Bombshell police radio transmissions from Trump assassination attempt lay bare shambolic 29 minute hunt for shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks: 'We lost sight of him'
Bombshell police radio transmissions from the assassination attempt of Donald Trump have laid bare the shambolic 29 minute hunt for the shooter.
A transcript, obtained by the Washington Post, reveals the communication delays and other blunders which allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to open fire at the July 13 rally.
The recording shows how officers lost sight of Crooks for a staggering 20 minutes after he was identified as a suspicious person.
'Just an FYI, we had a younger white male, long hair, lurking around the AGR building,' a counter sniper said at 5:42 pm, according the transcript. 'He was viewed with a range finder sighting the stage. … We lost sight of him.'
Crooks went on to unleash a hail of bullets which left Trump injured as well as killing the former president's supporter Corey Comperatore, 50, and critically injuring two others at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally.
Bombshell police radio transmissions from the assassination attempt of Donald Trump have laid bare the shambolic 29 minute hunt for the shooter.
The tragedy was partly allowed to unfold because nobody from the Secret Service was around to hear the message from the counter sniper, as they were based in a separate command post 300 yards away.
It meant this and other communications had to be relayed via other means such as cellphones, despite there being poor reception in the area on the day of the rally.
The initial message from the counter sniper set off a chain of messages among local officers, the transcript shows.
While one sheriff's deputy was incorrectly told that Crooks was wearing a 'white shirt with a hat,' the description that the counter sniper was relaying was 'gray t-shirt, light-colored khaki shorts'.
After officers lost track of Crooks he was not seen again for 20 minutes, the transcript shows.
Elsewhere, Sgt. Ed Lenz, the tactical commander for the Butler County mobile unit had received the message from the counter sniper at around 5:44 pm.
He used his cellphone to call a state trooper stationed with the Secret Service, according to an official and call logs.
Sgt. Joseph Olayer then relayed the information to his Secret Service counterparts in the trailer according to the official.
The transcript, obtained by the Washington Post , reveals the communication delays and other blunders which allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to open fire at the July 13 rally
Two counter sniper teams were set up to monitor any threats against Trump, however the transcript reveals issues with the line of communication
Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris told a congressional hearing one of his staff received the call along with texts showing images of Crooks and was told to pass the information on to the Secret Service.
However, patchy cell reception meant that the officers struggled to disseminate the pictures quickly.
A local tactical team said at 5:47 pm that they were trying to send the photos, but at 5:49 pm received a response informing them of the problems.
'Units be advised internet and cell service is down,' another officer on that channel said a minute later.
'Your picture is probably not going to go through because I don't have any service,' a sheriff's deputy said.
Around this time the state officers said the notified the Secret Service sniper teams.
However, by 5:49pm the officers had lost sight of him.
'Our sierra units lost visual of him,' Lenz told the traffic-control officers. 'I believe you guys are outside of that fence, if you come upon him.'
The recording shows how officers lost sight of Crooks for a staggering 20 minutes after he was identified as a suspicious person
Police personnel stand over Crooks body on the rooftop of America Glass Research, located just a couple of hundred yards from where Trump was speaking
It was not until eight minutes later when Crooks surfaced near the AGR building, which he would ultimately scale to take his shots, that he was located again.
Officers were unable to determine his location from their vantage point. He was last spotted heading towards the Sheetz gas station and this information was quickly circulated.
'All units be advised also that individual is headed towards Sheetz,' a sheriff's deputy told his colleagues at 6:04 pm.
However, Crooks did not stay on the ground and instead used HVAC unit to scale the roof of the AGR building, as was seen in video obtained by the FBI.
It meant that while agents were scrambling at street level, Crooks was already getting into position to take aim.
'Someone's on the roof,' a local officer said four minutes later. 'I have someone on the roof with white shorts.'
After it was confirmed there were no agents on the roof, the chase heated up even further.
'We got him,' an officer said. 'We don't have him in custody yet, but he's right straight in front of me by the pine tree standing upwards. He had a backpack.'
The last photo of would-be Trump assassin, Thomas Crooks, 20, showing him clad in a t-shirt branded with the logo of YouTube channel Demolition Ranch
However, seconds later he was lost from view again and was next seen by people in the crowd.
Video from the scene shows officers struggling to locate Crooks apparently due to the angle.
A local officer was then hoisted up and at 6:11 pm was able to confirm that Crooks was carrying a deadly weapon.
'He's armed,' the officer said, according to the transcript. 'I saw him, he's laying down. He's got a long gun.'
The local officer was reportedly unable to pull his own weapon as his hands were on the roofline.
Lenz is then heard telling the Butler County task force to deploy to the AGR building but before he can finish the directive he is heard saying, 'shots fired'.
A source told the Washington Post that the message about an armed threat never reached the Secret Service command post as there was no time to make a cellphone call.
It is thought this explains why the Secret Service agents closest to Trump appeared to be taken by surprise so much.
A ladder Concealed by dense shrubbery to the roof of the AGR building where Crooks shot Donald Trump
The rooftop from where the shooter fired at the stage, barely 150 yards away
The security breaches led to the resignation of Secret Service chief Kimberly Cheatle
The transcript will no doubt provide further headaches for those involved in security on the day, notably the Secret Service which has already come under heavy scrutiny for the failures.
The controversy has already led to the resignation of its former director Kimberly Cheatle.
The security chief had faced mounting questions over why an agent was not stationed on the roof from where Crooks opened fire on the former president, and why Trump was allowed to take the stage even when a threat was detected.
