Just before former US President Donald Trump’s appearance in Butler, Pennsylvania, a local countersniper who was a part of the security team informed his fellows of his shift’s conclusion nearly an hour and a half in advance. “I’m clocking off. Stay safe,” was his message to his team fellows at 16:19 on the 13th of July. He left his position on the second storey of a warehouse with a good vantage point over the rally venue, where two of his comrades remained.
As he exited the building, the officer spotted a young male with unkempt, lengthy hair seated at a picnic table close to the warehouse. He therefore sent a message to his team about the man at 16:26, who was situated outside the fenced Butler Fair Show grounds where Trump was scheduled to appear. He noted that the individual would have observed him exiting with his rifle and would have been aware of his companions’ location.
The New York Times was informed by the officer who sent these messages that the suspicious person was later confirmed as an armed man.
By 17:10, the young individual was nowhere to be found on the picnic table. He had, in fact, positioned himself beneath the countersnipers, who had been established in an AGR International-owned warehouse. Images of him were captured by one of the countersnipers, as detailed in an after-action report by the police, which also included the gathered texts from the Beaver County Emergency Services Team. This information was handed over to the New York Times by Republican senator Chuck Grassley’s office from Iowa.
At 17:38, these images were shared in the group chat, resulting in an alert text for all officers to contact the Secret Service with the message, “Kid’s lingering around our building, I think it’s AGR. I saw him using a range finder directed towards the stage. So you know. Might want to tip off the SS snipers. I lost sight of him.”
By 6.11 in the evening, the young man that was later connected to an assassination attempt lay dead atop a warehouse linked to the one where countersnipers were positioned – killed by the secret service after supposedly trying to assassinate a retired president.
The sequence of text message transactions provide a more extensive and deeper look into the timeline that preceded the assassination attempt. They disclose that the shooter, Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, had raised suspicions amongst the police force around 90 minutes before he opened fire – a departure from the previously believed 60 minutes stated during the congressional hearings.
These messages further contribute to the growing body of evidence suggesting that the intended assassin consistently evaded the security forces, particularly the Secret Service Agents.
In an unexpected turn of events, Crooks had scrutinized the rally venue one day prior to the Secret Service agents. He exploited drone technology to inspect the site while the Secret Service Team omitted to request authorization to use a drone for this practice. Moreover, he studied Lee Harvey Oswald and President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 deadly encounter which was roughly 265ft. Crooks managed to ascend a rooftop situated about 400ft from the retired president. It’s worth noting that this advantageous spot was left unattended by the Secret Service agents.
Crooks was well-positioned to monitor the countersnipers who were assigned to keep a keen eye on the rally.
The confusion that ensued post-incident was palpable, local police officers did not have a clear picture of what occurred. Following the shooting, one officer was documented on body-worn camera expressing his disbelief of the events being reported on television.
Walking towards the warehouse where Crooks’s lifeless body lay, one of the officers verbalizes his bewilderment on how Crooks got to where he was.
Investigators are still in the process of uncovering what prompted Crooks to act as he did and his activities leading up to the rally are under scrutiny, partially relying upon material retrieved from his personal devices. The combination of messages, interviews conducted by the New York Times and official investigative reports have provided a few pieces of the puzzle.
Crooks was in possession of the AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle he brought to the rally, a purchase he made from his father in October of that fateful year, who originally legally procured it in 2013.
Packages containing fertiliser pellets and radio devices began arriving at his residence in the suburban regions of Pittsburgh. These components were subsequently utilized to create basic explosive devices, two found in his automobile post the shooting incident and the third one in his house.
Crooks initiated his online searching spree concentrating on famous personalities like President Joe Biden, the FBI Director Christopher Wray, Trump, and the Attorney General Merrick Garland. His online browsing also included details on “major depressive disorder.”
On the 3rd of July, Trump’s team declared a rally in Butler, scheduled for 10 days later. Mulling over past assassinations, Crooks shifted his attention towards the Ex-President.
Presenting an intimidating premise, he keyed in a specific inquiry into Google’s search engine on the 6th of July: “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” Christopher Wray brought this matter to the attention of a congressional committee the following week.
On the subsequent day, Crooks paid a visit to the farm show venue, roughly an hour away from his residence, where he stayed for roughly 20 minutes according to investigators on the case, even going to the extent of registering his presence for the rally.
Secret Service Agents, along with local law enforcement agencies, made the first inspection of the spot on 8th July. In collaboration with these agencies, the Secret Service resolved to omit the entire AGR-owned warehouse complex, inclusive of building number 6 that would eventually be used by Crooks, from its primary security boundary. This enabled Crooks to approach the building without any security checks on the day of the rally.
The issue of the specific agency responsible for roof surveillance remains unclear. Kimberly Cheatle, who served as the Secret Service Director, expressed her unawareness about the responsibility to a House committee, following which she resigned the subsequent day.
After conducting their initial inspection, the Secret Service requested more on-ground support from the local agencies. Message exchanges indicate that Beaver County found it challenging to allocate enough voluntary manpower for the intended 12-hour shift. A suggestion from a leader was that an available sniper would be at the venue by 8 am but would have to depart by 4 pm, to which the agreement was expressed.
On July 11th, the Secret Service, along with local partners, made the final inspection of the site.
Crooks followed suit with his final preparations as well; on the next day, he visited the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club’s shooting range around 2.30 pm to practice with his AR-15-style rifle.
In the early hours of July 13th, the paths of security staff and a potential assailant crossed. Scheduled to attend a 9am meeting at Brady Paul Lodge in Butler were various local law enforcement agencies, as shown in a series of text messages. However, the Secret Service was absent as per the post-event report.
Simultaneously, an individual named Crooks was at a Home Depot outlet in Bethel Park, buying a ladder. A blood-stained receipt discovered in his pocket post mortem revealed a purchase time of around 9:30am.
Crooks next drove to the protest location, arriving at the event grounds around 10am. He stayed there for approximately an hour and ten minutes, coinciding with the arrival of local countersnipers.
Upon departure, Crooks proceeded to purchase 50 ammunition rounds from Allegheny Arms & Gun Works in his hometown and made his way back to Butler. He reached the agricultural showground in his Hyundai Sonata around 3.35pm, validated by geolocation data from his mobile phone. Approximately 15 minutes after his arrival, his drone was airborne for 11 minutes, its flight path within 200 yards of Trump’s podium.
Crooks concluded his drone operation and occupied a spot at the picnic table, catching the attention of a countersniper. He then moved to his vehicle, left his drone there, and started loitering near the warehouse district.
Unlike other attendees, Crooks didn’t attempt to pass the security checkpoints to enter the protest site, drawing the attention of the countersnipers stationed inside the warehouse. At 5.14pm, one of them captured photos of him.
In a Tuesday congressional hearing, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, Col Christopher Paris, testified that the day was fraught with over 100 heat-related emergencies requiring police attention. Added to this, there were a few others at the rally behaving suspiciously, a fairly commonplace occurrence at such events, according to Paris.
However, what prompted the alarm among the police was Crooks using a range finder. At 5.38pm, a countersniper from Beaver County disseminated two photos of Crooks amongst his colleagues. The images were subsequently handed over to the Secret Service via the command center.
Richard Goldinger, the District Attorney for Butler County, mentioned in a statement that one of the two final counter-snipers exited a building in an attempt to keep tabs on a man called Crooks. Goldinger supervises some of these law enforcement units. Crooks managed to abscond, carrying a backpack with him. When he was unsuccessful in tracking down Crooks, the officer returned to his station.
Four local officers from Butler Township, previously directing traffic, committed themselves to the hunt for the fugitive. An officer speculated in a text message at 6pm that Crooks might be headed towards the rear of the AGR buildings complex, avoiding the ongoing event. Instead, Crooks scaled the closest low-lying building to the stage within the complex.
At 6:03pm, amidst an uproar from the gathering, Trump stepped up to the stage. Shortly after, at around six minutes past 6pm, spectators of the rally started indicating an unidentified individual perched on the warehouse roof. Whether by design or fortune, Crooks had found himself a spot on the roof where he could see Trump clearly while remaining partially concealed from the sight of Secret Service counter-snipers.
Crooks managed to scale the roof without his newly bought ladder and make his way across a complex of interconnected roofs, as per Wray’s testimony. There were no ladders available to Butler Township’s officers, so one cop gave another a boost to reach the top. Upon reaching the roof, he found himself staring down the barrel of Crooks’ gun and had to let go.
At 6:11pm, Crooks fired his first shots. In a surprising turn of events, Trump’s survival wasn’t a result of the huge law enforcement team present but due to a stroke of luck. He narrowly avoided being hit by reacting to a bullet’s close proximity to his right ear. After he hit the deck, Crooks discharged another round and was promptly neutralised by a backup Secret Service sniper unit.
Footage from a body-worn camera shows officers scaling a ladder to find Crooks’ lifeless body on the roof. He was lightly built and attired in a T-shirt, cargo shorts, and black trainers. His backpack and firearm were discovered in the vicinity. A trail of blood could be seen leading from his corpse to the edge of the roof’s gutter.
“One of them notes, totalling shell casings in his vicinity. “Looks to be a minimum of eight,” he remarks, enumerating one to eight. Not less than eight indeed.” This piece first ran in The New York Times.