Trump assassination attempt: Viral video shows new perspective from deadly rally shooting
Sniper seen in position beside former president seconds before shots rang out
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FIRST ON FOX — New video footage of the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, obtained by Fox News Digital shows a different angle of the shooting that killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore and left two other men severely injured.
The footage recently posted online by rally attendee Geoffrey Gronski on X shows a different angle of the event during which a sniper can be seen in position beside the former president before shots rang out.
"I didn't really notice anything because I was just watching Trump speak, so … I wasn't paying attention to the snipers in the background or anything," Geoffrey Gronski, who said his wife took the video, told Fox News Digital. "I didn't even realize that the snipers were even looking through their scopes in the direction of the building until we reviewed the footage later."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gronski, a retired Marine Corps veteran, said it was their first time at a Trump rally, and his wife had said to him before leaving the house that day, "I do not want to die at a Trump rally."
New Trump assassination attempt video shows a sniper in position on former President Trump's side just before gunfire began. (FaceSmasher3000 on X)
"And I was like, 'You're not going to die at a Trump rally. Everything's going to be fine.' He's had so many rallies before, but she knows how crazy the political landscape is this year," Gronski recalled.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The video adds to lingering questions about how gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, was able to evade security and get into position on top of the nearby American Glass Research (AGR) building for the deadly assassination attempt.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks is shown on a roof moments before trying to assassinate former President Trump. (DJ Laughery | Inset obtained by Fox News Digital)
The U.S. Secret Service said in a statement to Fox News Digital it is "aware of and reviewing a variety of footage from July 13 as part of our mission assurance review."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The U.S. Secret Service is committed to examining the processes, procedures, and factors that led to this operational failure, so that we can ensure it never happens again," the agency said.
The FBI confirmed during an Aug. 28 press call that Crooks was seen walking outside the rally perimeter by a row of vendors at 4:26 p.m. on July 13, about an hour and a half before Trump began speaking.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Trump was injured during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Video footage from a local business showed Crooks climbing up the AGR building and then traversing rooftops between 6:05 and 6:08, the FBI said.
"Our overall finding is the subject was only on the roof for approximately six minutes prior to the shooting. Between 6:05 and 6:11 p.m.," then he was neutralized, said Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh field office, later refuting rumors that there was a second shooter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On the day of the rally, Crooks flew a drone for 11 minutes between 3:51 p.m. and 4:02 p.m., Rojek told Fox News Digital.
The FBI's observations from the drone's flight path show it "would have been helpful for our subject to assess the security posture at the event," Rojek said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Police stand over Thomas Crooks after he was shot. (Butler Township Police Department)
The FBI is working to determine Crooks' motive and whether he had any co-conspirators with advanced knowledge of the attack. Crooks had "a sustained detailed effort to plan an attack on some event, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets," Rojek said at the time.
The 20-year-old gunman "became hyper-focused" on Trump's rally in Butler after it was announced in early July. He had no identifiable political ideology, the FBI added.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bipartisan U.S. lawmakers stand on the roof of the AGR building in Butler, Pa., on Aug. 26, 2024, as part of a task force visit investigating the assassination attempt on former President Trump. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
The FBI said on Aug. 28 that a Secret Service countersniper fired the shot that killed Crooks seconds after the gunman opened fire.
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Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, chair of the House task force on the assassination attempt, and ranking member Jason Crow, D-Colo., on Tuesday morning sent letters to five local law enforcement agencies asking for transcribed interviews and any additional information they can share about the assassination attempt, "including planning, participation, and post-event actions and correspondence," the task force said in a press release.