Newly released text messages suggest that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, was under surveillance by authorities more than 90 minutes before he opened fire at the former president’s Pennsylvania campaign rally — about 30 minutes longer than authorities had previously claimed.
Text messages between members of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit Obtained by The New York Times It provided a more specific and earlier timeline leading up to the shooting that grazed the former president’s ear and injured two rally-goers and killed one.
The messages also revealed that 20-year-old Crooks was aware of the police presence as he was planning to assassinate the Republican candidate.
“Someone snuck in after us and parked next to our car,” the counter-sniper texted a colleague at about 4:26 p.m.
“I’m just letting you guys know because he saw me go outside with my rifle and put it in my car and he knows you guys are sitting directly to your right on a picnic table about 50 yards from the exit,” he wrote about the suspicious person who was later identified as Crooks.
At about 5:10 p.m., Crooks was under anti-sniper fire inside an AGR International warehouse before eventually climbing onto the roof and firing an AR-15, the Times reported.
At about 5:38 p.m., one of the counter-snipers took a photo of him and shared it in the group chat.
According to the newspaper, the officer wrote in a text message that the suspect should be reported to the Secret Service because the man was carrying a rangefinder which alerted authorities.
“There is a kid studying around the building we are in. I think it is AGR,” the text reads. “I saw him looking towards the stage with a rangefinder. [sic]FYI. If you want to let the SS sniper know, be careful. I lost him.”
“Notify command and have a uniformed officer check in,” the officer texted, according to another message provided to The Times by the office of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley.
According to the paper, the photo went through a series of procedures at the command center before being shared with the Secret Service.
Another message in the group text suggested Crooks had “left the event venue” and moved to the rear of the AGR buildings around 6pm.
But around that time, Crooks was on the roof just minutes before the shot was fired.
According to The New York Times, the text messages indicate that authorities knew about a suspicious person, identified as Crooks, about 100 minutes before the shooting, rather than the roughly 60 minutes before the assassination attempt as previously mentioned in congressional hearings.
According to a report from the Washington Post, members of President Trump’s Secret Service complained that they were not informed that local police were pursuing a suspicious person at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump was shot once in the ear and three other rally attendees were shot, including Corey Comperatore, 50, who died trying to protect his family from harm, and Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper a short time later.
Federal authorities have said the psychopathic shooter planned the shootings in advance, but his motive remains a mystery.
The Secret Service has come under fire since the shooting, with lawmakers questioning how the federal agency gave the gunmen the opportunity to pull the trigger.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week amid an outcry.
