explain why the sharpshooters had to wait until the perp started shooting. They weren't in a position to see him until then.
Still doesn't explain why no drones though.
If all you say is true then why didn’t the SS Snipers who knew/suspected an unseen sniper about to shoot radio the Trump body team to act and radio others to check out the threat. Only watching site themselves is poor strategy.
there were cops and SS right there where the witness was.
That said…..
The witness even said he didn’t think the snipers could see the would be assassin from their vantage point. It’s also likely someone doing overwatch from an elevated platform would see the commotion outside the perimeter carrying on and pointing (ie the witness trying to alert law enforcement/SS) and then attempt to get glass on likely hides.
As you said they can’t just start blasting holes in a building. Further, we don’t know what the witnesses ACTUALLY said when hollering about a man with a gun, or if the people he shouted at/to had the same line of sight and could see a man with a gun.
“He’s got a gun on the roof” is next to useless information if there are several roofs the man could be on. We also don’t know how many people were yelling, which also adds to the confusion. It’s the same reason the military uses ADDRAC (alert direction description range assignment control) when alerting others to the threat, it provides very clear information on what the threat is and where the threat is located. Further, not to impugn the witness - it’s possible the witness’ timeline is skewed. In a high stress high adrenaline situation the mind perceives things as slowing down. What takes only a few seconds can feel like an eternity.
When the BBC reporter asked how long Trump had been speaking, the witness provided a timeline and then caveated he was just guessing. It is very possible the witnesses fight, flight, or freeze was kicking into overdrive particularly as he was still processing the surreal likelihood he was about to witness an assassination attempt and the actual lead up seemed longer to him than it was. Not only that, but the security detail also had to hear, process, and respond to the same. The “fog of war” is very real.
We also don’t know if one of the local police and/or SS heard the witness and bystanders and if they radioed that information - likely something to the effect of ‘possible man on a roof with a gun.’ My assessment is that’s less likely as none of the bodyguards in proximity to Trump seem to move toward him until after shots were fired. However, maybe they did and their protocol is to identify threats first and that’s what they were doing…IDK their protocols in the event there’s not an ACTUALLY identified threat.