U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley on Tuesday posted a video that showed the aftermath of the shooting of Trump shooter Thomas Crooks, with law enforcement officers on a rooftop next to his body.
Grassley in X demanded answers and accountability following the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear.
Crooks was shot and killed after shooting Trump. Crooks shot and killed another person and injured two others when he opened fire at the event.
Body camera video posted by Grassley, R-Iowa, shows Crooks’ body on the roof of the building from which he shot. The video also showed blood on the shooter’s body.
“We need detailed answers as quickly as possible about security breaches,” Grassley wrote on X. “TRANSPARENCY BRINGS ACCOUNTABILITY.”
In the video, someone in a black suit and sunglasses speaks to officers armed with rifles and wearing body armor after the shooting and Crooks’ subsequent death.
An officer points a rifle at the roof, although it is unclear whether it belongs to Crooks.
The officer whose body camera is recording mentions that a shooter saw a person getting off a bike and dropping a backpack, but lost sight of it. It’s unclear from the video whether the officer is talking about Crooks.
Grassley wrote that the video was obtained from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit following requests from Congress. The Beaver County Sheriff’s Office has a unit by that name, which is a tactical team that responds to high-risk incidents.
The U.S. Secret Service and Beaver County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Congress have demanded answers about how Crooks was able to open fire on a former president, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General said he opened three reviews surrounding the incident.
US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday. She wrote in a resignation letter that she takes “full responsibility for the security breach.”
The motive of the bandits has not been determined.
Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris, who heads the agency, said at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Tuesday that Crooks was identified as a suspect before the shooting.
Crooks was seen “wandering around and stood out to them because he never reached an entry point into the location”, meaning that Crooks was circling but not trying to enter, and that Crooks was later seen with a rangefinder.
Paris said the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, charged with protecting the building from which Crooks fired, passed the suspicion and a photo of Crooks to state police, who then passed the message to the Secret Service.
Crooks was only designated as a real threat seconds before he opened fire, Paris said.
Trump, now the official Republican nominee for president, plans to stop holding outdoor rallies in the wake of the assassination attempt, according to two sources familiar with his campaign’s operations. Current plans are for these events to be held indoors, they said.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
