A newly emerged video from former US President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, reveals that attendees had spotted the gunman on a nearby roof and alerted authorities a minute before shots rang out.
The assassination attempt occurred on July 13, with witnesses recounting their efforts to flag a suspicious man on the roof of a nearby manufacturing plant to reporters immediately after the incident. The video footage captures multiple individuals shouting and directing a police officer towards the roof, moments before 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired at former US President Donald Trump and attendees before being neutralized by Secret Service snipers.
The footage timestamps the initial alerts to police 86 seconds before the gunman opened fire, underscoring concerns about the effectiveness of security protocols and communication breakdowns.
Eyewitness Greg Smith described the chaotic scene, where attendees outside the secure perimeter tried in vain for several minutes to alert police upon spotting Crooks with a rifle on the roof nearby.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service clarified that while the agency monitored the event within the secure area, local police were responsible for securing the outer perimeter where the gunman was located, emphasizing that the building was outside the designated security zone.
The incident has prompted an FBI investigation and the establishment of an independent review panel to probe the lapses in security that allowed the gunman to breach the event perimeter.
