Police snipers spotted Thomas Matthew Crooks at the location of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, almost two hours before the assassination attempt on Mr. Trump, according to newly released text messages.
The assassination attempt, which resulted in former President Donald Trump being grazed by a bullet on his right ear, is currently under multiple official investigations by Congress and the executive branch.
On July 29, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) released several text messages from a counter-sniper with the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office.
The messages indicated that the officer noticed Thomas Matthew Crooks behaving suspiciously near the rally site at 4:26 p.m., about an hour and 45 minutes before shots were fired at 6:11 p.m.
“Someone followed our lead and snuck in and parked by our cars just so you know,” wrote the unnamed officer, who was a counter-sniper assigned to the rally, in a text to a messaging group of other local police counter-snipers on duty.
“He knows you guys are up there,” the officer writes to the other officers, adding details about Crooks’s location in a complex of buildings adjacent to the rally site.
At 5:38 p.m., another police counter-sniper, Gregory Nicol, wrote on the same group chat that Crooks was using a rangefinder to examine the rally site.
“I did see him with a rangefinder looking towards the stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out,” Nicol wrote, referring to Secret Service counter-snipers that were positioned close to the former president. He then asks others in the group to “call it in to command and have a uniform[ed officer] check it out.”
“I assumed that there would be somebody coming out to speak with this individual or, you know, find out what was going on,” Mr. Nicol told ABC News in an interview.
At 5:45 p.m., a police officer in the group chat shared pictures of Thomas Matthew Crooks walking around the AGR Building, which he later climbed to shoot at former President Trump. The officer also shared photos of Crooks’s bicycle. At 5:52 p.m., it was noted that the bike had been moved from its original spot in the photo.
At that point, the officers indicated they had informed their command center about Thomas Matthew Crooks. In response to a question from the command center, relayed by a member of the group, about Crooks’s “direction of travel,” an officer replied at 6 p.m., “Not sure. He was up against the building. If I had to guess, towards the back. Away from the event.”
In reality, Thomas Matthew Crooks had climbed to the top of the AGR Building, reaching a vantage point about 400 feet from the former president’s podium.
He was seen crawling on the roof with a rifle by rally-goers, who alerted the police while recording his movements. At 6:11 p.m., Crooks fired eight shots at former President Trump before being shot and killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
It’s unclear at what point the command center began responding to the information relayed by the counter-snipers.
“We have to assume … that command did something with it. We don’t know if they did,” said Mike Priolo, another police counter-sniper, told ABC News.
“We had no communication with the Secret Service,” lead police counter-sniper Jason Woods told ABC News.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE TEXT MESSAGES:
July 8, 2024: Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU) Team Leaders receive a request to cover the July 13 Trump rally (texts).
July 10, 2024: Beaver County ESU finalizes assignments for the July 13 Trump rally (texts).
July 13, 2024:
- 9:00 a.m.: Butler County ESU hosts a briefing for local law enforcement ahead of the Trump event. The Secret Service was absent from the briefing (detail plan).
- 1:03 p.m.: Beaver, Butler and Washington County snipers connect via group chat (texts).
- Local sniper locations (photos).
- 4:26 p.m.: A Beaver County sniper finishes his shift and departs the AGR building. While exiting, he spots Crooks at a picnic table outside and alerts the remaining Beaver and Butler snipers in the AGR building to Crooks’ presence (texts).
- 5:38 p.m.: A Beaver County sniper sends photos of Crooks to the Beaver, Butler and Washington snipers group chat. The Beaver sniper notes Crooks was using “a range finder looking towards the stage” and recommends that they notify Secret Service snipers to “look out” (texts).
- 5:45 p.m.: A Beaver County sniper sends photos of Crooks to the Beaver County ESU group chat. Beaver law enforcement recommends they alert “command” (texts).
Post-shooting: Beaver County ESU compiles an after-action report containing a flash summary of the day’s events (report).
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