https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-assassination-attempt/2024/07/15/id/1172657/By Michael Katz | Monday, 15 July 2024 09:13 PM EDT
A police countersniper team reportedly was inside the building in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at the same time a 20-year-old man attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
The American Glass Research International Inc. factory was being used by local police as a "watch post" for snipers to scan for threats as Trump spoke onstage 130 yards away. Although police were inside, no one was on the roof except the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, the New York Post reported Monday, citing law enforcement sources.
The sniper team did not climb on the roof for the event, possibly over concerns that it would interfere with Secret Service snipers, the Post reported.
Earlier Monday, WPIX-TV in Pittsburgh reported that law enforcement spotted Crooks on a roof 26 minutes before the shots were fired that injured Trump, killed a former fire chief, and injured two others in the crowd.
WPIX, citing multiple sources, reported a member of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in, and took a picture of the person, who was later identified as Crooks. It is not known if Crooks had a gun with him at that point.
A law enforcement officer had also previously seen Crooks on the ground and called him in as a suspicious person with a picture before 5:45 p.m., WPIX reported, adding an officer checked the grounds for Crooks but did not see him where the first picture was taken.
Within 30 minutes after the second picture of Crooks was taken by law enforcement and the information called in, shots were fired from the roof of the building.
It was not known as of Monday night whether any of the local officers who were tasked with securing the perimeter outside the Butler County Farm Show grounds were able to warn Secret Service agents about the gunman, the Post reported.
An officer from Butler Township Police climbed on a fellow officer's shoulders to check out the roof of the building moments before the shooting but backed away after Crooks pointed his rifle at him, the Post reported.
Pennsylvania State Police, charged with securing the ground by the building, did not respond to a request for comment by the Post.
Michael Katz ✉
