The attack on Trump should’ve never happened. Now we’re seeing the scale of the security failure.
And scandalous new details on Trump’s assassination attempt are leaving jaws on the ground.
A clear timeline of shocking failures has emerged, revealing how an armed 20-year-old man with no military training was able to scale a building filled with counter-sniper team cops in broad daylight and come dangerously close to assassinating former President Donald Trump.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted at least twice by cops — 26 minutes before he unleashed bullets on the Pennsylvania rally crowd, wounding Trump and two others and k*lling an ex-fire chief, according to WPXI sources.
The Beaver County Emergency Services Unit — traveling from the Pittsburgh suburb to the Butler County, Pennsylvania, Trump rally — noticed Crooks on the roof, took a picture of him, and reported it around 5:45 p.m., WPXI reported.
Incredibly, despite standing out, Crooks managed to avoid confrontation and secured his rooftop perch right under the noses of a local police sniper team stationed inside the building, sources told the New York Post.
The building — the AGR International Inc. factory next to the Butler County Farm Fair grounds — was being used by local police as a “watch post” for snipers to scan for threats as the former president spoke onstage only 130 yards away, sources said.
Cops were inside but not on the roof during the shooting, sources added.
Crooks scaled the building unchallenged before firing up to eight shots with an AR-style assault rifle, grazing Trump in the ear, k*lling one Trump supporter, and wounding two others.
Law enforcement sources said it was unclear whether any local officers — tasked with securing the perimeter outside the rally — were able to warn Secret Service agents about the gunman.
Chilling video captured at the rally showcases the botched security operation, including approximately two minutes of footage that could mark a low point in the Secret Service’s over 100-year history of protecting U.S. presidents.
🚨 Watch the real time assassination attempt on Trump from different angles. With countdown from footage of people warning authorities about the shooter to Trump being whisked away. pic.twitter.com/iJTbRNlCEw
— MilkBarTV (@TheMilkBarTV) July 15, 2024
A multi-feed video montage by MilkBarTV, viewed more than 3.5 million times on X, shows the attempted assassination in real-time from several angles.
In the footage, more than 120 excruciating seconds pass between rallygoers first spotting Crooks on the roof and the moment he fires his rifle. Disturbingly, those who saw the would-be assassin repeatedly tried to alert nearby law enforcement.
Witnesses corroborated the footage, stating that some rally attendees were aware of Crooks’ presence well before he fired.
One local cop from the Butler Township police did manage to get hoisted onto the roof and confronted the gunman, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The Butler County sheriff defended the cop’s failure to stop Crooks, stating the officer was still pulling himself up and had to let go when faced with the weapon.
Law enforcement sources familiar with presidential protection details told the New York Post that Secret Service field offices often engage in a budgetary tug-of-war with Washington, usually receiving “a fraction” of what they request. This forces the agency to rely on local law enforcement, which typically lacks the resources of major cities like New York.
The failure in Butler might have been because Crooks’ position on the far side of the roof placed him just out of sight of the counter-sniper team stationed near Trump, sources said.
James A. Gagliano, a law enforcement analyst who served on the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team and as a senior SWAT team leader, offered insight into the footage of the two-minute ordeal.
“The investigation obviously just began, but when you look at a rooftop position that was accessible from the ground 130 yards away from a former president, a current presidential candidate, and someone so polarizing—is that a place that should have been covered? I would argue yes,” he said.
Gagliano called it “absolutely a miracle” that Trump survived the assassination attempt, attributing it to Crooks’ poor marksmanship.
“A shot of 130 yards is something in the business we’d refer to as a cake shot,” he said. “It’s something anybody with reasonable marksmanship skills can close their eyes, hold their breath, jerk the trigger and make.”
He described Saturday’s debacle as “a catastrophic, colossal systems failure that will be dissected for years to come.”
In the video, the two-minute timer starts with a split-screen of Trump speaking on stage and bystander footage near the manufacturing plant where Crooks was perched with his rifle. The videographer acknowledges a nearby commotion, seemingly sparked by several rally attendees noticing Crooks on the roof.
Seconds later, the camera pans to a uniformed police officer making his way around the front of the building where Crooks was hiding. More onlookers gather, chatting about what they saw.
“Yeah, someone’s on top of the roof, look! There he is right there, see him? He’s laying down, see him?” the videographer asks. “Yeah, he’s lying down,” a woman responds.
Just before the 17-second mark, Crooks comes into frame, appearing to lie on his right side. By 22 seconds, the crowd becomes more interested and tense. Ten seconds later, the videographer points out Crooks to another bystander, and at the 34-second mark, Crooks clearly alters his position to rest on his stomach.
At this moment, with Crooks still visible, a male voice calls out, “Officer!” An anxious woman gives a play-by-play, seemingly calling out to law enforcement, describing Crooks’ movements on the roof.
At the 52-second mark, the montage shifts to a single image of Trump speaking on stage. The video is just over a minute away from the shooting. When the timer reaches 1 minute, 15 seconds, the view switches to a split-screen of Trump speaking, calling for a chart to highlight low illegal immigration numbers under his administration compared to Biden’s.
At a minute, 49 seconds, the camera splits into four views — two of Trump head-on, one from behind, and another of the original cameraman who noticed Crooks on the roof. A man in an Army uniform steps into frame, waves at the crowd, and walks away.
At 1 minute, 55 seconds, a man screams, “He’s got a gun!” The camera grows unsteady but captures a uniformed officer walking toward the building where Crooks is lying. At 2 minutes and 1 second, three distinct shots ring out, and the scene erupts into chaos. Trump hits the deck, and the Secret Service swarms him as the crowd screams.
At 2 minutes and 8 seconds, rapid gunshots are heard. A man’s voice warns, “He’s turning this way, be careful!” A woman shrieks, and one final gunshot rings out. The camera shifts back to the roof, showing Crooks lying motionless, his body blurred out — the gunman is dead.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
