State Police Warned Secret Service About Trump Shooting Suspect, Pennsylvania Chief Says

Law enforcement officers move during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pa. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Local law enforcement had alerted the U.S. Secret Service to a suspicious individual before the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, said the chief of the Pennsylvania State Police.

During questioning before the House Homeland Security hearing Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris revealed new details about the security failure that led to the assassination attempt on former President Trump, which left one person dead and two injured.

Col. Paris said that “there was a text thread going” with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, who had seen suspected gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks and reported him as a suspicious person before the incident.

“At some point when he utilized the range-finder, the suspicion was heightened,” Col. Paris said of Mr. Crooks. He said that State Police got a call and a text from the emergency services unit about the suspected gunman’s activity and told the Secret Service.

State Police officials had “verbally turned right around and gave it to the Secret Service” at a local command post for security, Col. Paris said, adding, “My understanding was that he was milling about and he stood out to them because he never made his way to a point of ingress to the venue.”

Two local law enforcement officers stationed in the complex of buildings left to go search for the man before the shooting, the police chief also testified, adding that he didn’t know whether officers would have been able to see Mr. Crooks climbing onto the roof of an adjacent building had they remained at the window.

A video taken by a lawmaker who visited the shooting site on Monday shows a second-story window of the building had a clear view of the roof where Mr. Crooks opened fire; it was unclear if the video showed the window where the officers had been stationed.

“When the one local officer hoisted the other one up, and subsequently falls,” Col. Paris said, adding Mr. Crooks was “already, I believe, close to being in his final position there. And I’m told it’s—again, sequence of events, not a timeline based on the prior criteria laid out—but seconds after that is when the first shots rang up.”

In the days after the shooting, the FBI said that Mr. Crooks, 20, had acted alone. No other suspects have been detained, and no other arrests have been made.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her post Tuesday, after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called for her to step down. On Monday, she was questioned for hours by members of the House Oversight Committee but divulged few details about the Secret Service’s preparations or what the agency knows about the incident.

Body Camera Footage Released

Body camera footage taken in the aftermath of the Trump rally shooting earlier this month was released on Tuesday, showing a member of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit on the roof of the building after a gunman was shot and killed.

In the blurred but graphic footage, the official is seen standing on the roof of the building, while the shooter’s body is seen partially blurred in the clip. Local officials are heard communicating with U.S. Secret Service agents about what they knew as well as a timeline of events prior to the shooting.

The video as well as records were released by the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday, acquired from the  Beaver County Emergency Services Unit “in compliance with congressional requests,” his office said.

Based on the footage, his office said that those local officials had shared photos of the suspected shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks, with the Secret Service, and that later, “law enforcement lost track of the suspected shooter.”

The Epoch Times contacted the Secret Service for comment Wednesday.

A law enforcement officer recording the body camera footage said the sniper who spotted Mr. Crooks was in a building nearby, indicating in the footage where the sniper was positioned.

“That’s the sniper who sent the original pictures and seen him come from the bike and then set the bag back down and then lost sight of him,” the officer, who was not named, said in the video. “He’s the one who sent the pictures out. I don’t know if you got the same ones I did.”

“I think I did, yeah,” a man who appears to be a Secret Service agent says in the video. “He’s got his glasses on.”

In the video, a responding official could be heard saying to the apparent agent: “Beaver County sniper seen and sent the pictures out. This is him.”

“Rifle’s right there, obviously,” said a separate law enforcement officer, pointing at the weapon, according to the clip.

“The guys that saw them filming go, ‘They were filming us, and then filming the guy up on the roof, and then filming us, and then when the shots started firing, they ran away.‘ And I go, ‘Isn’t that what everybody was doing?’” the man who appears to be the agent said.

“I have no problem detaining them. Detain those guys. Find out who they know. Who they are. Whatever. Again, I’m trying to get clear information to relay back to D.C.”

The Epoch Times contacted Butler County for comment Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.