Text messages from the agents sent to guard former President Donald Trump at a July 13 rally reveal that they were a step behind Thomas Matthew Crooks throughout the afternoon as Crooks played cat-and-mouse with the agents.
A text sent by one local police sniper at 4:26 p.m. alerted colleagues of a person of interest who turned out to be Crooks, according to The New York Times.
He said the individual would have spotted the police sniper and “knows you guys are up there.”
By 5:10 p.m., the individual had moved to a position below counter snipers, who were upstairs in one building owned by AGR International. One sniper photographed Crooks at the time.
At 5:38 p.m., photos of Crooks went out to a wider group suggesting the Secret Service be informed.
“Kid learning around building we are in. AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him,” one text read.
Other actions made Crooks stand out, including the fact that although he hung out by the rally entrance, he made no move to actually enter. A countersniper photographed him at 5:14 p.m. lingering outside the gate.
The 5:38 p.m. text came after Crooks was seen using a range finder.
One countersniper “ran out of the building attempting to keep eyes on Crooks until other law enforcement arrived,” according to a statement by Richard Goldinger, the Butler County district attorney.
Crooks ran off.
A 6 p.m. text says one officer shared a guess that Crooks was heading “away from the event.”
Crooks, however, was moving into position to shoot Trump, which was not noticed until spectators gave the alarm a few minutes later.
Beaver County SWAT sniper Gregory Nicol said a man he later knew to be Crooks raised his suspicions, according to ABC.
“He was looking up and down the building … It just seemed out of place,” Nicol, who was posted in an AGR building, said, adding the man’s actions “just didn’t seem right.”
The SWAT team leader said communication at the event went from bad to worse.
“We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived, and that never happened,” Jason Woods, team leader for Beaver County’s Emergency Services Unit and SWAT sniper section, said.
“So I think that was probably a pivotal point, where I started thinking things were wrong because it never happened. We had no communication. Not until after the shooting,” he said.
By then, “it was too late,” he said.
On Monday, the FBI said Crooks accessed the roof where he shot Trump by climbing up HVAC units and piping, then making his way across rooftops until he found the spot he used to shoot Trump, according to Fox News.
