Pennsylvania Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris revealed during a House Homeland Security hearing on Tuesday stunning new details about the security failures that led to the near assassination of Donald Trump.
He didn’t have a detailed timeline yet, but he gave far more information than Secret Service Director Cheatle, who gave none.
Commissioner Paris identified Thomas Crooks as suspicious about 25 minutes before the first shots were fired on July 13. He came to their attention because he was milling about and not going to the venue.
Multiple suspicious individuals were at the venue, but that is standard for this type of event. There were three suspicious people on July 13.
When Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle sat with Congress yesterday, she said would-be assassin Thomas Crooks was identified as a suspect, not a threat. It will be interesting to see how that claim turns out.
An additional three individuals were identified as suspicious before the assassination attempt against President Trump took place.
According to the testimony of the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Police Department, Colonel Christopher Paris was briefed on three more suspicious… pic.twitter.com/JOxmiPzUkS
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) July 23, 2024
Paris said that two officers with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a tactical force with sniper capabilities, left their posts in the building to look for a suspicious individual [Thomas Crooks] they spotted. They alerted other law enforcement.
Two officers confronted Crooks, and as one dangled from the roof, Crooks aimed his rifle at him, and the officer fell.
It was no more than three minutes before the first shots.
Police had a text thread going and went on high alert when Crooks used the rangefinder. They relayed Secret Service.
Local, state, and federal law enforcement were in a unified command post at the rally.
State Police “verbally turned right around and gave it to the Secret Service,” Paris said.
Crooks fired eight rounds before he was taken out. Eight shell casings were found. Why couldn’t Kim Cheatle have told us that yesterday? If she didn’t know, she should have known nine days after the fact.
Local counter-snipers were removed from their posts minutes before the shooting. It’s not clear why.
They took this photo:
These ESU [Emergency Service Unit trained in SWAT] police probably would have had a clean shot of Crooks as he climbed to the roof. They were removed from their positions to search for Crooks after he was identified as suspicious around 5:14, Paris said. The shooting was at 6:11. It’s still not clear when the snipers left their post.
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