Shocking details about Donald Trump’s deadly July 13 Butler, Pennsylvania, rally are emerging.
Law enforcement witnesses, many who were present at the rally during the shooting, are detailing grisly aspects that unfolded during the messy day during a public hearing.
That includes the exact moment shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was taken out by a counter sniper, just seconds after he shot the former president.
The officials expressed remorse over the death and carnage that ensued that day, and the lapses in preparation and communication with the U.S. Secret Service that led up to it.
In addition, the long-awaited results of a series of tests conducted during Crooks’ autopsy are finally being released.
Commander Edward Lenz of Butler County Emergency Services Unit, Patrolman Drew Blasko of Butler Township Police Department, Lieutenant John D. Herold of Pennsylvania State Police and Patrick Sullivan attend a House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump hearing
Opening the hearing, Chairman of the Trump Assassination Task Force Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said the Secret Service’s miscommunication led to confusion.
He likened it to the agency playing a game of telephone during the crisis.
Kelly told the witnesses he sought clarity on the tragic events from July 13, and let them begin.
Mr. Edward Lenz, Sergeant, Adams Township Police Department, Commander, Butler County Emergency Services Unit (ESU) opened up the hearing with his testimony.
He was in charge of a large 44 member Emergency Service Unit that closely assisted the Secret Service, more officers than the agency requested.
His wife, a medical professional, even aided some wounded that day, he added.
Lenz testified that at no point during the preparation was the local ESU asked to secure the AGR complex from where Thomas Matthew Crooks shot from.
Nor were they asked to put anyone on the roof.
They did, however, have a sniper on the barn close to Trump.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa
He described how that sniper shot at Crooks six seconds after the initial shots at the former president sounded off.
That ESU sniper under his command shot at Crooks from 110 yards, he testified.
‘When shots rang out he quickly was able to identify where the shots were coming from,’ Lenz told the panel.
‘He observed the shooter, shouldered his rifle, he acquired his target, and he fired one shot at the shooter which caused him to recoil and briefly fall out of site.’
That individual saw through his scope Crooks recoil after firing, indicating that the 20-year-old was hit by the round, or at least frightened.
Lenz testified that the ESU shooter was ‘very confident’ that the shot connected with the target.
But seconds after Crooks disappeared following the initial volley, the 20-year-old reappeared and was immediately shot once more, this time fatally by the Secret Service.
Lenz said there was ‘no guidance’ from the Secret Service on where he should station his ESU operators.
They were also not given information on rules for engagement from the agency, Lenz said.
Lenz talked about how his team of ESU operators was given scant instruction by the Secret Service on where officers should be stationed
And Crooks’s body showed signs that the Secret Service sniper’s bullet was the one that killed the shooter.
Dr. Ariel Goldschmidt, the medical examiner of Allegheny County, who conducted the autopsy on Thomas Matthew Crooks, confirmed Thursday he was killed by the sniper.
Goldschmidt confirmed that gunshot residue samples were taken.
He determined Crooks died as a result of a high-velocity gunshot wound to the head after conducting the autopsy the morning of July 14.
The entrance wound was just above Crooks’s lip, he testified.
Then on July 22 his body was released to the funeral home at the directive of the county coroner.
Goldschmidt also revealed that prior to his review of the body it was x-rayed and handled by the FBI.
The medical examiner also said that he does not believe that Crooks’ body was impacted by a ninth or tenth shot when pressed by Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., on whether there were additional wounds discovered during the autopsy.
Previously Higgins released an independent report indicating that the stock of Crooks’s gun could have been hit by gunfire and the resulting shrapnel from the strike could have injured the shooter.
John D. Herold, Lieutenant, Pennsylvania State Police, the officer in charge for the State Police on July 13, also testified.
During the hearing he said there were 20 members of his team there to support the Secret Service, and his agency provided everything the agency requested.
He also said that his team was not tasked with securing the AGR building from where Crooks shot the former president.
Lieutenant John Herold of Pennsylvania State Police attends a House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump hearing
The panel also played unseen footage of local enforcement officers attempting to confront Crooks before the shooting.
The video shows dash-cam footage from a police car showing an officer attempting to climb onto the roof.
Then the officer jumps down from the AGR roof building frantically.
He appears to injure his ankle and hobbles away with haste, seemingly afraid.
It was previously reported that an officer saw Crooks on the roof and tried to approach him before the 20-year-old opened fire, and the video confirmed the account.