Newly released body camera footage sheds light on the chaos that occurred before and after Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last month.
The Butler Township Police Department released 12 body camera videos Thursday that show a massive security blunder that nearly took down a presidential candidate, claimed the life of a retired fire chief and seriously injured two others.
On July 13, Crooks climbed onto a roof and fired eight shots at the former president as he addressed a crowd on stage, just 147 yards away. A counter-sniper on a nearby rooftop fired a single shot to Crooks’ head, killing him instantly.
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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 need to put them here. I told them,” an officer can be heard saying minutes after the assassination attempt. “Secret Service. I told them on Tuesday.”
Off-camera, another person can be heard saying they believe the man speaking was on the roof.
“No, we were inside,” the local police officer replied.
Secret Service officials have yet to fully explain why no one was stationed on the roof with a direct view of the president, but the footage suggests there was a complete communications breakdown.
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“This confirms that this was a very disorganized event, and that is irrefutable and that this is a police responsibility,” former NYPD Inspector Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital.
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An officer is seen lifting a colleague holding an AR-15 rifle onto the roof where Crooks was standing, before the shooter points the gun at the officer, who ducks, loses his balance and ends up hanging off the side of the building.
Seconds later, Crooks opened fire, striking President Trump in the ear and killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore.
In the video, the officer who confronted Crooks can be heard saying, “Damn, this guy up here turned around.”
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The video shows the officer quickly grabbing a large gun from his car and then joining a swarm of other officers who began surrounding the building.
The officer describes to other officers preparing to ascend to the roof that Crooks wears glasses and has long hair, and adds that Crooks has a long gun and several magazines.
“Be careful,” he told them, “because he might come down on you guys up there.”
However, Crooks was already dead, and later in the video his body is seen surrounded by police officers.
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Some of those in attendance said they repeatedly alerted officers at the scene to Crooks’ presence.
Police first spotted Crooks at 5:10 p.m., about 50 minutes before he shot Trump. Local police took a photo of Crooks at 5:30 p.m. and notified superiors, but the police lost sight of him.
“I’m fucking pissed. I couldn’t find him,” another officer can be heard saying on body camera footage.
Mauro said Butler Township police officers who found Crooks on the roof were directing traffic at the time of the incident but abandoned their posts when they realized the seriousness of the situation.
“You can see the level of confusion,” he said.
Breakdown of communication
After the officer confronted Crooks, he took his grievances to other law enforcement officers.
“Before you motherfuckers got here, I stuck my head in like an idiot on my own,” says the officer who was hoisted onto the roof, “and then he (Crooks) turned around and I dropped off and started shitting…I was yelling, ‘Dude, shit on the roof’. Shit, are we on different frequencies?”
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A map detailing points of interest related to the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Trump by Thomas Crooks on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Courtesy of Senator Chuck Grassley)
The comments suggest that local police were not using the same radio frequencies as other law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service, or that their equipment was not working properly, Mauro said.
Officers tried to alert the Secret Service that Crooks had a gun, but the message didn’t get through.
“The video confirms the inference that there was a breakdown in communications, which cannot be denied,” Mauro said.
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Spotty cell phone service further hampered the team’s ability to communicate in the midst of the rapidly spreading crisis.
Shortly after the shooting, officers were captured on video summarizing their shocking blunder.
“This is a huge screw-up…someone screwed up,” he said.
Fox News’ Audrey Konkin, Michael Dorgan and Steven Sorace contributed to this report.
