(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Channel 11 news in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has reported that alleged Trump shooter Thomas Crooks was spotted by law enforcement on a roof nearly 30 minutes before his attack.
“Channel 11′s Nicole Ford confirmed that Beaver County’s ESU team had eight members at the rally, including snipers and spotters. According to Ford’s sources, one of them noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in and took a picture of the person. We have learned from our sources the person in that picture is Thomas Crooks. We’re told it’s not clear if Crooks had a gun with him at that point,” the local news station reported Monday afternoon.
“According to multiple sources, a law enforcement officer had also previously seen Crooks on the ground and called him in as a suspicious person with a picture prior to 5:45 p.m. Our sources tell us an officer checked the grounds for Crooks at that point, but did not see him where the first picture was taken,” the news station added.
Channel 11 news uncovered dramatic new details Monday in the moments leading up to the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. https://t.co/rWEfGX7kNj
— WPXI (@WPXI) July 15, 2024
“26 minutes after the second picture of Crooks was taken by law enforcement and the information called in, shots were fired from the roof of the American Glass Research building. Seconds later, a Secret Service sniper returned fire and killed Crooks.”
The Channel 11 report suggests that the security failures at Saturday’s Trump rally are even more egregious than what’s been reported so far. The Secret Service is already under intense scrutiny for seemingly having its snipers hold their fire until after the shooter fired several times.
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas early Sunday morning, demanding info about the incident. Secret Service is housed within the DHS.
“According to the USSS, the shooter ‘fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue.’ This raises serious concerns regarding how a shooter was able to access a rooftop within range and direct line of sight of where President Trump was speaking,” Green told Mayorkas.
“Additionally, some reporting, suggests that the Department of Homeland Security (Department) ‘rebuffed’ multiple requests from President Trump’s security detail to increase protective resources in the weeks preceding this event.”
Green seeks information from the DHS by this Friday.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
