Roofers debunk Secret Service’s ‘sloped’ roof excuse

Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, should have been festive. Instead, it saw the former president shot through the ear by a deranged gunman. Two innocent rallygoers were maimed, and shrieking onlookers witnessed the last moments of father and firefighter Corey Comperatore as he lay shot and bleeding on the bleachers. 

The lapses in security that allowed an unremarkable 20-year-old man onto a nearby roof and up to his perch of dark opportunity are under public scrutiny — and will surely be probed in upcoming weeks. Up to this point, and unavailable to answer questions until Tuesday, Director of the Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle offered little clarity.

Asked why no armed agents were posted on the AGR International Inc. roof — a structure adjacent to the rally with a shockingly direct line of fire on the podium — Cheatle said it was because the roof was “sloped” and raised a “safety factor.” For this reason, she said, officials instead “secure[d] the building from inside.” 

Her argument is ridiculous. 

As a former roofer, I’ve carried the requisite 75-pound bundles of shingles up many ladders, gone down to start compressors, gone up to bring hoses and nail guns, and looked down over precipitous drops that make nether regions tingle. I know the distinctive five-nail fastening schedule we used by its sound, “pop, pop, pop-pop-pop,” and I can distinguish a “cake” roof from a dangerous one.

As one can imagine, the most comfortably “walkable” roofs are flat or nearly flat. Most roofs are not flat, however, and the difficulty in roofing them increases greatly with their steepness. 

Roof steepness is measured in inches of rise over inches of run, also known as “roof pitch.” A 1-in-12 pitch roof rises one inch for every 12 inches, or foot, it runs horizontally. A two-pitch roof rises two inches for every 12 inches of horizontal distance, etc.

Completely flat roofs are popular in commercial settings, and they are roofed with hot tar or rubber roll roofing. Two- to four-pitch roofs are called “low-pitch” roofs. They are virtually flat and are usually roofed residentially with overlapping lengths of asphalt roll roofing. In industrial and commercial settings, such as businesses and factories, low-pitch roofs are often roofed with metal. 

Four- through nine-pitch roofs are “conventional” roofs. These roofs have traditional, noticeable slopes and are commonly shingled with asphalt shingles (though sometimes metal shingles or wooden “shake” shingles) in residential settings, such as homes. They may also be clad in asphalt or metal shingles in commercial applications. 

Roofs get steeper and more challenging to walk and work until nine-pitch, when they are considered “steep-slope” roofs, which necessitate roofing brackets and planks to lessen their slope. Such roofs are dangerous because they are so steep, and depending on the locality or job site, they may even require safety harnesses and other fall protection. 

Now that you’re ready for a career in roofing, please understand that the roof of AGR International Inc., which the shooter used as a sniper’s nest, is very walkable, an industrial roof and, by definition, a low-slope roof having between two and four pitch. Rising between two and four inches for every foot it runs horizontally, it’s not quite flat, but it is a very gradual slope.

Contrary to Director Cheatle’s statement, AGR International’s two- to four-pitch industrial roof is not too “sloped.” It presents no special “safety factor” for agents to walk. It is low-pitch, and people can comfortably stand and maneuver upon it. The killer easily climbed and moved around on it, and the internet is replete with images of agents comfortably walking it.

Rather than being a slippery slope for Secret Service agents and police to walk, sadly for the victims in Pennsylvania, AGR’s roof proved to be slippery for police, not to police. Are agents in Cheatle’s Secret Service now forbidden from policing standard roofs?

The U.S. Secret Service has a proud heritage. We have no way of knowing all the plots it has foiled or discouraged. No excuses need to be made for its history of valor. It deserves far better direction than Kimberly Cheatle has provided. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has no business having “100 percent confidence” in her brand of leadership.