Bodycam footage Butler Township, Pennsylvania, Police Department The report, obtained by Fox News Digital through a records request on Thursday, shows an officer’s efforts to help people after the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump.
In the footage, recorded just seven minutes after the gunman shot him, the officer can be heard saying at the 3:40 mark, “This is way above my pay level. Whatever you’re coming up with, I want an empire.” Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire From the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building, just outside the rally perimeter.
The officer can also be heard saying, “We’ve been told someone was looking out the window. I don’t know who was inside,” possibly referring to the interior of the AGR building.
Other bodycam footage released on Thursday reveals confusion among officials from various agencies over why there were no law enforcement officers on the roof of AGR and how the miscreants went unnoticed.
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Law enforcement officers take action on the roof of the AGR building in Butler, Pennsylvania, following the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump. (Butler Township Police Department)
There was also doubt as to whether Crooks had been shot down or whether an active threat still existed just minutes after the shooting.
Two Butler Police Officer Those who were originally assigned to traffic duty went to the AGR building just seconds before the shooting to get a better look at the rooftop after they received a report of someone being on top of the building. In the bodycam video, one officer can be seen leading another to the rooftop so he could get a better look at Crooks.
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Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights previously said in an interview with Fox News Digital that the officer, who was on the roof, saw Crooks point his rifle at him, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
“When the report of the suspicious person came in and our police arrived in the immediate area of the building, they conducted a perimeter search — they were unable to see the individual at the top of the building,” Knights said at the time. “So one of our other police officers … literally lifted one of our (other officers) up in the air so high that he could grab the edge of the roof.”
The officer was able to pull himself up so that his “head was above the roof” because there was no other way to reach the roof at the time. The estimated distance from the ground to the edge of the roof, where the officer grabbed him, is 12 feet, Knights said.
Buildings surrounding Butler Farm show up at a campaign rally site for former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 15. Thomas Matthew Crooks fired from the roof of the building complex and wounded Trump during the assassination attempt on July 13. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Knights said the officer “observed a subject on the roof” who “had a weapon” and “pointed a gun at our officer.”
The township manager said the officer took a defensive position by hanging over the edge of the roof, lowered his head and lost his grip, causing him to fall “about eight feet” to the ground and sprain his ankle.
In additional video released Thursday, a police officer can be heard saying he had asked the Secret Service to deploy officers on the roof of the building.
“I told them that on Tuesday. I told them to post the boys over here.”
“I told them they have to deploy these people here…in the Secret Service,” the official said.
Another police officer can be heard saying, “I thought you guys were on the roof.”
The first officer said, “No, we were in.”
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The Secret Service responded to the footage in a statement Thursday evening, saying it was aware of the video from local police.
It added, “The U.S. Secret Service commends our local law enforcement partners who worked courageously that day to locate the shooter. The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was a failure of the U.S. Secret Service, and we are reviewing and updating our protective policies and procedures to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again.”
