Shocking Footage Shows Thomas Crooks Aim Rifle At Rallygoers Amid Chaos
Thomas Crooks, the mentally ill gunman who fired at President Donald Trump on July 13, appeared ready to continue firing into his crowd of supporters before he was shot and killed by Secret Service agents.
Fox News obtained new footage showing Crooks aiming wildly as rallygoers rushed for safety. The 20-year-old recent high school graduate had already fired multiple rounds, nicking the ear of President Trump, killing supporter Corey Comperatore, and wounding two others before setting his sights on the crowd beneath the stage. The cell phone footage shares the perspective of a rally participant who joins others behind a tree almost directly in front of Crooks as he mans his rifle from atop a nearby building. Intermittent parts of the video show the shooter turning his rifle toward those below him, and a flurry of gunshots can be heard long after his initial shots directed at Trump.
The witness spoke with Fox and explained why he thought the Secret Service and local authorities did a poor job of securing the perimeter of the event. “Definitely wasn’t secure. I’m ex-military. One of the first things I noticed when I walked up, none of us had been vetted. We’re all along the fence. We all have view of the stage. We can all see Trump.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is spearheading a probe into authorities’ response that day, also released bodycam footage confirming a sniper rifleman shot and killed Crooks. The FBI is also investigating why a local officer backed away from an encounter with Crooks seconds before he opened fire. Citing a source who had been briefed on the investigation, Fox News confirmed previous reports that a third weapon was fired during the attempt on former President Trump’s life.
“A source familiar with the investigation tells me that, look, it took a single shot to kill the would-be assassin Thomas Crooks. And that shot came from a Secret Service counter-sniper that the source says he described the shot as a one-in-a-million type of shot,” said Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas. “The counter-sniper could only see the top of the scope, his eye, and forehead because the lip of the AGR building that Crooks was on was obscuring that view.” The source further confirmed that a third weapon was fired when a local police counter sniper team also took a shot at Crooks, which missed. Audio experts had previously contended that a third weapon had been fired.
“Federal law enforcement sources tell Fox that while Crooks snuck up on that roof, a Butler Township Emergency Services unit sniper team was looking out of the windows of that same building watching for any suspicious activity.”
Authorities are still investigating how Crooks managed to move and conceal an AR-15 rifle past officers and across a field surrounding the building where he fired. It is believed that Crooks hid the weapon behind an air-conditioning unit that he used to climb onto the roof of the building. It is also possible that Crooks hid the weapon in his backpack — which he was observed wearing roughly an hour prior to the shooting — though this would require a sizable amount of time for disassembly and reassembly. He is believed to have canvassed the site with a drone in the days before the shooting and was spotted walking aimlessly hours before the rally was set to begin. Shortly before he opened fire, an officer found Crooks crawling along the ground with a rangefinder as he judged the distance to the stage. By the time fellow officers returned to question him, Crooks was already in firing position.
