Newly released body camera footage reveals the chaos that unfolded before and after Thomas Crooks' attempted assassination of former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month.
The Butler Township Police Department on Thursday released 12 body camera videos illustrating the colossal security failure that nearly took down the presidential candidate, cost the life of a retired fire chief and seriously injured two others.
On July 13, Crooks managed to climb onto a rooftop and fire eight shots just 150 yards from the former president as he addressed a crowd on stage. A sniper stationed on a nearby rooftop quickly killed Crooks with a single shot to the head.
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A collage of police body camera footage released Thursday of the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump. (Butler Township Police Department)
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“I told them they had to send the guys here. I told them,” one police officer can be heard saying minutes after the assassination attempt. “The Secret Service. I told them on Tuesday.”
Another person can be heard off-camera saying that he thought the man speaking had been stationed on the roof.
“No, we were inside,” the local officer replied.
Secret Service leaders have yet to adequately explain why there was no one on the roof, which had a direct line of sight to the president, but the images suggest a complete breakdown in communication.
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“This reinforces that this was very poorly organized, and that is irrefutable, and that is the fault of the Service,” former New York Police Inspector Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital.
Officer's terrifying confrontation with Trump's would-be assassin
An officer can be seen pulling a colleague up onto the roof where Crooks was standing with an AR-15 rifle. The shooter pointed the gun at the officer, forcing him to crouch and lose his balance as he hung off the side of the building.
Seconds later, Crooks opened fire, striking Trump in the ear and killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore.
“Holy shit, this close brother, friend, he turned around and turned towards me,” the officer who came face to face with Crooks can be heard saying in the footage.
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The video shows the officer struggling to retrieve a large gun from his car and then joining a swarm of other police officers who begin to surround the building.
The officer describes Crooks to the others as they prepare to go up to the roof, telling them that he wears glasses and has long hair. He adds that Crooks has a long gun and several magazines.
“Be careful,” he tells them, “because it could fall on you there.”
But Crooks was already dead. Later in the footage, Crooks' lifeless body is seen surrounded by officers.
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Several attendees said they repeatedly warned officers at the scene about Crooks' presence.
Police first noticed Crooks at 5:10 p.m., about 50 minutes before he shot Trump. Local police took a photograph of Crooks at 5:30 p.m. and alerted their superiors, but police lost sight of him.
“I'm so fucking pissed. We couldn't find him,” another officer is heard saying on the body camera footage.
Mauro said the Butler Township police officers who saw Crooks on the roof were on traffic duty at the event, but realized the severity of the situation and abandoned their posts.
“You can see the level of confusion,” he said.
Communication failure
After the officer's confrontation with Crooks, Crooks takes out his frustration on other law enforcement officers.
“Before you motherfuckers came here, I stuck my head out like an idiot myself, man,” says the officer who was propelled to the roof. “Then he (Crooks) turned around, and I fucking fell down, and I started fucking around… I was yelling, 'Bro, fuck up on the roof.' Fuck, aren't we on the same frequency?”
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A map detailing locations of interest related to the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Trump by Thomas Crooks in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Provided by Senator Chuck Grassley)
The comment suggests that local police were not on the same radio frequency as other law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, or that their equipment was not working properly, Mauro said.
When the officer tried to warn the Secret Service that Crooks had a gun, the message did not get through.
“The video confirms the speculation that communications were a mess, and it is undeniable,” Mauro said.
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Poor cellular signal further hampered the team's ability to communicate amid a rapidly unfolding crisis.
Shortly after the shooting, an officer can be heard on video recapping the horrific incident.
“I would say that this is a mess… someone has messed up,” he says.
Fox News' Audrey Conkin, Michael Dorgan and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
