Every new piece of evidence that trickles out to the public seems to raise suspicions rather than provide answers.
Nonetheless, it appears certain that police in Butler, Pennsylvania, took bolder action against Thomas Matthew Crooks, the alleged would-be assassin who shot former President Donald Trump in the ear at a rally on July 13, than did anyone in the Secret Service.
Police bodycam footage obtained by Fox News on Thursday showed the vantage point of an officer who, only moments before the attempted assassination, scaled the building from which Crooks shot Trump.
The clip began only seconds before Crooks fired his weapon and continued long enough to capture the ensuing confusion. It lasted for more than six minutes.
Curiously — very curiously — the first minute and 38 seconds of the clip contained no audio. That stretch of time coincided with the gunshots.
At the beginning of the clip, the officer wearing the bodycam gave a hand signal indicating that he wanted a fellow officer to boost him onto the roof where, unbeknownst to him, Crooks lay ready to shoot Trump.
Then, less than 20 seconds later, the bodycam clearly showed the top of the roof. But the officer appeared to hang there for only a moment before dropping to the ground and running a distance of what looked like 100 yards or so.
Without audio, one simply cannot draw conclusions about what happened in that time. But it appeared that the officer tried to get a view of the situation unfolding near Trump.
Then, the officer ran to his vehicle and grabbed a weapon.
Do the police officers who tried to stop the shooter deserve public recognition for their bravery?
Inexplicably, the audio came on at the clip’s 1:38 mark. When that happened, the timestamp showed 6:12:10 p.m. ET.
Breathing heavily throughout, the officer returned to the building. Before then, however, he yelled to another officer to indicate what had happened.
“This close, bro. Dude, he turned around on me,” the officer said.
In other words, Crooks apparently had pointed his weapon at the officer.
For the next three minutes, the officer did not seem certain of the situation on the rooftop. By then, a voice on a radio had referred to two civilians receiving treatment.
“Who’s got eyes on him?” the officer asked.
More than 90 seconds later, the officer still did not know that a sniper had shot and killed Crooks.
“He’s laying down, prone down, bookbag next to him,” the officer said.
A chilling radio message asked for ambulance service to the stands.
By that point, 50-year-old Cory Comperatore had suffered a fatal gunshot while protecting his family.
Finally, at the clip’s 5:49 mark came a radio message indicating a unit on the roof. By then, nearly five minutes had passed since the officer first encountered Crooks.
Remarkably, the clip ended as it began. The same bodycam-wearing officer received a boost from a comrade and returned to the roof. A brief glimpse of three other armed men surrounding Crooks’ corpse followed.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language that some readers may find offensive.
On the whole, the footage should prompt at least four important questions or reactions.
First, the officer very clearly escaped in a close call with Crooks. The fact that the same officer did not hesitate to return to the roof minutes later speaks volumes about local law enforcement at its best.
Second, did the officer’s surprise appearance on the roof force Crooks to fire more quickly than he otherwise would have? If so, then the officer might have saved Trump’s life.
After all, why would the officer immediately run 100 yards to get a view of the situation around Trump if Crooks had not fired his weapon shortly after encountering the officer?
Third, and potentially most disturbing, what happened to the first one minute and 38 seconds of audio? Federal agents did not exactly cover themselves in glory that day. Nor have they shown any noticeable urgency in bringing accountability or even in keeping the public informed. An omission of this kind hardly quells the darkest suspicions.
Finally, perhaps the best thing about this footage is that it keeps the assassination attempt in the news. Powerful entities have tried to prevent that.
Thus, until we receive answers, the best we can do is to thank the brave officer whose bodycam captured those historic events and whose courage might have helped prevent the unthinkable.
