The Last Photo of Donald Trump’s Would-Be Assassin Taken 45 Minutes Before Gunshots Fired
Questions continue to swirl surrounding how long it took law enforcement to neutralize the deadly gunman.
Photos obtained by the New York Post
New reporting revealed that the Secret Service circulated the last known photo of the gunman who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump to local law enforcement at around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The image, taken roughly 45 minutes before gunshots rained over the Pennsylvania rally by a local counter sniper and sent to law enforcement, raises questions on why the agency failed to neutralize the soon-to-be shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks.
Chilling photo of would-be Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks taken by sniper nearly an hour before attempted assassination https://t.co/txJ8UE5TT2 pic.twitter.com/QM1bNBgPUQ
— New York Post (@nypost) July 17, 2024
The last photo of Crooks shows him crawling on the ground, looking to find a position to hunker down in while he waited to take a shot at the former president. He was wearing a t-shirt of the popular gun channel on YouTube, Demolition Ranch, with his glasses and long sandy brown hair tucked behind his ears.
The Inspector General’s office within the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that it would be launching an investigation into the security failure at Trump’s rally, as will the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
President Biden has also independently called on the Secret Service to increase security for Trump and investigate the incident.
Questions surrounding how Crooks was able to perch on a rooftop roughly 410 feet away from Trump after being spotted by both bystanders and the Secret Service before he took aim continue to swirl.
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Snipers that were a part of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit were also stationed inside the building that Crooks had hunkered down on, increasing concerns about the obvious security failures of the team tasked with protecting the former president.
The Chief of the Secret Service said she accepts full responsibility for the potential assassination attempt, but rejected calls to resign on Monday. Ironically, the Secret Service is hunting for a new chief, according to a job listing posted on Daybook.
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