Police release bodycam from Trump assassination attempt at Pennsylvania rally
BUTLER, Penn. - Police bodycam footage obtained by Fox News Digital on Thursday through a records request shows two officers attempting to intercept Thomas Matthew Crooks on a roof seconds before he allegedly tried to assassinate former President Trump at a campaign rally last month.
The footage is taken from two officers from the Butler Township Police Department who made a desperate attempt to stop Crooks moments before he fired his DPMS AR-15 rifle, striking Trump in the ear, killing Corey Comparatore and injuring two others.
"F---ing this close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me," the officer who was hoisted can be heard saying later on in bodycam video released Thursday.
One officer can be seen hoisting another officer onto the roof where Crooks was stationed, which is about 12 feet above the ground.
One officer signals to hoist another officer onto the roof where would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was stationed. (Butler Township Police Department)
Crooks pointed his weapon at the officer who scaled the building, before the officer ultimately ducks his head and loses his grip on the roof’s edge and falls about 8 feet to the ground, spraining his ankle, Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights previously told Fox News Digital.
The footage captures Crooks toward the end as officers surround his body after countersnipers fatally shot him.
"I'm f---ing p---ed. We couldn't find him," another officer can be heard saying in the bodycam footage.
Bodycam footage shows an officer spotting Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof of the AGR building seconds before he opened fire. (Butler Twp Police Dept.)
"Before you motherf---ers came up here, I popped my head up there like an idiot by myself, dude," the officer who was boosted onto the roof says. "Then he turned around and I f---ing dropped and I started f---ing I was calling out, 'bro, f---ing on top of the roof. F---ing we’re not on the same frequency?"
Butler Township PD Lt. Matthew Pearson told a local outlet that the officer was unable to draw his weapon since he was hanging from the building.
Seconds later, Crooks opened fire and grazed Trump’s right ear. Three rallygoers were also shot, including Comperatore, 50, who was killed protecting his family from danger.
David Dutch and James Copenhaver were injured after being shot at the rally. They have both since returned home, and Copenhaver's attorney provided an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital as he continues to recover.
Officers can be seen standing over Crooks' body on the roof in the footage released Thursday.
Thomas Matthew Crooks (AFP Photo/Handout)
In other bodycam video, officers are clearly confused about why the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building, where Crooks shot from, was unmanned.
"I thought you were on the roof?" one officer says.
There also appears to be confusion about whether the shooter was neutralized and why the shooter wasn't taken out before he opened fire.
"If you’d all had a gun up there … I’d have shot him. He wouldn’t have ripped out a gun up there," one officer says in the bodycam.
The footage is the latest crucial piece of publicly available information released that attempts to shed light on exactly what transpired that day and what efforts were put in place to stop Crooks.
The security breaches that paved the way for the shooting have been muddied by finger-pointing among the various agencies involved at the local, state and federal levels.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said video of someone moving along a roof minutes before Trump was shot confirms a "failure."
The video, taken by Copenhaver and exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, shows a figure moving across the roof of the AGR building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump's rally.
Video shows Trump shooting victim's POV moments before gunfire
A new video from James Copenhaver, one of the victims critically wounded in the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Trump, shows a figure moving across a rooftop just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The FBI previously revealed that Crooks had driven to the rally site at 11 a.m. on the day of the shooting and spent an hour there before heading home.
Crooks did not return to the scene until 3:50 p.m. Local law enforcement officers, in their designated positions, spotted him for the first time around 5:10 p.m. — approximately 50 minutes before Trump took the stage, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who obtained them from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU).
A map details the locations of interest pertaining to the investigation of Thomas Crooks' attempted assassination of former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. (Sen. Chuck Grassley )
On his return to the rally site, Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards away from where Trump was going to be speaking, according to the FBI. The FBI later said that no photos or videos were taken from the drone and that the agency found no memory card in the drone.
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At 5:30 p.m., local law enforcement snapped a picture of Crooks and escalated it to command.
"Kid learning around building we are in," an officer wrote in a text message, along with an image of Crooks. "AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out."
Law enforcement circulated a picture of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the texts showed. (Fox News)
"I lost sight of him," the officer added.
A follow-up message said: "Call it in to command and have a uniform check it out."
By 6:12 p.m., the "kid" would be killed by a counter-sniper after he opened fired on the rallygoers.
On the day of the rally, Crooks parked his vehicle and flew a drone between about 3:50 p.m. and 4 p.m. about 200 yards from where the former president would be speaking on July 13. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified during a July 17 congressional hearing that Crooks had been at the rally site for about 70 minutes the morning of the assassination attempt.
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Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.