(The Center Square) – Police body cam footage taken after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump shows local police discussing a possible remote-controlled device and questioning if it was a detonation device.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley released the footage from Beaver County, Pa. Emergency Services Unit on Thursday. The 28-minute video raises questions about a seemingly delayed response and a delay in communication between the U.S. Secret Service and law enforcement officials, Grassley said.
Much of the footage reveals conversations between emergency personnel standing near the body of the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, on the roof of a building near Trump’s campaign rally.
An unidentified man in a black suit, like the ones worn by Secret Service agents, appears at the beginning of the video and mentions a possible sighting of the shooter before shots were fired.
“They were filming us, and then they were filming the guy up on the roof, and filming us, and then when the shots started firing they tried to run away,” the unidentified man said.
The video footage additionally records law enforcement discussing the need to use a drone to inspect and secure the water tower on site, Grassley’s office said in the news release.
The Secret Service had an unmanned drone at the event, but the shooter also flew his own drone in the area about two hours before he fired the shots, Grassley said FBI director Christopher Wray testified to in a congressional hearing.
The officers are heard counting shell casings, saying there were at least eight. Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris said earlier this week that Crooks fired at least eight times.
The July 13 assassination attempt continues to raise questions nearly two weeks later about whether a bullet or shrapnel hit Trump, Wray said in a hearing on Wednesday.
A raucous hearing of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Monday resulted in few answers from then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. She resigned on Tuesday, a day after the hearing.
Grassley also released other police body cam footage from the shooting on Tuesday.
“Federal agencies, particularly the Secret Service, have failed to be transparent with the American people,” Grassley said. “This assassination attempt is a matter of significant public interest, and the public’s business ought to be public. I’m releasing these records as part of my efforts to get answers and hold agencies accountable.”
