Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, who is in charge of overseeing the Secret Service, criticized the security measures in place at Donald Trump’s rally. He acknowledged that the gunman should never have had a clear line of sight on the former president.

“A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur,” Mayorkas told ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” 

Officials said Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was stationed on a rooftop near Trump’s campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday evening when he fired multiple rounds at the 78-year-old former president and spectators before he was ultimately killed by a Secret Service sniper.  

The DHS chief backed President Biden’s call for an “independent review of the incident,” which left Trump injured after a bullet grazed his ear, a spectator killed and two others injured.

“We are going to really study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service and to me so that we can assure the safety and security of our protectees, which is one of our most vital missions in the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and across the government,” Mayorkas said.

While critical of the apparent lapse in security, Mayorkas did offer praise to the Secret Service for at least quickly neutralizing the threat.

The Secret Service and local police have garnered backlash over the security failures that allowed Crooks to sneak onto the roof of a manufacturing plant just 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking.

The Secret Service confirmed that it relied heavily on local police to help to provide security for the rally, which included at least six officers from Butler County.

Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who led an extensive investigation into the shortcomings of the Secret Service in 2015, was among those to quickly criticize the agency after the shooting.

“This was a catastrophic failure. It should never have been a remote possibility,” Chaffetz told the Washington Post.

Even former Secret service agents have come out to rip the apparent failings.

“How the f–k did he get a gun that close?” a former Secret Service agent told the Washington Post.

Another former agent said, “This is bad, just terrible.

“When the incident occurred, I was baffled when I heard the distance of the shot. … How could that happen?”