Trump assassination attempt: Pennsylvania police release bodycam from deadly Butler rally
BUTLER, Penn. – FIRST ON FOX – Police bodycam footage obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday through a records request shows two officers attempting to intercept Thomas Matthew Crooks on a roof seconds before he allegedly tried to assassinate former President Trump at a campaign rally last month.
The footage is taken from two officers from the Butler Township Police Department who made a desperate attempt to stop Crooks moments before he fired his DPMS AR-15 rifle striking former President Trump in the ear, killing Corey Comparatore and injuring two others.
“F—— this close, bro. Dude he turned around on me,” the officer who was hoisted can be heard saying in another bodycam video released Thursday.
One officer can be seen hosting another officer onto the roof where Crooks was stationed, which is about 12 feet above the ground.
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Crooks pointed his weapon at the officer who scaled the building, before he ultimately ducks his head and loses his grip on the roof’s edge and falls about eight feet to the ground, spraining his ankle, Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights previously told Fox News Digital.
The video does not capture Crooks.
“I’m f—— p—ed. We couldn’t find him,” another officer can be heard saying in the other bodycam fooatge.
“Before you motherf—–s 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—— dropped and I started f—— I was calling out bro, f—— on top of the roof. F—— we’re not on the same frequency?”
“F—— we’re not on the same frequency?”
Butler Township PD Lt. Matthew Pearson told a local outlet that the officer was unable to draw his weapon since he was hanging from the building.
Seconds later, Crooks opened fire and grazed Trump’s right ear. Three rallygoers were also shot, including Corey Comperatore, 50, who was killed protecting his family from danger.
David Dutch and James Copenhaver were injured after being shot at the rally. They have both since returned home with Dutch on Wednesday providing Fox News with an exclusive statement on the deadly incident.
The footage is the latest crucial piece of publicly available information released that attempts to shed light on exactly what transpired that day and what efforts were put in place to stop Crooks.
The security breaches that paved the way for the shooting have been muddied by finger-pointing among the various agencies involved at the local, state and federal levels.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said video of someone moving along a roof minutes before former President Trump was shot confirms a “failure.”
The video, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital video, taken by victim Copenhaver, shows a figure moving across the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump’s rally.
The FBI previously revealed that Crooks had driven to the rally site at 11 a.m. on the day of the shooting and spent an hour there before heading home.
Crooks did not return to the scene until 3:50 p.m. Local law enforcement officers, in their designated positions, spotted him for the first time around 5:10 p.m. — approximately 50 minutes before Trump took the stage, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who obtained them from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU).
On his return to the rally site, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards away from where Trump was going to be speaking, according to the FBI. The FBI later said that no photos or videos were taken from the drone and that the agency found no memory card in the drone.
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At 5:30 p.m., local law enforcement snapped a picture of Crooks and escalated it to command.
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“Kid learning around building we are in,” an officer wrote in a text message, along with an image of Crooks. “AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out.”
“I lost sight of him,” the officer added.
A follow-up message said: “Call it in to command and have a uniform check it out.”
By 6:12 p.m., the “kid” would be killed by a counter-sniper after he opened fired on the rallygoers.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe told the New York Post previously that the officers who interrupted Crooks likely provided enough of a distraction to save Trump’s life.
“If I’m interrupted, and I move my gun, you are going to have to reassess that whole situation at this point, so yes, you can make a case that those two officers saved the president’s life,” Slupe told the outlet.
Slupe said “timing is everything,” and the interruption to the shooter bought Trump the seconds he needed to miraculously turn his head so that the bullet struck only his ear.
“Can you imagine 10 seconds before that?” the sheriff asked. “That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed.”
Fox News Digital is reviewing the bodycam footage. This post will be updated.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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