1 month ago
20
Pennsylvania
Police bodycam footage
recovered by Fox News Digital on Thursday, shows two
Butler Township Police Department
officers as they tried to stop
Thomas Matthew Crooks
on a rooftop just moments before he tried to
assassinate
former President
Donald Trump
during a campaign event last month.
The video shows the officers who frantically tried to intervene and prevent Crooks from carrying out his plan, moments before he fired his
DPMS AR-15 rifle
hitting Trump in the ear, killing Corey Comparatore, and causing injuries to two other individuals.
The video shows two police officers being hoisted onto a roof approximately 12 feet high. Crooks aimed his weapon at the officer who had scaled the structure. The officer suffered an ankle injury when he lost his grip and plummeted around eight feet. Although the video does not show Crooks during this sequence.
As the footage concludes, it reveals Crooks' body surrounded by officers after he was lethally shot. "I'm f***ing p***ed. We couldn't find him," A police officer said in the video.
"Before you motherf---ers came up here, I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself, dude," the officer who was boosted onto the roof says. "Then he turned around and I f---ing dropped, and I started f---ing, I was calling out, ‘Bro, f---ing on top of the roof.’ F---ing, we’re not on the same frequency?," he added.
An officer is expresses frustration over the inability to locate Crooks. A separate video features another officer recounting the incident, stating that during his initial solo inspection of the roof, Crooks' turned around and that startled him, causing him to fall.
According to Fox News Digital, Butler Township Police Department Lieutenant Matthew Pearson said, the officer found himself in a precarious position, hanging from the building, which prevented him from drawing his weapon. Crooks then fired his firearm, resulting in a minor injury to Trump's right ear.
Three individuals were shot during the protest, resulting in the death of Comperatore, aged 50, who died protecting his family. Among the injured were David Dutch and James Copenhaver, both of whom sustained gunshot wounds at the rally, they have been discharged from the hospital and are now recuperating at home.
Mere moments before the gunfire erupted, Copenhaver's camera captured footage of an individual moving on the rooftop, a security lapse that Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe acknowledged as a "failure" on their part.
Based on information provided by the FBI, Crooks arrived at the rally venue at around 11 am and remained there for about an hour before leaving. He returned to the location at around 3.50 pm, and local law enforcement officers first noticed his presence at 5.10 pm, approximately 30 minutes prior to Trump taking the stage.
Crooks flew a drone in the vicinity of the rally site, but it did not capture any footage or images. At about 5.30 pm, law enforcement captured a photograph of Crooks and transmitted it to their headquarters along with a message. The photograph and accompanying note alerted officials to Crooks' location and activities.
At approximately 6.12 pm, Crooks opened fire eight shots at Trump, who was hit in the ear and seconds later, a Secret Service sniper neutralized him.
English (US) · 