New Footage Reveals Police Officer's Chilling Encounter With The Trump Shooter: "He’s Right There!"
FBI agents and law enforcement officers have been tirelessly working to find out more about Thomas Matthew Crooks, who nearly pulled off an assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally last month. They are constantly analyzing the security failures that led to the near tragedy. Now, a newly surfaced bodycam footage has been offering a closer look at the moments before the shooting. It also captures Butler Police officers, tactical units, and Secret Service agents climbing the rooftop where the shooter took his position.
In the video, an officer is heard shouting at others just after the shots were fired. He shouted, “Don’t put up your head – he’s right there!" The video later shows law enforcement officers climbing the roof. The officer who saw Crooks also said, “He’s got glasses, long hair. Yo, Mike, I climbed the wall and I popped my head right in front of him bro, he’s got a book bag, he’s got mad sh*t, AR laying down.” “But watch out because he can f**king come right down on you over there,” he added.
Being completely terrified, he said, “Before you m*therf*kers came up here I popped my head up there like an idiot, by myself, dude. He turned around, and I f**king dropped.” The footage revealed Crooks’ lifeless body when the officers reached the rooftop, as noted by CNN. In another clip from the rally, local officers seemed frustrated, saying they had warned the Secret Service days before to post officers near that particular building. In the footage, one officer is heard saying, “I f**king told them they need to post the guys f**king over here. I told them that, the f**king, the Secret Service, I told them that f**king Tuesday. I told them to post f*king guys over here.”
Another officer replied, “[I wasn't] even concerned about it because I thought someone was on the roof. I thought that’s how we — how in the hell can you lose a guy walking back here?” The first officer added, “I talked to the Secret Service guys, and they were like, ‘Yeah, no problem, we’re going to post guys over here.’” Meanwhile, at a recent press conference, the Secret Service's acting Director Ronald Rowe spoke to reporters. He said, “This was a Secret Service failure…That roof should have been covered. We should have had eyes on that,” as reported by Forbes.
He added, “In no way should any state or local agency supporting us in Butler on July 13th be held responsible for our Secret Service failure.” The Secret Service still hasn’t fully explained why no one was posted on the roof, which had a clear view of the president. Anthony Guglielmi, Secret Service spokesman said that the agency is aware of the bodycam footage and is reviewing it. “The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was a U.S. Secret Service failure, and we are reviewing and updating our protective policies and procedures to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again,” Guglielmi said, as reported by USA Today.