This information is based on the latest publicly-available information at the time of publication and is subject to change. Times are approximate.
Two years prior to the shooting:
Former President Donald Trump’s security detail complained they were not being given enough resources and personnel by the Secret Service.
Thursday, July 11:
Gunman Thomas Crooks is identified as a person of interest.
Friday, July 12:
Crooks practices at a shooting range.
Saturday July 13:
Crooks buys a five-foot ladder at The Home Depot, and 50 rounds of ammunition from a gun store.
Crooks drives his car, with an explosive device in the trunk and wired to a transmitter, an hour north to the Trump rally in Butler, Penn.
Crooks is “able to fly a drone and get aerial footage of the Pennsylvania fairgrounds shortly before the former president was set to speak there.”
Crooks uses a bike to scout the rally grounds, unimpeded.
9am: Butler County Emergency Services (Butler ESU) provides a security briefing for the local SWAT teams and police assigned to the rally. Secret Service does not attend. During the briefing, Butler ESU provides images of the outside security perimeter that local law enforcement is responsible for. The images do not include the American Glass Research (AGR) building the shooter, Thomas Crooks, climbed.
10:30am: Local police tasked with guarding the perimeter of the rally site are stationed in the AGR building on the second floor, noticed suspicious character. This is the building Crooks climbs to shoot Trump.
5pm: Crooks is identified by authorities as a person of interest. He was flagged as acting suspiciously near a screening entrance.
5:10pm: One of two local law enforcement snipers in the AGR building sees Crooks, who seems “suspicious.”
5:14pm: One of the local law enforcement snipers takes at least two photos of crooks. (One of the pictures appears to show Crooks on his phone).
5:28pm: The same police sniper photographs a bicycle and a backpack nearby.
5:32pm: The same police sniper sees Crooks again near the building apparently looking at news feeds on his phone and holding a range finder. Shortly after, the sniper reports the suspect to a group text of other law enforcement snipers on site, and is instructed to report the suspect to “command.”
5:41pm: The same police sniper calls into “command” to report the suspect, and describes the suspect’s appearance, and notes that he has a range finder.
5:45pm: The same police sniper texts the Beaver Emergency Services Group Command about the suspect and instructs them to relay the message to “command,” which includes Secret Service.
5:52pm: Secret Service snipers spot Crooks on the roof.
5:59pm: A Beaver County law enforcement operator receives confirmation from a Butler County SWAT commander that “command,” which includes Secret Service, has been made aware of the messages, and requested more information about the suspect’s location. Trump is not warned or warded off taking the stage.
At some point around this time, Crooks uses an air conditioning unit (or ladder) to climb onto the gently-sloped roof of the building with the local police snipers inside. The building has a direct line of sight to Donald Trump’s podium and is only 133 yards away.
6:02pm: Trump takes the stage.
People in the crowd tell officers that a suspicious man has climbed to the roof of the building. Over the course of several minutes, additional people begin alerting police and pointing to Crooks on the roof.
6:11pm:
(12 seconds before the shooting) A police officer walks around the building. People start to run away.
An armed police officer climbs on the roof to confront Crooks but loses his grip or lets go when Crooks turns toward him.
(11 seconds before the shooting) Secret Service “acquires target” but does not shoot.
(5 seconds before the shooting) More people yell about the man on the roof with a gun.
(4 seconds before the shooting) More people spot the shooter and yell “Right here!”
Crooks fires at Trump and continues shooting. It’s been well over an hour since Crooks was first identified on site as a suspicious person.
According to one report, at least one local police authority shoots at Crooks. No word on how many times, or whether any of the shots hit Crooks.
(26 seconds after first shot) Secret Service sniper shoots Crooks.
Shortly after the shooting, a man in a gray suit climbs the ladder to the building and instructs local police there to send photos of the shooting to a particular text number, which they did. The text number may belong to an Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms official.
Tuesday, July 17:
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle tells a reporter that the gently sloped roof provided a safety hazard to Secret Service snipers, and so none were placed on the building as part of the rally’s security plan.
Saturday July 20:
(From CNN) A spokesperson for the Secret Service says in a statement that the agency has not provided certain resources in the past, but has instead provided other security measures including from local partners. A Secret Service official tells CNN that examples of these alternatives included having local sniper teams in place when the Secret Service could not provide their own, or having hand-held magnetometers and other measures established at certain events where larger, walk-through magnetometers weren’t available. However, the Secret Service denies security was short on the day of the rally.
Monday July 22:
Cheatle testifies to House Oversight Committee.
Read: Slippery Slope and the Secret Service
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Thank you Sharyl on your reporting. You never disappoint! Please report on Gavin Newsome’s recent signing of AB 1955.
The Secret Service sniper shot Crooks 26 seconds after the first shot? My impression has been that it was just a few seconds after the first shot. Can you identify in one of the videos when the sniper was shot?
You state on July 11, gunman Thomas Crook is identified as a person of interest. How did that come about? Did someone call a LE agency to report him and if so, which agency?
This is a great piece and we thank you for assembling it.
The gateway pundit noted also that the parents called the police hours beforehand to tell them that their son had one of their guns. They also noted in a different article that the ladder he bought was 5 foot tall, but the photograph showing the ladder he used was more like 8 foot tall.
Are you sure Crooks used his Home Depot ladder? It’s been reported there was one already in place!?
well i used to be a roofer and i can tell you that was not much of a slope and any rookie could walk that roof .. i used to take my son with me sometimes when he was 9 and he could walk that roof .. so thats a bullshit story that it was too dangerous cause of the slope .. she’s the dangerous one if she gets away with a bullshit story like that .. at the very least she should be fired and at the worst she should be jailed for lettin what happened happen .. she’s tryin to febreeze us with that bullshit story .. what does it mean to febreeze you ?? well if your dog shits in the corner and someone is commin over you spray febreeze so nobody can smell it .or to put it another way .. you cover the smell up .. well thats what she’s doin .. she’s tryin to febreeze us with that bullshit story ..its what the lame stream media has been doin for the last 8 years ..probably longer .. trump called em fake news .. i just call em febreeze .. sounds so much better don’t it ..smells so much better already .. just take a wiff ..ahhh.. its how they cover it all up ..
They need to inform us where the spent bullets landed. There is a video circulating on Substack (here) https://substack.com/@libsarenuts/note/c-62845240?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=1qlq6m
that examines placement of and how many weapons were heard in video footage from both the podium mike and attendee cell phone videos. Sniper who took out the alleged shooter fired nearly a full 16 seconds after the first shot. First three shots were muffled, followed by five shots from two different guns, one of which allegedly came from a different position but from the same distance from the podium. Was that a second shooter firing at the podium or LE fire toward the alleged shooter (who by the way was taken out with a single headshot above to the forehead). A search (and transparency of the findings) for the spent bullets will tell us much more of the story.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/07/mobile-data-reveals-someone-who-regularly-visited-thomas/
you probably already saw this – strange data on the kid’s phone
Sharyl, Thanks for the effort to put together this timeline. Could you find some public statements about a second shooter, namely the one identified on the watertower by some participants interviewed by mainstream media.