Newly released footage from local Pennsylvania police reveals a clearer picture of the moments surrounding the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July. In one body-camera video, a local officer tells colleagues he told the US Secret Service ahead of time to secure the building the gunman used. Another shows the moment an officer is hoisted on to a rooftop and lays eyes on the gunman, seconds before he opens fire at the Trump rally.
Trump rally shooting
Trump was nicked by a bullet in the shooting, one person was killed and two others badly injured. The body and dashboard footage was released on Thursday to US media outlets by the Butler Township Police Department. They capture moments of frustration, confusion and miscommunication in the moments before and after the assassination attempt. In one, a local officer said he had asked the Secret Service to man the building where the gunman had fired from, days before the rally.
“I told them they need to post guys over there,” he said, according to one video obtained by the Wall Street Journal. “I told them that [on] Tuesday. “The open-air rally took place on Saturday 13 July. The officer appears angry as he tells his colleagues that he asked the Secret Service to secure the building. “I talked to the Secret Service guys, they were like, ‘Yeah, no problem, we’re going to post guys over here,’” the officer says.
Thirty-nine seconds later, Crooks opened fire. Shots grazed the ear of the former president, killed volunteer firefighter and father of two Corey Comparator, and injured two more rally-goers.
“He turned around on me,” the officer who tried to climb on the roof yells to another officer after getting his weapon and struggling to catch his breath. “Who’s got eyes on him? He was right where you picked me up, bro. He was on the left side.”
Within seconds, more law enforcement officers from different units are seen approaching the building. “He is laying down,” the officer says as a tactical unit prepares to climb on the roof. “He’s got glasses, long hair.” The officer warns the team the gunman has a book bag and an AR-style gun. “Watch out!” he yells. A Secret Service sniper shot and killed Crooks within seconds of him opening fire, but the officers in the video seem to not know this yet.
“This building, this building, the left one,” the officer who spotted the gunman cries out. Seconds later an officer can be heard in the background of the video yelling, “Let me see your hands, let me see your hands!” The bodycam video shows the officer climbing back onto the building and walking up to the body of the gunman, which is surrounded by three armed officers. The video shows blood running down the roof from the body.
The officer who first tried to get on the roof had been handling traffic and was part of a group that was called by a local tactical team stationed on the second floor of the building complex after they had grown concerned about a suspicious person. One of the snipers took a picture of the gunman and saw him looking through a rangefinder minutes before the shooting.
In another bodycam video from the scene, a Butler police officer tells another local officer, “I f—ing told the Secret Service post a f—ing guy over here. I told them at the f—ing meeting.” The bodycam video also shows the officer who tried to get on the roof and the others cursing and visibly frustrated. “I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself,” the officer says. “He turned around, I f—ing dropped.”
“Dude, I was f—ing calling out, bro, on top of the roof. Were you all on the same frequency?” the officer asks the others. A few minutes later, the officer asks a member of the tactical unit, “You good, bro?” “I’m f—ing pissed,” the officer responds. “We were watching him. We f—ing couldn’t find him. “I’m f—ing pissed,” the officer responds. “We were watching him. We f—ing couldn’t find him.”
“I hear you, I hear you,” the officer who first climbed the roof responds. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by the Secret Service counter-sniper team after he fired eight bullets in Trump’s direction from a rooftop just outside the rally’s security perimeter. The would-be assassin was on a building in what police have described as a “secondary ring”, which was patrolled not by the Secret Service but by local and state officers.
Trump, who was on stage addressing supporters, was wounded in the ear before he ducked and Secret Service agents pulled him off stage. In another video, a Butler County police officer is seen being hoisted up by a colleague on to the rooftop where he spots Crooks.He quickly drops down when he sees the gunman is armed.
He is then seen running to the other side of the building and to his police car to retrieve a rifle.
Around 40 seconds after the officer first lays eyes on the gunman, Crooks fires at Trump.
The officer shouts to his colleague: “He’s straight up … Who’s got eyes on him?”
The video then shows police officers trying to access the roof.
“He’s got glasses, long hair,” the officer who saw Crooks tells them, adding he has a book bag and an AR-style rifle. After getting on the roof, the officers see Crooks’ body. The first police officer is then heard saying: “I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself,” adding that he “started calling out” that a gunman was on the roof.
“Were you on the same frequency?” he is heard asking, referring to the police radio.
In other footage, one officer reportedly appears confused as to why the rooftop was unmanned.
“I thought it was you! I thought you guys were on the roof!” He then swears in frustration and asked: “Why are we not on the roof?”
The Secret Service had posted three counter-snipers inside one of the adjacent buildings.
One of them had spotted Crooks earlier in the day following reports among the law enforcement on site of a suspicious person at the rally. The Secret Service sniper then took a photo of Crooks before leaving his post to search for the suspect.
Their contents were reported on by multiple US news outlet. In a statement on Thursday, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmo said the agency was reviewing the footage. “The US Secret Service appreciates our local law enforcement partners, who acted courageously as they worked to locate the shooter that day,” he said. “The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was a US Secret Service failure, and we are reviewing and updating our protective policies and procedures in order to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again.”
The FBI is also investigating the incident, as is a bipartisan House panel made up of 13 lawmakers.
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