New video footage from the July 13 Trump rally shows a furtive figure running along the roof of a building as former President Donald Trump is speaking. The figure is very small in the video, making it difficult to identify if it is Thomas Matthew Crooks, who tried to assassinate Trump from the roof of an American Glass Research Building in Butler, Pennsylvania.
However, no other individuals were reported on the roof at the time the video was taken. The angle from which the figure is visible also corresponds to the angle from which the shooter fired eight bullets — injuring three (including Trump) and killing one. The figure appears near the start of the video, moves out of sight, and then reappears toward the end of the footage.
New video of the moments before the Trump assassination attempt further shows that it makes zero sense the Secret Service simply missed the shooter.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 31, 2024
He was literally running across the roof in plain sight.
pic.twitter.com/Lx7Z2Rq7kM
The video did not surface earlier because it was shot by rallygoer James Copenhaver, who was critically wounded that day, according to Fox News. The video was taken at 6:08 p.m., three minutes before Trump was shot. Is there more to the shooting than the government and the media are reporting?
Copenhaver, who sat behind Trump and to Trump’s left, was not filming when he was hit, Joseph Feldman, a lawyer representing Copenhaver, said. “He had almost seen or heard something whiz past him, which we’re assuming was a bullet. He felt it on his arm, and he looked down at his arm…and felt pain initially, but he hadn’t even realized he had been shot a second time at that point. It could have been shock,” Feldman said.
HOLY SH!T. He was right there in plain sight. HOW TF DID THEY MISS HIM? pic.twitter.com/8lGOAtbNIi
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 31, 2024
A timeline published by The New York Times said that as of 6 p.m. that day, one officer working security for the event believed Crooks was moving away from the event. However, around that time, Crooks was actually gaining access to the American Glass Research complex. He then moved from roof to roof of the adjoining buildings until he reached the building closest to the stage.
The Times timeline said that as of 6:09 p.m., spectators at the rally became aware of Crooks on the roof of the AGR building where he perched to shoot Trump. That kicked off a search for Crooks, including one incident in which a local police officer climbed up on another officer and was able to see Crooks, who pointed his gun at the officer, leading the officer to jump down.
Even the crowd can see a guy running around on the roof – but nobody pulls President Trump off stage. Unbelievable pic.twitter.com/y8tDagTYgQ
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 31, 2024
An ABC report said that according to federal officials, Secret Service members spotted Crooks on the roof at 5:52 p.m. Although that contradicts other accounts, no definitive official timeline of events exists at this point, and much of the timeline of that day remains fluid.
