Video above contains previously released images from the Trump rally shooting on July 13. Portions of the newly released police video can be viewed here. Viewer discretion is advised.
(NewsNation) – Law enforcement has released body camera footage from local police responding to a shooter seconds before he opened fire on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month.
The footage (portions of which can be viewed here) shows the body camera perspective of multiple Butler Township Police Department officers in the minutes leading up to shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks‘ attempt on the former president’s life, which left Trump with an ear wound.
In one of the videos, an officer is seen lifting another officer onto the roof of the building where the gunman was perched. As he climbs up, he sees Crooks point his gun at him, causing him to fall to the ground and run to grab his rifle.
Seconds later, Crooks opens fire on Trump.
“F—ing this close bro,” the officer who saw Crooks is heard saying to another officer. “Dude, he turned around on me.”
“Who’s got eyes on him?” the officer asks. “He was right where you picked me up, bro. He was on that left side.”
The July 13 attack happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, as Trump was speaking to a large crowd while on the campaign trail.
The U.S. Secret Service shot and killed Crooks seconds after he opened fire at Trump. A bullet appeared to go past Trump, grazing the side of his face.
Several other videos show the response by other officers on the scene. Many were securing the area, telling rallygoers to leave.
“There really doesn’t seem to be as much of a sense of urgency as I thought there would be,” former CIA officer and NewsNation national security contributor Tracy Walder said of the video.
“My question is, was this building actually secure? Were there people around this building that shouldn’t have been around this building? And I’m questioning why they would want to get people out of there,” she said.
Walder also said the videos show the Secret Service perhaps should have had a tighter perimeter around the area beyond what was assigned to local police.
The shooting took the life of Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief attending the rally. Comperatore was seated in bleachers between where Crooks was positioned and where Trump was standing.
Two spectators were critically wounded. One of the injured spectators was seated in the bleachers to the left of Trump as he faced forward.
The attack was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
The assassination attempt also led to the resignation of U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe criticized local authorities at a joint Senate committee hearing for a communications breakdown between agencies protecting the former president.
But Pat Young, the chief of detectives for Beaver County who was tasked with securing the area around Trump’s rally, said they had no communication with the federal authorities that day.
Young insists that it was his team that spotted the shooter roughly an hour before the actual shooting took place. He said they raised it up the chain of command, and claimed that what happened beyond that was up to the Secret Service.
