Bodycam Footage Reveals Secret Service Agent’s Chilling 5 Words On Seeing Trump Shooter Dead on Roof

Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of gun violence that some readers may find distressing.

Earlier this year, on July 13, a 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire at Republican leader Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Body-cam footage released after a request from Congress and shared by Senator Chuck Grassle showed the raw reaction of law enforcement in the aftermath of the tragic incident .

The video captured the rooftop, where lay the body of the dead shooter. On the tape, at around 7 p.m., a Secret Service agent can be heard reacting to seeing Crooks’ body with a succinct five-word remark. “So, this is the guy,” he said, in a matter-of-fact tone that belied the gravity of what had just transpired. The agent subsequently can be heard enquiring if the body of the guy was the one the ‘snipers saw.’ Another official responds in affirmation as the camera pans to reveal blood running all along the rooftop.

Investigators found several pieces of evidence at the scene— an AR-style rifle, a remote transmitter, and a cellphone. The shooter’s vehicle revealed more disturbing items. Authorities found two explosive devices, a drone, one tactical vest, and four magazines of ammunition. Trump survived the assassination with a mere graze to his right ear but one rally attendant, Corey Comperatore, a retired 50-year-old firefighter, was killed. Two men, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, were also critically wounded, as per the BBC .

What emerged from the investigation was a series of missed signals. Sources briefed on the situation revealed that State Police had informed the Secret Service about a suspicious fellow carrying a rangefinder at 5:51 p.m., which was nearly 30 minutes before Crooks opened fire. This added fuel to the fire on the already mounting criticisms the agency had faced in the recent past. The entire saga ended with Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle stepping down .

Cheatle deemed it the ‘most significant operational failure’ in the history of the agency. In her resignation letter, she spoke of the intense ‘scrutiny’ that followed and a wish not to be a distraction from the mission of the agency. Eyewitness accounts corroborated the official version of events. Several rallygoers said that they saw a suspicious man with a rifle on a rooftop just minutes before the shots were fired. Crooks had even been snapped earlier by a local sniper who was part of the tactical.

The bodycam footage showed another grim event that transpired after the shooting— officers arresting people for recording the incident, despite being unsure if they were actually involved. “There are people detained who were filming…maybe they were involved, maybe they weren’t,” one Secret Service agent said at the time, according to CBS News .

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