The FBI is investigating how Thomas Matthew Crooks, just 20 years old, managed to shoot at former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania. Questions are being raised about how Crooks got onto a nearby building with a clear view of Trump, less than 150 meters away, despite security measures in place. The 3D recreated scene using videos and images, shows two sniper teams positioned on nearby rooftops. While it appears the view of the first sniper team may have been obstructed by trees, the second sniper team had a clear view of the shooter. This incident has prompted a critical review of security protocols, with experts and officials calling it a significant security lapse and demanding a thorough investigation into the matter.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old citizen of Pennsylvania, was shot and killed by the Secret Service shortly after he opened fire at former president Donald Trump’s rally in Butler on Saturday night. But how did its most serious security breach in decades go unnoticed by a dedicated squad of counter snipers?

The two Secret Service countersniper teams may have first had difficulty seeing the shooter as he crawled up the roof due to its slanted sides, according to a Washington Post analysis based on more than 40 videos and photos, satellite imagery, and terrain analysis used to build a 3D model examining the rally site and shooter’s position. The shooter was perhaps partially obscured by trees close to the demonstration from at least one team assigned to detect and neutralize would-be snipers reports The Washington Post.

During an event, the overall coordination of security measures falls under the purview of the Secret Service. According to the director of the organization, local law police were supposed to secure the building where Crooks reportedly opened fire, but they failed to stop him from climbing to the roof.

When questioned if the trees and the roof’s slant would have affected the teams’ ability to react, the Secret Service chose not to answer.

Three former law enforcement personnel—two retired snipers, a former Secret Service agent, and a former marine sniper—reviewed and verified the Post’s assessments.

The pitch of the building’s roof, which rises approximately 3.5 feet from its external walls to its top, may have hindered both units, according to The Post’s 3D model. The research, which used a camera to see the teams’ eyes, predicted that Crooks would not have been seen as he made his way up the roof to reach his last shooting position. According to The Post’s reconstruction, two trees that stand between the suspect and the nearest Secret Service countersniper squad in terms of distance (just over 400 feet and atop a barn that is roughly 23 feet tall) may have made it more difficult for them to see him.

The Post’s reconstruction suggests that even though the second countersniper squad was farther away—roughly 550 feet—they would have had a less blocked view because of their somewhat westward positioning and the possibility that the trees were out of their line of sight.

Binoculars, which provide a wider field of vision than a rifle optic, are frequently used by countersniper teams to screen for threats, according to former officer Jason Lawless, who served as a sniper with the Tulsa Police Department’s Special Operations Team. However, the northernmost crew had moved to their rifle positions approximately two minutes before gunfire broke out, indicating that they were aware of a possible threat at that moment. When exactly Crooks was noticed by the Secret Service counter-snipers. is unknown.

Lawless stated, “If they’re on scope, they’ve been notified about something.” He said that one of the counter snipers on the northernmost team shuddered when Crooks fired his opening bullets, looked away from the sight, and repositioned.

Before Crooks is said to have fired, the southernmost countersniper team—which is shown in previous photos facing south—seemed to reposition northward, indicating that they were also aware of a threat.

The elevation of the two teams’ positions on the barn roofs was between five and eight feet higher than the rooftop where Crooks is said to have fired from. The Post’s model indicated that this meant that neither team was probably high enough to spot Crooks as he crawled up the other side of the roof.

The counter snipers might have been unable to see the slanted roof, according to a law enforcement officer with knowledge of the shooting. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to an ongoing inquiry, claimed that the countersniper who killed Crooks had him in his sights for a short while attempting to determine whether he had a gun and posed a threat. The officer then shot Crooks seconds after Crooks fired.

Officials have not revealed which member of Trump’s security detail fired the final shot, killing the gunman.

There is an ongoing inquiry into how Crooks climbed the roof of an adjacent building more than 400 feet from where Trump was speaking without being apprehended by the authorities.

Verified by The Post, aerial imagery revealed that his body was approximately 40 feet from the building’s eastern wall, which faces a parking lot. There was a rifle a few feet away from him and something that looked like a sack further down the roof.

According to Lawless and the other experts, there are trees between the shooter and one of the Secret Service teams that would have provided him with concealment. However, the view between the shooter and the podium where Trump was standing is largely unhindered, as demonstrated by The Post’s 3D reconstruction.

Air conditioning equipment and a ladder were visible against a building’s structure in aerial footage, which is connected to the location where Crooks is said to have fired people. The building is barely over 13 feet high at its lowest point; it is unclear how the gunman got to the roof.

Viewers outside the demonstration were able to identify Crooks before the first gunfire, which begs the question of how successful the neighboring local law enforcement patrols are. Crooks would have been difficult for the countersniper teams to notice when he was on the far side of the roof.

Several videos taken by participants beyond the rally’s boundaries, which The Post independently verified, show their attempts to notify the police about someone they believed might be armed who was on the roof. In the videos, police cars are seen walking close to the structure where Crooks fired his gun. People can be heard shouting to police that there was a man on the roof at least 86 seconds before the first bullets were fired at 6:11 p.m., according to one video that The Post was able to confirm. When the camera closes in, he is seen lying on his stomach.

“Police officers in the area ought to have been able to either refuse him entry at the beginning or promptly attend to the call,” stated Derrick Bartlett, the head of the American Sniper Association and a retired SWAT sniper from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. “There was a security flaw, then.”

Gunfire cracked the air at 6:11 p.m.

Rob Maher of Montana State University and Steven Beck of Beck Audio Forensics, two audio specialists, examined confirmed video of the attempted murder and the subsequent police reaction. Together, they counted ten gunshots. The first eight fired in six seconds and shared similar acoustic properties. They reported that a shot from a different place came just after them, and a last shot came 16 seconds after the gunfire started. The acoustic characteristics of the last two gunshots differed from those of the preceding ones, indicating a security response. Maher and Beck both emphasized that pinpointing the precise source of these gunshots could not be done only through audio analysis.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle stated on Tuesday that when Crooks was on the roof, officers were inside the building and that the local police were in charge of guarding the facility’s perimeter. She claimed that safety worries about someone standing on an angled roof were a contributing factor in the agency’s decision to forego asking for an officer to be on top.

The countersniper teams were stationed on steeper roofs, according to The Post’s study.

President Biden commanded an impartial investigation into the shooting on July 14, the day following the occurrence. “Working with all involved federal, state, and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again,” according to a statement from Cheatle’s office.

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