Special operations experts told The Blaze News that one of the shots that helped kill would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was fired by a police sniper from about 450 yards away.
Evidence of the 448-yard shot was provided to the U.S. Secret Service shortly after Crooks was killed, according to two elite experts who have frequently worked in security missions around the world and are often called upon to train snipers for the Secret Service, SWAT and many federal sniper teams, as well as state and local law enforcement tactical teams.
The sources said they firmly believe that a sniper located closer, about 150 yards just behind the podium, did not kill Crooks. As Crooks fired the first shot at Trump, one of the snipers visibly flinched, took his eye off the scope and raised his head. When he returned to his rifle, the muzzle was too low on the barrel and did not have the necessary trajectory to hit the shooter.
Experts say such behavior is characteristic of what they consider “B-team” or “C-team” snipers, not top-notch “A-team” snipers who don’t flinch when they hear rifle fire.
According to a special operations source who spoke exclusively to The Blaze News, the two snipers in the barn behind President Trump appear to have been using .308 caliber Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifles.
These are not the type of rifles used by Secret Service “A-Team” snipers. For routine operations, Secret Service snipers use semi-automatic .308 rifles such as the Knight’s Armament SR-25, or high quality AR-10 variants compatible with the SR-25. For long-range operations, sources say they use bolt-action .338 Lapua Magnum rifles.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not involved in the official shooting investigation, showed The Blaze News visual evidence, including telemetry data from the sniper’s rifle, which showed the distance at the time the shot was fired and wind speeds of 10 mph.
The source said it was unclear whether the three bullet wounds found after Crooks’ death were from the same shooter or multiple shooters. One bullet struck Crooks on the left side of his face.
Local SWAT units found the building where Crooks had fired shots completely empty.
Eric D. Prince, a former Navy SEAL and founder of the private military company Blackwater, shared a similar view on Twitter: “The assassin was shot from 448 yards away.”
“The U.S.S.S. [Secret Service] “It took either malicious intent or gross incompetence to bring a gunman with a rifle within 150 yards of a pre-planned event,” Prince wrote. “Clearly there was ample, uncontrolled dead space for the gunman to maneuver into position, take aim, and fire multiple rounds.”
It is unclear which agency the shooter belonged to. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said one of her officers fired the shot that killed Crooks. “Secret Service ground personnel acted swiftly during the incident and our counter-sniper team neutralized the shooter,” Cheatle said in a statement on July 15.
FBI and police sources said Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, described as a loner who was relentlessly bullied in high school, climbed to the roof of Building 6 at the American Glass Research Complex and fired an AR-15 bullet that penetrated Trump’s right ear, nearly taking the former president’s life.
The packed rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds came to an abrupt and tragic halt when Crooks opened fire from the roof of a single-story manufacturing building, killing retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, and severely injuring two others in the crowd.
The suspected shooter at the Trump rally, Thomas Matthew Crooks, reportedly had explosives in his car and home. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A Blaze News source with direct knowledge of the operation at Butler said Crooks was wounded by at least three gunshots after firing at Trump and a crowd surrounding him.
A Butler County-based SWAT team swept the interior of the building where Crooks was located when he fired the rifle, according to the source, who said that contrary to Cheatle’s statements, no Secret Service or other law enforcement officers were present in the building.
In an interview with ABC News that aired July 15, Cheatle said the roof of Building 6 was left unlocked because its sloping roof was dangerous.
“The stupidity of this statement goes a long way to explaining why it became such a disaster that day. Total incompetence.”
“That building in particular has a sloped roof on the highest part of the building,” Cheatle said, “so a safety factor would be that you don’t want people on a sloped roof, so the decision was made to protect the building from the inside.”
The explanation drew widespread ridicule on social media.
“What the hell? A sloped roof? A completely false excuse,” wrote Sean Parnell, a former Army Ranger who served in combat in Afghanistan along the Pakistan border.
“Our snipers were on the mountaintops of Afghanistan,” wrote Parnell, who served with the 10th Mountain Division, “and down the slopes if necessary. The stupidity of this statement says a lot about why things went awry that day. Total incompetence.”
A local SWAT source in Pennsylvania said that when SWAT officers rolled Crooks’ body, they found a remote walkie-talkie that could have been used to set off an improvised explosive device or other distraction device.
The shocking incident on July 13 has raised many questions as the US Secret Service scrambles to explain one of the worst security failures in American history.
Sources interviewed by The Blaze News harshly criticized the Secret Service’s work and suggested that without urgent security changes, Trump’s life will continue to be at risk as the campaign gathers steam after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Operatives interviewed by The Blaze News said the assassination attempt was the result of a multi-layered, multifaceted security breakdown so egregious that it is difficult to imagine how it happened.
Police said Crooks first came to police’s attention around 3pm when he passed through a screening area carrying a rangefinder – similar to binoculars and used to estimate the distance of long-range rifle shots.
An officer with the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit noticed Crooks near Building 6 at about 5:30 p.m., about 41 minutes before the shooting. The officer took a photograph and circulated the image to the Secret Service, according to newspaper reports. New York Post.
Thomas Crooks was found by Beaver County Emergency Services officers and photographed in this photo near the scene of the shooting around 5:30 p.m. (Beaver County Emergency Services Division)
Sources contacted by The Blade News said the photo was likely taken by a mast camera or officer on high ground, but could have also been taken by a drone or helicopter. There is no indication that police used drones on July 13.
In the photo, Crooks has long, thinning brown hair, wears glasses and is wearing a grey T-shirt from the popular YouTube channel “Demolition Ranch.”
Beaver County Police sent out a team to search for Crooks, but he had already left the area.
The same officer spotted Crooks again at 5:45 p.m., this time on the roof of Building 6. He took another photo and sent it to the dispatch center, police said. Another witness before the shooting said Crooks was on the roof at 6:04 p.m.
Sources interviewed by The Blaze News suggested Crooks’ rifle may have been equipped with a suppressor – a device attached to the muzzle of a gun to muffle the sound of an explosion when it is fired – based on the fact that all of the shots sounded the same, regardless of the direction they were fired from.
To purchase a silencer, a $200 tax stamp issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is required, officials said.
Sources said the gunfire did not sound like a muzzle blast, but like a bullet traveling at supersonic speed. Audio heard on cellphones and broadcast footage may have been compressed to protect the equipment.
They said the U.S. Secret Service uses suppressors on sniper rifles.
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