Adding to the number of unbelievable security lapses that may have led to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, it was recently revealed that local law enforcement officers at the rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, spotted the shooter, tagged him as a suspicious person, circulated his picture in text messages, and then failed to approach him.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the director of the Secret Service resigned in disgrace following the assassination attempt. Lawmakers and the general public have been flummoxed over how it came to be that a 20-year-old with a rifle managed to fire several shots at Trump from an elevated position just a few hundred feet away.
It was also recently revealed that the shooter, Thomas Mathews Crooks, performed reconnaissance with a drone just hours before the rally.
Here’s some of what Fox News reported on the latest revelations:
Text messages revealed that law enforcement responsible for monitoring former President Trump’s Pennsylvania rally spotted his would-be assassin and flagged him to colleagues as suspicious at least 90 minutes before he opened fire.
The messages, obtained by Fox News Digital from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who obtained them from Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, showed that officers flagged 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks after he was spotted using a range finder – but did not approach him.
The first screenshot is a group chat of Beaver ESU officers, while the second is from one Beaver County sniper departing his shift at around 4:30 – approximately an hour-and-a-half before Trump took the stage. The New York Times first reported the text screenshots.
In a group chat, around 4:36 p.m., when one of the officers texted that his shift was ending, he warned that a man, later identified as Crooks, had parked nearby their vehicle.
“Someone followed our lead and snuck in and parked by our cars just so you know,” the text from an officer read.
A follow-up message said that Crooks was about 50 yards from the rally’s exit, sitting at a picnic table.
Two other counter-snipers responded with a thumbs up emoji and responded, writing, “Roger that.”