Footage from a body camera captures the critical moments just before a gunman began shooting at Donald Trump, revealing the instant a police officer noticed him wielding a rifle.
On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot and killed by police after he aimed and fired at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The attack resulted in one fatality and injuries to the former president and two bystanders. It has since come to light that law enforcement had reportedly identified Crooks’ presence prior to the incident.
The bodycam video, initially without audio, was recorded by a Butler Township Police Department officer. It shows him signaling to another officer for assistance to climb onto the roof where Crooks was located, just moments before he began shooting into the crowd.
The officer clambered up to the approximately 12-foot-high roof but quickly descended and rushed to his vehicle to retrieve his rifle.
In the latter part of the footage, he can be heard exclaiming: “F***ing this close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me.”
Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights previously discussed the officer’s actions with Fox News, noting that the officer “did observe an individual on the roof” after being hoisted up.
Knights added that the individual was “identified as having a weapon” and “did point that firearm at [the] officer.”
When the officer ducked his head, he lost his grip and fell “approximately eight feet” to the ground, resulting in a sprained ankle.
The officer radioed a local command post to alert others about Crooks being armed with a rifle, according to a transcript obtained by The Washington Post. He was quoted saying: “He’s armed. I saw him, he’s laying down.”
Despite this, the warning did not reach the Secret Service command center or the agency personnel closest to Trump. Two law enforcement officers informed The Post that the command posts had no direct communication line and were relying on information relayed via cellphone.
By the time the bodycam-equipped officer returned to the rooftop with his firearm, other officers had already surrounded Crooks’ body after he was neutralized.
“I’m f***ing p**sed. We couldn’t find him,” one officer lamented in the video.
During a recent news conference, acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe Jr. admitted that the separate communications hubs had failed to disseminate information effectively.
“There might have been radio traffic that we missed. We have to be better on that,” he stated.