Report: Trump Shooter Was Spotted on a Roof by Law Enforcement 30 Minutes Before Shots Fired

🚨‼️ Trump shooter Thomas Crooks was spotted on a roof by law enforcement 30 MINUTES before shots were fired and was photographed and called in as a "suspicious person," sources told local WPXI-TV reporter Nicole Ford. pic.twitter.com/d8z3msVUb0

— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) July 16, 2024

According to multiple law enforcement sources, Thomas Crooks was spotted by law enforcement on a roof nearly 30 minutes before shots were fired that injured Trump, killed a former fire chief and injured two others in the crowd.

Channel 11's Nicole Ford confirmed that Beaver County's ESU team had eight members at the rally, including snipers and spotters. According to Ford's sources, one of them noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in and took a picture of the person. We have learned from our sources the person in that picture is Thomas Crooks. We're told it's not clear if Crooks had a gun with him at that point.

According to multiple sources, a law enforcement officer had also previously seen Crooks on the ground and called him in as a suspicious person with a picture prior to 5:45 p.m. Our sources tell us an officer checked the grounds for Crooks at that point, but did not see him where the first picture was taken.

26 minutes after the second picture of Crooks was taken by law enforcement and the information called in, shots were fired from the roof of the American Glass Research building.

A local law enforcement officer spotted a suspicious man carrying a range-finder "in or just-outside" the venue before former President Donald Trump took the stage at his rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania on Saturday night, according to a law enforcement source.

The officer reported the sighting to state police, the source said. He took a photo, and there was a discussion about whether what he was carrying was a pair of binoculars to try and see the rally better.