Dramatic video obtained by CNN shows, for the first time, the moment a police officer climbed up to the roof of a building overlooking the Donald Trump rally on July 13 and saw the former U.S. president’s would-be assassin just before the shooting began.
Other footage from the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which CNN obtained through a public records request, shows local officers lamenting that they told Secret Service to post officers near the building the gunman fired from days earlier.
A video from the Butler police officer’s body-worn camera shows how the officer was hoisted up by his colleague onto the roof, quickly dropping down after he sees the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Approximately 40 seconds later, Crooks turned back and fired eight shots at Trump, who was hit in the ear. Seconds later, a Secret Service sniper shot and killed Crooks.
After the encounter, the officer runs around to another side of the building before running to his police car to retrieve a rifle.
“F**king this close bro,” the officer who saw Crooks says to another officer. “Dude, he turned around on me.”
One officer asks where the shooter is and the officer, panting, says, “He’s straight up.”
“Who’s got eyes on him?” the officer asks. “He was right where you picked me up, bro. He was on that left side.”
Over the radio a voice says: “We have two civilians – tending to them,” and later, “I need an ambulance in the back.”
This video was released by Butler Township Police Department in response to CNN’s public records request that asked for any body-camera video or dash-camera video involving Butler Township officers or personnel related to the rally and shooting at Butler Farm Show on July 13. The township initially declined to release the content but did after CNN appealed.
This 2021 photo shows then-student Thomas Matthew Crooks, who graduated from Bethel Park High School with the Class of 2022. (Bethel Park School District via AP)
On the dashboard camera of the officer who came face-to-face with Crooks, three shots can be heard ringing out, followed by five more shots fired in rapid succession.
“Don’t put up your head – he’s right there!” the officer shouts to others after opening his car half a minute after the shots were fired.
Shortly after, video shows law enforcement officers attempting to access the roof.
“He’s got glasses, long hair,” the officer who saw Crooks tells several others climbing up the side of the building. “Yo, Mike, I climbed the wall and I popped my head right in front of him bro, he’s got a book bag, he’s got mad sh*t, AR laying down.”
“But watch out because he can f**king come right down on you over there,” the officer warns.
The officer adds later: “Before you m*therf**kers came up here I popped my head up there like an idiot, by myself, dude. He turned around, I f**king dropped.”
When they ultimately access the top of the building, footage shows Crooks’ lifeless body, his rifle and a trail of blood running down the side of the roof.
Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during the Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In a separate video released by the Butler police, one officer can be heard telling colleagues about 10 minutes after the shooting that he had told Secret Service to post law enforcement by the building that Crooks fired from.
“I f**king told them they need to post the guys f**king over here,” the officer said. “I told them that, the f**king, the Secret Service, I told them that f**king Tuesday. I told them to post f**king guys over here.”
Another officer replied that he wasn’t “even concerned about it because I thought someone was on the roof. I thought that’s how we — how in the hell can you lose a guy walking back here?”
“I talked to the Secret Service guys, they were like, ‘Yeah, no problem, we’re going to post guys over here,’” the first officer said.
Secret Service posted three local counter snipers inside one of the adjacent buildings, one of whom took pictures of Crooks earlier that day and left his post to go looking for the soon-to-be shooter.
The Secret Service declined to comment.
On Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley released documents obtained from the shooter’s gun club that revealed new details about Crooks’s preparation in the months leading up to the attempted assassination of Trump.
The records from Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, reviewed by CNN, show Crooks visited the gun range a total of 43 times after establishing a membership on August 10, 2023 – less than a year before the assassination attempt
Sign-in sheets provided to Grassley, an Iowa Republican, by Clairton Sportsmen’s Club also indicate Crooks spent the majority of his time at the rifle range – rather than other designated areas for firing pistols or shotguns – in the months immediately preceding the rally where he ultimately used the same type of weapon to shoot Trump.
Crooks attended target practice at the club three to six times per month in 2024, before making one final visit at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, July 12, 2024 – the day before the Trump rally, according to the records obtained by Grassley.
Top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, two security sources told Reuters.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Smoke is rising over Lebanon’s capital of Beirut Friday after Israel’s military struck southern suburbs – a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
A paid passenger on an expedition to the Titanic with the company that owned the Titan submersible testified before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday that the mission he took part in was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure.
Following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems, a new study found.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.
In the middle of the small crowd — near the tents, the lineup of kids awaiting face painting, the snack table — stood a jubilant Chiara Padovani. 'When I say 'tenant, you say 'power,'' she commanded to several dozen tenants, who chanted back with gusto. What looked like a summer block party in front of two north-end Toronto apartment buildings last month was a celebration of what renters who withheld payments for months called a 'huge victory.'
For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.
Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure that the U.S. Secret Service has enough money and resources to keep the nation's presidential candidates safe amid repeated threats of violence. It's unclear, though, how much they can do with only weeks before the election, or if additional dollars would make an immediate difference.
The mayor of a French town making headlines for the trial of dozens of men accused of rapes that occurred there over almost a decade has apologized for comments that appeared to downplay the case.
A federal law enforcement agency confirmed it's opened an investigation into Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he allegedly cut off the head of a dead whale and took it home two decades ago.
Smoke is rising over Lebanon’s capital of Beirut Friday after Israel’s military struck southern suburbs – a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Lawyers in Britain representing dozens of alleged victims of Mohamed Al Fayed, the former boss of Harrods, said Friday their clients assert that he was a 'monster' who raped and sexually abused young women.
A 20-year-old man and his co-conspirator have been charged with conspiracy to steal and launder over US$230 million in cryptocurrency, and federal authorities said the arrests are connected to an FBI raid of a mansion in Miami.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tapped Treasury Board President Anita Anand to take on additional duties as Canada's minister of transport on Thursday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
The head of Via Rail repeatedly told MPs a train delay over the Labour Day long weekend was an isolated incident, despite a similar event two years ago.
The Nunavut government says it will provide immunization against respiratory syncytial virus to all infants in the territory this fall, a policy change that one pediatric infectious diseases specialist has been advocating for decades.
Ontario’s Minister of Sport, Neil Lumsden, will donate his brain to research.
Software company Mustimuhw Information, which develops medical records systems built on a foundation of Indigenous traditions and values, is allowing health providers to capture data informed by cultural practices.
Lebanese authorities on Thursday banned walkie-talkies and pagers from being taken on flights from Beirut airport, the National News Agency reported, after thousands of such devices exploded during a deadly attack on Hezbollah this week.
If something looks too good to be true, it might be. That's the message from Saskatchewan horticulturists after customers have come into their stores hoping to buy purple apple trees this month.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck, which had been sent to the frontline of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Lawyers representing the producers of 'Russians at War' say they may pursue legal action against Ontario's public broadcaster for pulling support for the controversial documentary amid outcry from the Ukrainian community and some Canadian politicians.
Viewers of Jeopardy got a chance to test their knowledge of trivia about B.C.'s biggest city Wednesday night.
British actress Florence Pugh has revealed that shaving her head for her latest movie role was a 'really bizarre' experience that sent her body 'into a bit of trauma.'
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says there is a lot of uncertainty around how artificial intelligence could affect the economy moving forward, including the labour market and price growth.
A case involving stolen funds from a Saskatchewan business being used to purchase cryptocurrency will be heading back to the courts, thanks to a new decision by Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal.
Self-service kiosks at McDonald's and other fast-food chains have loomed as job killers since they were first rolled out 25 years ago. But nobody predicted what actually happened.
A huge king penguin chick named Pesto, who weighs as much as both his parents combined, has become a social media celebrity and a star attraction at an Australian aquarium.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
Trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.
The Winnipeg Jets have some huge holes to fill on both offence and defence this season.
Shohei Ohtani became the first major league player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season, with the Los Angeles Dodgers star going deep twice to reach the half-century mark and swiping two bags to get to 51 against the Miami Marlins on Thursday.
Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he's been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season's playoffs.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.
The plant was expected to produce batteries for a million electric vehicles a year. Once up and running, it was supposed to create hundreds of permanent jobs in a small southeastern Ontario municipality. But two years later, spending on the construction of the Umicore plant has been delayed in what the company calls a "significant worsening of the EV market context."
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.
Thousands of protesters are expected to march into downtown Vancouver on Friday, demanding more action from their government to address the growing climate crisis.
There have been more reports of a Bitcoin extortion scam seeking to exploit viewers of "adult content" in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, according to the RCMP.
Getting a bed at one of British Columbia's drug detoxification facilities is like winning the lottery, the vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says.
The Ford government is considering restricting Ontario municipalities from installing new bike lanes that would require the removal of lanes of traffic, a source confirms to CTV News Toronto.
For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Defence counsel for accused murderer John-Christopher Arrizza argues he was in an “altered state of mind” due to days of drug and alcohol use, sleep deprivation and not eating, when he fatally stabbed a man at a Banff nightclub in 2022.
Injury prevention experts are urging Calgarians to ride carefully as e-scooter crashes land hundreds of people in the hospital.
Friday will be cool and wet with intermittent showers likely through most of the day.
CTV News has learned “significant news” is coming Friday regarding ongoing discussions to build a new downtown arena for the Ottawa Senators.
A man has been taken to hospital in life-threatening condition following a stabbing incident that happened on Baseline Road in the early hours of Friday morning, according to the Ottawa Paramedic Service.
Police say a man, 34, who was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot Thursday night has died.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has invited his Quebec counterpart to the negotiating table to reach an agreement on caribou before Christmas. He noted that the province could benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to protect biodiversity.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
Edmonton police are warning about traffic disruptions on Friday near the headquarters of the Alberta Teachers' Association, where a protest against the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in school curricula will be taking place.
A mother and daughter say they woke up to flames encroaching on their third-floor apartment near Commonwealth Stadium early Friday morning.
The big weather story today won't really be rain, it'll be the cooler and breezier conditions.
A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes "indescribable" pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.
Gas prices increased in all three Maritime provinces for the first time in more than a month.
A section of Herring Cove Road in the Spryfield area of Halifax is closed to traffic in both directions following a single-vehicle collision Friday morning.
The Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) has made an arrest following a fire that claimed the lives of two people.
Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.
A Winnipeg pet rescue is putting out a warning to dog owners across the city about a possible parvovirus in the province.
Driving into the tunnels of Nutrien's Rocanville mine, the largest potash mine in the world by production volume, feels like driving down a lonely highway in the middle of the night.
Regina police, fire and EMS were called to what appeared to be a three vehicle collision in the east end of the city shortly before 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.
Amber and Adam Brueckner have a pool-shaped hole in their backyard – and their wallets.
The missing family that was last seen in Kitchener, Ont. on Sept. 1 has been found safe, according to police.
A 43-year-old Guelph woman is wanted after police say she broke into a house and made herself at home.
The second-degree murder trial of Thomas Hamp is being adjourned until December so an expert witness central to the trial can testify.
A gym teacher at a private Christian school in Saskatoon has been charged. Terra MacEwan, 44, is charged with assault with a weapon. A Saskatoon mother who spoke with CTV News says her autistic son was MacEwan's victim.
Driving into the tunnels of Nutrien's Rocanville mine, the largest potash mine in the world by production volume, feels like driving down a lonely highway in the middle of the night.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
Police say just before 7:00 p.m. four teens entered a business in the 1000 block of Adelaide Street North.
Police were focusing their attention on the northeast corner of Richmond and Horton, with members of the emergency response unit taking up positions at the scene.
An Elgin County community is expected to double in size as plans for multiple residential developments loom. The Township of Southwold expects shovels in the ground as early as 2025.
Two men from Barrie have been charged after a deadly shooting at a park in Keswick on Wednesday.
Police say officers have dismantled a clandestine drug laboratory in Walkerton.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Windsor police say a 25-year-old mother has been charged with the drowning death of her 5-year-old child in the family’s backyard pool.
On Thursday, just after 9:30 a.m., a man was found and taken to police headquarters, where he was released with conditions and a future court date.
Standing up, speaking out, and showing solidarity — survivors and supporters gathered in the core to take back the night in Windsor. The city is just one of a growing list of communities that have declared intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic.
In a rare move, the Greater Victoria School District Board of Education has been slapped with a ministerial order from the province requiring it to update a student safety plan – drawing concern around political posturing leading up to an election.
Getting a bed at one of British Columbia's drug detoxification facilities is like winning the lottery, the vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says.
The Union of B.C. Municipalities is asking the provincial government to make transit free for teenagers.
A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.
A Vulcan, Alta., man has been charged with a Lethbridge woman's murder after her body was found in the Oyen area.
A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.
Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.
A new community health profile in the Algoma District shows the area is significantly below provincial averages in a number of health metrics.
North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.
Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.
Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
A 16-year-old biennial event aimed at fostering business in the country's eastern Arctic and northern regions has been cancelled indefinitely as a dispute unfolds between Inuit in Canada and a Labrador group claiming to share their heritage.
Jim Lester’s farm hopped on the cow-cuddling trend in early August, and his time slots have been pretty well sold out ever since.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
