A police sniper team saw Thomas Crooks scanning his command post three times in the minutes before he climbed on top of it and shot Donald Trump from just inches above their heads, it has emerged.
Three Beaver County police marksmen were using the single-story AGR International building as a lookout when the would-be killer chose it as his shooting location. CBS reported.
And he may have been in the same spot on the roof for up to 30 minutes before unleashing his barrage of gunfire that killed one man and nearly took the life of the 45th president on Saturday night.
A law enforcement official told the station that no action was taken after one of the snipers first spotted Crooks looking up at the roof of the building in Butler, Pennsylvania, just 130 yards from where the president was scheduled to speak.
The 20-year-old disappeared around a corner before being spotted a second time, sitting and looking at his phone, prompting one of the snipers to take a photo of him.
Thomas Crooks was shot and killed by Secret Service agents on the roof of a police checkpoint just 150 yards from where former President Donald Trump was speaking Saturday night.
The 20-year-old suspected killer was repeatedly spotted and photographed by police officers before he scaled his building and opened fire.
The sniper then radioed a command post after seeing Crooks take out a rangefinder.
But no further action was taken before Crooks reappeared for a third time, this time carrying a backpack and disappearing from sight as he walked to the back of the building.
The sniper team radioed in another report with the same information, but they did not realize that Crooks was climbing their building.
Eight members of the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department were tasked with securing the outer perimeter of the rally, while the Secret Service focused on the rally itself.
From Pittsburgh WPXI reported that a Beaver officer took a photo after seeing Crooks on the roof at 5:45 p.m., by which time a colleague had already photographed him on the ground.
The final radio report from the three-man sniper team prompted state police to send reinforcements to the building, but it wasn’t until 6:11 p.m. that one climbed onto the roof and spotted Crooks with his rifle.
The Butler County deputy was forced to retreat when Crooks pointed his AR-style weapon at him, and seconds later the killer fired up to eight shots, killing Pennsylvania Fire Chief Corey Comperatore, critically wounding two others and hitting Trump in the right ear.
It is unclear whether Crooks had the rifle with him when he was first seen outside the AGR International factory building, or whether it remained on the roof the entire time.
A member of the public is seen speaking to a police officer before shots rang out, the building where Crooks was is on the right.
Trump grabbed his right ear as the first shots rang out at 6:12 p.m.
As Trump raised his fist toward the crowd, some could be heard cheering his name and chanting “USA” and “Make America Great Again.”
But the shocking new allegations come as authorities and the US Secret Service face mounting questions about how Crooks was able to shoot the former president and kill a member of the crowd at the rally.
A chilling video shows witnesses pointing at the ceiling and screaming at officers who were trying to warn them. MAGA fans also say they alerted law enforcement about Crooks as he crawled into their shooting position, but was still able to fire.
Law enforcement at the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, are facing intense scrutiny after it was revealed the roof was flagged as a security “vulnerability.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said Monday night she would not resign despite growing calls for her to step aside over massive mistakes that led to one of the most horrific acts of political violence in history.
The local Pennsylvania sheriff defended the police officer who confronted Crooks on the roof seconds before the shooting.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe confirmed Monday that one of his armed deputies encountered the gunman on the roof just before he unleashed carnage at the former president’s rally.
Slupe defended his officer’s decision to walk away, telling KDKA he “would have done the same thing.”
“All I know is that the officer had both hands on the roof to pull himself up, but he never made it because the shooter had turned toward the officer and, rightly and intelligently, the officer let go,” Slupe added.
‘People think of officers as supermen, like you’re holding on to the ceiling with one hand while you hold on for dear life and pull out a gun. It doesn’t work that way.
Slupe also said members of his department were alerted to Crooks’ suspicious behavior before the demonstration began and immediately began searching for him.
Local police, not the Secret Service, razed the building, but Crooks was still able to climb to the top and take aim at the former president.
Slupe acknowledged that Crooks was in the “secondary ring” of protection when he opened fire.
He said the Secret Service is responsible for the ring immediately surrounding the president, but local police take control of the outer ring.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe insisted his deputy was right to retreat after would-be killer Thomas Crooks pointed a rifle at him just seconds before the fatal shots were fired.
Attendees said they alerted the Secret Service after seeing a man on the roof where the gunman was later killed.
The 78-year-old former president survived the horrific assassination attempt when the bullet missed him by less than an inch on Saturday afternoon.
This came eight minutes after he took the stage at 6:03 p.m. ET, where Trump began his remarks by pointing to a large graphic in the same direction where the shooter was atop an AGR International building.
Even before he took the stage, Trump supporters said they saw the gunman “crawling” across the roof with a rifle, but claimed their warnings to the Secret Service were ignored.
“I was thinking, ‘Why is Trump still talking? Why hasn’t he been taken off the stage?'” one witness told the BBC. “The next thing I knew, five shots were fired.”
With the sun still high on a bright day, Trump appeared with the song “God Bless the USA” playing over loudspeakers at 6:03 p.m. and stood waving and shaking his fist at the crowd for several minutes.
Trump pulled out a large graph with statistics about the migration crisis at the southern border and told the crowd at 6:11 p.m.: “That graph is a couple of months old…”
“If you want to see something really sad, take a look at what happened,” Trump continued, before abruptly clutching the side of his head as loud “pops” filled the space at the event.
The 78-year-old fell to the ground in an instant as five more shots rang out in rapid succession, before four Secret Service agents rushed onto the scene and pounced on the former president.
Shocking images showed Trump cowering on the ground as officers protected him, blood dripping down his cheek.
A timeline showing the dramatic events that took place on July 13.
Several more Secret Service agents continued to flood the stage, while four heavily armed officers lined the perimeter ordering attendees to “get down.”
The sniper, sitting 400 feet in front of the rally on an exposed rooftop, fired another shot at the stage a second later as Trump fans streamed out of the stands.
Secret Service officers rushed in to take control of the pandemonium and surrounded the wounded former president before carrying him off the stage.
Officers shot Crooks dead.