Newly released Pennsylvania police footage sheds new light on the moments leading up to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July.
In the body-camera video, a local officer reveals he had notified the Secret Service in advance to secure the building used by the gunman, reported BBC News.
Another video captures the moment an officer is lifted onto a rooftop and spots the gunman just seconds before he opens fire at the Trump rally. The shooting resulted in one fatality, two severe injuries, and a bullet grazing Trump.
The Butler Township Police Department released body and dashboard footage to media outlets on Thursday, capturing moments of frustration, confusion and miscommunication before and after the assassination attempt.
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In one video, a local officer reveals he had requested the Secret Service to secure the building from which the gunman later fired, days before the rally.
In one video obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the officer said, “I told them they need to post guys over there.”
At the open-air rally on Saturday, July 13, the officer, visibly frustrated, informed his colleagues that he had asked the Secret Service to secure the building.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was fatally shot by a Secret Service counter-sniper team after he fired eight rounds at Trump from a rooftop outside the rally’s security perimeter.
The attacker was on a building within a “secondary ring” of security, patrolled by local and state officers, not the Secret Service.
While Trump was on stage addressing supporters, he was grazed in the ear by a bullet before quickly ducking and being pulled offstage by Secret Service agents.
A video footage has been released by AP News as well.
In a statement this week, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi indicated that the agency is currently reviewing the footage.
“The U.S. Secret Service appreciates our local law enforcement partners, who acted courageously as they worked to locate the shooter that day,” he said, BBC News noted.
“The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was a U.S. Secret Service failure, and we are reviewing and updating our protective policies and procedures in order to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again,” Guglielmi added.
The FBI and a bipartisan House panel of 13 lawmakers are also investigating the incident.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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