Video footage appeared to show Thomas Matthew Crooks traversing the rooftop prior to the Pennsylvania shooting
Trump rally video showing figure on roof minutes before gunfire affirms 'failure' of agency: Secret Service
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said exclusive video obtained by Fox News Digital affirmed that "this was a failure" following July 13 assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
BUTLER, Pa. – Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said that video of someone moving along a roof minutes before former President Trump was shot confirms a "failure."
In an exclusive Fox News Digital video, taken by Jim Copenhaver, one of the victims critically wounded in the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, a figure is seen moving across the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump's rally.
"Looking at this, it even just affirms to me that this was a failure," Rowe told reporters on Friday. "We should have had better protection, for the protectee we should have had better coverage on that roofline.
"We should have had at least some other set of eyes from the Secret Service point of view, covering that. That building was very close to that outer perimeter. And we should have had more of a presence."
TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Acting Director of the U.S. Secret Service, Ronald L. Rowe, Jr. appears before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the attempted assassination of Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 30, 2024. (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt)
In the video taken at 6:08 p.m. on July 13, the person appears on the roof of the building adjacent to where Trump is speaking and can be seen walking from the 1:00 second mark to about the 2:50 second mark.
Officials believe Thomas Crooks began shooting with a collapsible AR-15-style rifle three minutes later, around 6:11 p.m. The 20-year-old unleashed eight shots towards the audience – targeting the former president.
Counter snipers fatally shot Crooks shortly afterward, and law enforcement officials found eight shell casings near his body.
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The exclusive footage appears to show Crooks on the AGR rooftop before the shooting. Other videos from rally attendees have shown bystanders pointing out Crooks on the roof and capturing the response from law enforcement officers who were trying to find him.
One user on X, @realDJStew724, captured local law enforcement with guns drawn surrounding the building where Trump's would-be assassin was crouched down a full two minutes before Crooks shot the former president.
The footage was captured at the base of the AGR building where Trump supporters were gathered to listen in on the rally on the outside perimeter.
TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT VICTIM JAMES COPENHAVER 'SAD' WITH STATE OF 'POLITICAL DIVISION' IN US
Police snipers return fire after shots were fired while Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump was speaking at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Trump can be heard taking the stage and beginning to speak as law enforcement began to encircle the AGR building where Crooks was positioned with an AR-15-style rifle.
SECRET SERVICE, FBI RESPOND TO TRUMP RALLY VIDEO SHOWING FIGURE ON ROOF MINUTES BEFORE GUNFIRE
"Oh my God, there is someone in this building," said Dave, the X user.
"There’s f---ing cops surrounding this whole entire f---ing building right now," another woman is heard saying.
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In the following two minutes of Dave's footage, the shooting unfolds with witnesses near the AGR building encouraging others to "make themselves small."
"Make yourself small, bro," Dave is heard saying. "I don't know what is going on."
"Get down, get behind this tree," another said. "I saw this big puff of hair."
After a final shot rang out, Dave is heard asking somebody, "Did they pick him off?"
TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: FBI STILL DOES NOT HAVE COMPLETE ACCESS TO SHOOTER'S ONLINE ACTIVITY
Police snipers on the roof at the rally where an assassination attempt was made on the life of former President Donald Trump (Todd the Driller)
Following the chaotic moments leading up to Crooks' shooting and the immediate minutes following, additional law enforcement officers were seen scurrying around the AGR building.
"He said kill confirmed," David is heard after officers were heard talking about snipers shooting Crooks. "He said kill confirmed.'
TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT FORMED FROM ‘CAREFUL PLANNING,' SCOPING OUT RALLY SITE, FBI SAYS
A graphic representation of the position of the sniper team in relation to the would-be assassin at the Trump rally in Butler, PA on July 13, 2024. (Fox News)
The witness account of the shooting sheds light on what local law enforcement officers were doing directly before the shooting that injured three, including Trump, and killed Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who died shielding his family.
The security failures of the Secret Service have prompted congressional hearings focused on investigating how Crooks managed to climb on top of the AGR building undetected and nearly assassinate a former president.
Fox News' Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
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