Frustrating moments were ticking away at a Butler, Pennsylvania, venue on July 13 as local police hunted for a suspect deemed a potential threat to former President Donald Trump.
As authorities hurried and scurried to find a man who had been loosely on their radar for more than an hour but had since disappeared, spectators called for them to check the roof of a building belonging to American Glass Research where a man with a rifle had been seen.
Footage of the moments up to and including that encounter have been released in a new video that documents the frenzied, fearful moments before and after Trump was shot.
The video footage is from a Butler Township Police Department officer who responded to the hunt for the mystery man.
The officer used another officer to hoist himself up to the roof of the building where Thomas Matthew Crooks was lining up a shot on Trump as the former president spoke to enthusiastic rallygoers.
Holding on to the edge of the roof 12 feet off the ground, the officer peered over the edge of the roof.
He and Crooks made eye contact, but Crooks had a gun, and the officer holding onto the roof could not draw his weapon.
The beginning of the video showed Crooks, later shot dead by a Secret Service sniper, turn to threaten the officer.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some readers may find offensive.
Breaking: Bodycam footage reveals officer’s rooftop confrontation with would-be Trump assassin pic.twitter.com/kZvIIq1zmv
— WorldviewTube (@WorldviewTube) August 8, 2024
Butler Township Manager Thomas Knights told Fox News, the officer said the man on the roof “was identified as having a weapon” and “did point that firearm at our officer.”
The officer dropped and sprained his ankle from the fall.
Crooks then turned his attention to Trump and fired.
According to congressional testimony, 30 seconds before Crooks pulled the trigger, an officer involved in the incident was able to yell, “long gun,” into the radio system that linked local law enforcement agencies, according to The New York Times.
The message never reached the Secret Service because of flaws in the communications system.
Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe has said by interrupting Crooks, the officer — whose name he did not use — was a hero, Fox reported.
He said that because the interuption delayed Crooks, Trump turned his head in those few seconds, saving his life, according to the New York Post.
As county sheriff, Slupe does not oversee the Butler Township force.
“Can you imagine 10 seconds before that? That the president was looking straight ahead and where that bullet could have potentially landed,” Slupe said.
“Right now, [the shooter is] training on the president. These guys breach the roof,” Slupe said. “So he turns around and potentially eliminates that threat.“
“The officer is like, ‘I’m dead or I drop. I drop.’ [Crooks] turns back around,” he said. “If I’m interrupted, and I move my gun, you are going to have to reassess that whole situation at this point, so yes, you can make a case that those two officers saved the president’s life.”