The Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, Colonel Christopher Paris, disclosed that not one, but four individuals were flagged as suspicious during former President Donald Trump’s rally at Butler, PA on July 13, 2024.
Colonel Christopher Paris (L); Rep. Nick Lalota (R)
The Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, Colonel Christopher Paris, disclosed that not one, but four individuals were flagged as suspicious during former President Donald Trump’s rally at Butler, PA on July 13, 2024.
This information came to light during a congressional hearing following the assassination attempt on the former President.
According to preliminary findings reported by Senator Ron Johnson’s office, local law enforcement had spotted Crooks nearly an hour before the shooting.
Crooks was first spotted by a local law enforcement sniper, who noted suspicious behavior but did not observe any immediate threat of a weapon.
According to the timeline provided by the local law enforcement:
At 5:10pm on July 13, 2024, nearly one hour before former President Trump was shot, one of two local law enforcement snipers (hereafter AGR sniper 1) positioned in the AGR building observed the shooter, Crooks, for the first time. Local law enforcement told Senator Johnson’s office that at the time, even though Crooks did not have a weapon, he seemed suspicious.
At 5:14pm AGR sniper 1 took at least two pictures of Crooks (one of the pictures appears to show Crooks on his phone).
Source: Preliminary findings/Ron Johnson
At 5:28pm, AGR sniper 1 took a picture of a bicycle and backpack near the AGR building (it is unclear whether these items are associated with Crooks).
Source: Preliminary findings/Ron Johnson
At 5:32pm, AGR sniper 1 saw Crooks again near the AGR building apparently looking at news feeds on his phone and holding a range finder, according to information reported to Senator Johnson’s office. Shortly after, AGR sniper 1 reported the suspect to a group text of other law enforcement snipers on site and was instructed to report the suspect to command.
At 5:41pm AGR sniper 1 called into command to report the suspect and described the suspect’s appearance and notes that he has a range finder. At 5:45pm AGR sniper 1 texted the Beaver ESU Group Command about the suspect and instructed them to relay the message to command. At 5:59pm, a Beaver County law enforcement operator received confirmation from a Butler County SWAT commander that command, which included Secret Service, was made aware of the messages and requested more information about the suspect’s location.
To date, there are public reports that a “counter sniper flagged a suspicious man using a rangefinder to the Secret Service some 20 minutes before a gunman opened fire” at the rally.7 The information obtained by Senator Johnson’s office appears to confirm these reports but raises further questions about what the Secret Service did with this information, why Secret Service did not immediately send agents to the AGR building, and, perhaps most importantly, why former President Trump was allowed to go on stage.
During Tuesday’s congressional hearing, Representative Nick Lalota (R-NY) questioned Colonel Paris about this chain of events.
Rep Lalota:
Colonel Paris, you’re the Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police Department?
Colonel Paris:
Yes, sir, I am.
Rep Lalota:
And your testimony, sir, is that approximately 25 minutes before the first shots were fired, that local law enforcement officers identified Crooks as suspicious?
Colonel Paris:
Yes, sir. He stood out because he never made his way to a point of ingress to the venue.
Rep Lalota:
Were there other folks who were also in the crowd identified as suspicious by law enforcement?
Colonel Paris:
Yes, there were multiple individuals identified as suspicious, which is consistent with normal operations for a detail like this.
Rep Lalota:
Can we take that as a single-digit number of other folks?
Colonel Paris:
The number that I was briefed on was single-digit.
Rep Lalota:
What number were you briefed on?
Colonel Paris:
I believe I was briefed on an additional three individuals.
