Assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks' savage assault on former President Donald J. Trump and a Pennsylvania rally crowd on July 13 ended with an “all bad” SWAT operator hitting Crooks' rifle with a bullet from ground level 100 meters away. U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said.
Crooks, 20, was left “shredded” in the face when a Butler County Emergency Services Unit SWAT operator fired at him from ground level and detonated the stock in his rifle, he say Higgins on August 15.
In a report to the bipartisan House task force investigating former President Trump's assassination attempt, Higgins credited the SWAT operator who ended Crooks' attack after eight shots, about 10 seconds before a police sniper shot and killed Crooks. A source said earlier Blaze News the counter-sniper's shot was fired from 448 yards southwest of Crooks' position.
“Shot 9 struck Crooks' rifle and fragmented his face/neck/right shoulder area as it broke,” Higgins wrote. “The SWAT operator who took this photo was a total badass. When he spotted shooter Crooks as a moving target mostly obscured by foliage in the [American Glass Research] on the roof, he immediately left his assigned post and ran toward the threat, running into a clear firing position directly in the line of fire while Crooks was firing 8 rounds.”
Higgins said his preliminary report was based on about 20 hours of investigative work at the scene in Butler County from Aug. 4-6.
“As always, my research focused on evidence and hard facts, specific observations guided by instinct and experience,” he wrote. “My overall mission was to personally observe and investigate the available crime scene, along with consideration of anticipated and unanticipated interactions with witnesses, the crime scene landscape, hard evidence, evidence corroborative and circumstantial evidence”.
Even after being identified by local police 90 minutes before the shooting as a suspicious person, Crooks was able to slide onto the roof of the sprawling AGR complex between 6:06 p.m. and 6:08 p.m. and run at least two-thirds of the ceiling length to a hidden shooting perch in Building 6, they showed body camera footage.
A Pennsylvania State Police trooper issue a warning at 6:08 p.m. that someone was on the roof, but apparently the Secret Service didn't hear it. The Secret Service it had no staff at the local police command center and could not be used special radios provided by police to communicate with the local command center, officials said.
Crooks shot Trump in the right ear at 18:11:32 during an initial burst of three rifle shots, followed by a rapid discharge of five more bullets. Volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania, was killed in the shooting. Among the seriously injured were David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pa., and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pa.
In a briefing last week with U.S. Rep. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), local police officials said the U.S. Secret Service has not even acknowledged the heroic action taken by the SWAT officer. of Butler County to stop the attack. “This is not being widely reported,” Johnson said on August 11.
“This scorched-earth pattern of investigation by the FBI is quite troubling.”
Higgins said it's possible the SWAT operator's bullet disabled Crooks' gun and prevented him from firing a ninth or subsequent round.
“By himself, this ESU SWAT operator took a very hard shot, one hit,” Higgins said. “It stopped Crooks, and more importantly, I think it damaged the shock tube of Crooks' AR. … This means that if his AR shock tube was damaged, Crooks' rifle would not fire after his eighth shot”.
The recoil tube of an AR-15 style rifle houses a system to control recoil when the weapon is fired.
When the SWAT bullet struck his AR-15, Crooks initially dropped from his prone firing position, the report said, perhaps stunned by the debris hitting his face and neck. After a few seconds, the Butler SWAT operator reported, Crooks “appeared again.”
Video shot from the west side of Building 6 by eyewitness Jon Malis shows Crooks nearly sitting up after his rifle was hit. “So when I looked back later with my extended video,” Malis said. “You could actually see him sit up and throw his gun and point it right at us right before the Secret Service shot him.”
Higgins served in various law enforcement positions in Louisiana before first taking office in the House in 2017. Most recently, he served as a deputy marshal for the city of Lafayette and previously held positions as law enforcement in city, town and parish departments.
FBI releases shooter's body
Higgins said he had planned to examine Crooks' body on a research trip to Butler on Aug. 5, but discovered that the FBI had turned it over to the family for cremation on July 23. “Nobody knew until Monday, Aug. 5,” Higgins said.
“The problem with not being able to examine the actual body is that I won't know 100% if the coroner's report and the autopsy report are accurate. We'll never really know,” Higgins wrote. “Yes, we will get the reports and pictures, etc., but I can never say for sure that those reports and pictures are accurate based on my own examination of the body.”
He said the FBI released the crime scene after just three days, undermining the efforts of other investigations looking into the shooting.
“Cops don't do that, ever.”
“I interviewed several first responders who expressed everything from surprise to dismay to suspicion that the FBI released the crime scene so soon after J13,” he said. “It should be noted that the FBI was fully aware that Congress would be investigating J13. The FBI does not exist in a vacuum. They should have known that releasing the J13 crime scene would prejudice the immediate observations of any subsequent investigation.”
The FBI also cleaned up the scene before releasing her.
A Beaver County Emergency Services SWAT operator and a medic enter the building from which Thomas Crooks shot former President Donald J. Trump at a rally July 13 in Butler, Penn.Butler Township Police Department through the Judicial Guard
“The FBI cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of,” he said. “Cops don't do that, ever.”
Higgins described the FBI's actions as “obstruction” of congressional and other investigations that began since the FBI opened its criminal investigation into the shooting. The FBI was likely aware of the U.S. House task force appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.), he said.
“Why, then, to what extent would the FBI turn his body over to the family for cremation? This pattern of scorched earth investigation by the FBI is quite troubling,” Higgins said.
In a statement to Blaze News, the FBI responded.
“Any suggestion that the FBI is interfering with congressional efforts to investigate the assassination attempt that took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, is inaccurate and unfounded,” the FBI's National Press Office wrote. “The FBI has been working closely with our law enforcement partners to conduct a thorough investigation into the shooting and we have followed normal procedures in handling crime scenes and evidence.
“The FBI continues its painstaking work in the investigation to develop as complete a picture as possible of what led up to the shooting, and we remain committed to the utmost transparency as we continue to brief Congress and release information to the public about the investigation in course”, he added. the FBI said.
The FBI statement also referenced several of Higgins' specific claims:
- “The crime scene was turned over to the property owners in phases as we completed our work at the AGR building, surrounding area and the Butler Farm Show grounds. Nothing was rushed and everything was documented as apart from research”.
- “The FBI arranged to clean up the scene where the assailant died, in accordance with normal procedures.”
- “The shooter's body was released to his family after coordination with the coroner's office and our state and local partners. This also follows standard procedures.”
The Higgins report confirmed information published by Blaze News on August 12 that indicated Scammers took a path on the ceiling to his shooting perch which minimized his exposure to sniper teams. The view of the Secret Service counter-snipers was greatly obscured by two large trees just southeast of the building from which Crooks fired. Crooks likely used his drone shortly before 4 p.m. to confirm the route he would take on the roof, a Blaze source said.
“Crooks' firing position was also several meters back from the actual roof top of the AGR,” Higgins said. “By choosing this position, Crooks effectively minimized the profile of his aligned head and upper body.”
No second shooter
The report dismissed widely circulated Internet theories that a second gunman was atop the blue water tower on the edge of AGR property. Higgins said the tower was checked and cleared with a drone in the morning. The retractable ladder to access the tower was never lowered that day, and local police teams sat under the tower for much of the day, he said.
To reach the top of the tower, someone would have had to climb the first 25 feet without a ladder, then climb 75 feet to the footbridge, then climb the dome access ladder “intimidating and precarious”.
“I don't think it was possible for a 'second shooter' sniper to be on top of that water tower at J13, nor have I seen any evidence to support the theory of a second shooter. I am not conclusively saying that that there was no other shooter somewhere or that there was no other conspirator involved in J13, but I am saying that according to my research so far, there were 10 shots at J13, and all shots are accounted for, . and every trait aligns with its source.”
Higgins also quashed the notion that a muzzle flash was seen in a first-floor window of the AGR building at the time of the shooting. He said he examined the window and determined that it does not open.
Higgins gave high marks to the tactical teams and other local police officers who manned the event and responded to the shooting. “My assessment of the overall performance of local law enforcement in J13 is that the ESU was deployed and commanded very professionally,” he said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from the FBI provided to Blaze News.
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