Dramatic new body cam video shows cops clambering on to roof before stand off with Trump’s attempted assassin
Dramatic new bodycam footage captured the moment officers in Pennsylvania responded after shots were fired at Donald Trump.
Footage from the July 13 event shows a police officer confronting gunman Thomas Crooks after spotting him on a nearby rooftop. The officer leaves the roof just before shots are fired.
Bodycam footage showed the officer looking up at the roof for just a second before spotting the shooter, then running to the ground and radioing other officers that Crooks had a “long gun.”
The announcement follows mounting criticism of the response of local police and Secret Service agents to the scene of the shooting.
Dramatic new bodycam footage captured the moment Pennsylvania police officers responded after shots were fired at Donald Trump
The footage, which runs just over four minutes, begins with the officer being lifted onto the roof where Crooks had stationed himself, about 450 feet (137 meters) from where Trump was speaking.
Although Crooks is not directly seen in the footage, the officer later claimed the shooter pointed his AR-15 at him.
The officer immediately began running across a grassy area toward Trump’s rally.
Officials released the audioless footage from early in the episode, but the time stamp on the video shows the officer ducking behind a vehicle at 6:11 p.m. — the same time shots were fired at Trump.
Crouched behind a car door, the officer assembled his own rifle, then shouted to other officers that the shooter “was so close, and he was aiming at me.”
“He’s honest,” he continued, pointing to the roof.