Trump assassination attempt: New police body camera footage released

BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — Police in Western Pennsylvania shined a new light on the moments immediately preceding the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life last month.

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Butler Township Police released officers’ body camera footage of the shooting that left one rallygoer dead, two others hurt and Trump wounded in his ear, WPXI reported.

Butler Township police have released body camera footage from the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in July. https://t.co/H4ygnhNKZa
— WPXI (@WPXI) August 8, 2024

Both The New York Times and CNN submitted public records requests to get access to the videos.

The department released 12 videos captured by body cameras and dashboard cameras captured before and during the time gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire on the crowd that attended Trump’s rally on July 13.

Assassination attempt (Cox Media Group/Google Earth)

Some of the videos showed local officers talking about telling the Secret Service to have someone posted at the building where Crooks took his position days before the rally.

“I [expletive] told them they need to post the guys [expletive] over here,” an officer said in one clip. “I told them that, the [expletive], the Secret Service, I told them that [expletive] Tuesday. I told them to post [expletive] guys over here,” CNN reported.

Another clip showed a Butler police officer being pushed up by another officer on the roof then dropping as soon as he saw Crooks. About 40 seconds after, Crooks began firing eight shots, hitting Trump and three others before a Secret Service shot Crooks, killing him.

Composite image of Thomas Crooks and Donald Trump — Attempted assassination (L) Bethel Park High School 2020 yearbook photo of Thomas Crooks; (R) Former U.S. President Donald Trump is whisked away by Secret Service after shots rang out at a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)

The Secret Service released a statement about the video, writing, “The U.S. Secret Service appreciates our local law enforcement partners, who acted courageously as they worked to locate the shooter that day. The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was a U.S. Secret Service failure, and we are reviewing and updating our protective policies and procedures in order to ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again.”

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