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According to reports from CNN, the Associated Press and the New York Times, at a hearing of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee on July 23 local time, Pennsylvania State Police Chief Christopher Paris disclosed new details about the assassination of former U.S. President Trump, including that before the incident, two police officers left a building overlooking the rooftop where the gunman was to look for the gunman.

CNN pointed out that these shocking details raised more questions for the troubled US Secret Service.

On July 13 local time, Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania, fired several shots from the roof of a building about 140 meters away from the podium at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring Trump's right ear and killing one spectator and seriously injuring two others.

Is the safety of the rooftop where the gunman was located the responsibility of local law enforcement?

It is reported that on the 23rd local time, Paris recounted at the hearing the communication between the Secret Service and the local law enforcement agencies that first discovered Crooks, and also provided a more detailed timeline from the first time the police saw Crooks in the crowd to when he shot Trump.

Paris testified that two local law enforcement officers left their posts to search for Crooks after they first spotted the suspicious person and alerted other law enforcement agencies. The suspicious person was Crooks. The building they were originally in overlooked the rooftop where Crooks was. It is reported that the two law enforcement officers belonged to the Butler County Emergency Services Department and had sniper capabilities.

When asked by Dan Bishop, a Republican congressman from North Carolina, whether Crooks would have climbed onto the roof if the two men had stayed where they were, Paris said he didn't know.

Paris noted that investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots before being killed, "I think the number is eight, eight bullet casings have been found."

Parris told lawmakers that "several Secret Service agents" who patrolled the area before the rally told state police commanders that Butler County Emergency Services was responsible for securing the building where Crooks opened fire.

The New York Times noted that Paris' testimony marked the first time an official identified the agency responsible for security on the rooftop where Crooks was.

But Parris' testimony is inconsistent with the account of Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger. Parris did not attend the rally that day and learned about what happened from reports and conversations of those who participated in the rally.

Goldinger told The New York Times last week that the county's emergency services department was not responsible for securing the area.

According to the report, someone called Goldinger about Paris's testimony, and the latter responded that he was still collecting information, but "this is not the information that was previously provided to me." A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to answer questions about Paris's testimony.

Paris also said at the hearing that Crooks was on the roof for three minutes before he opened fire, correcting his earlier statement that the time was shorter.

Paris said that two local police officers tried to climb onto the roof after learning of Crooks' location, but Crooks aimed his rifle at the officer who climbed onto the roof, and the officer fell. Crooks was close to his last position at the time, and it was only a few seconds from his confrontation with the police to shooting Trump.

Paris said whether or when the Secret Service or other law enforcement agencies at the rally were informed of the incident was "still under investigation."

Paris also detailed the communications between law enforcement agencies about Crooks before Trump took office on the day of the assassination. According to him, local police took a photo of Crooks and sent it to a state trooper who was stationed at the command center with Secret Service agents. The agent then asked that the photo be forwarded to another number belonging to someone in the Secret Service.

"There was no information at the time that he had a weapon," Paris said of Crooks.

Why was there no agent on the rooftop where the gunman was? Chittel gives two explanations

The Homeland Security Committee also reportedly asked Chittel to testify, but lawmakers said she refused. At the hearing, a card with Chittel's name on it was placed on a table. Shortly after the hearing began, the news of Chittel's decision to resign was announced.

The New York Times reported that before resigning, Chittel gave two explanations for why there were no agents on the roof where the gunman was.

She said in an interview that the roof was unsafe because it was sloped, and she also said the Secret Service generally wanted the roof to be "sterile," without explaining what that meant.

Paris pointed out at the hearing on the 23rd that the building where the gunman was located was not the highest in the assembly area and no security personnel were deployed there. He also said that he did not know the reason.

An anonymous local law enforcement official revealed that there was originally a team of three counter-snipers there, but one of them left before Trump took office.

The law enforcement officer also said that they were stationed in the building in part because of the hot weather that day and with the approval of the Secret Service.

On the 22nd, a senator stated that a whistleblower claimed that when Trump was assassinated, the security personnel on duty on the roof left their post without permission because of the hot weather.

According to ABC News, Republican Senator Josh Hawley released a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in which he wrote that a whistleblower came to his office and claimed that there was at least one security guard on the roof of the building where the gunman opened fire during the assassination, but that person left his post without permission because it was too hot.

In addition, the whistleblower also claimed that "due to concerns about the hot weather," law enforcement agencies gave up patrolling around the building and instead stationed security personnel inside the building.

Chittel said at a congressional hearing on the 22nd local time that local law enforcement officers were in the building where the gunman was at the time of the incident. But when asked why there were no agents on the roof or whether the Secret Service used drones to monitor the area, Chittel refused to give a detailed answer, saying only that she was still waiting for the full results of the investigation.

She also acknowledged that the Secret Service was notified of a suspicious person between two and five times before the stabbing, but there was no indication at the time that he was armed.

Chittel said the rooftop where Crooks was was identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally. If the Secret Service had realized there was a "real threat," Trump would not have been allowed on stage, but it was not determined that Crooks was a "threat" until "seconds before" the shooting.

According to the Associated Press, the Biden administration and U.S. congressmen are investigating the shooting. On the 23rd local time, Republican House Speaker Johnson and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed support for the establishment of a bipartisan joint task force to investigate the attempt to assassinate Trump. The task force will be composed of 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats. The House of Representatives may vote as early as the 24th local time.

The report pointed out that authorities have been looking for clues about Crooks' motives but have found none. Investigators searched his phone and found photos of Trump, Biden and other senior government officials, and found that he searched for the Democratic National Convention and the time when Trump appeared. In addition, he searched for information about major depression.

This article is an exclusive article of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.