‘We Lost Sight of Him’ Police Transcript Reveals Stunning Details About Trump Assassination Attempt

Previously unreleased communications between law enforcement agencies in the minutes leading up to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump show a massive breakdown in communications, new reporting revealed on Saturday.

The Secret Service and other agencies have faced criticism and tough questions since the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania where the former president was struck, one rally goer was killed, and two others were critically injured. On July 23, Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the head of the Secret Service.

An exclusive report from Shawn Boburg, Samuel Oakford, and Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post published Saturday revealed more than 20 minutes of indirect communication complicated by spotty cell service plaguing police for more than 20 minutes after shooter Thomas Crooks, who was killed after opening fire, was first spotted.

The first call about Crooks was made at 5:42 p.m. by a local countersniper who spotted Crooks using a range finder. The message was given to a communications hub where no one from the Secret Service was present.

“Just an FYI, we had a younger white male, long hair, lurking around the AGR building. He was viewed with a range finder sighting the stage. … We lost sight of him,” was the message relayed in the original call.

According to The Post:

No one from the Secret Service, the agency primarily responsible for protecting Trump, was inside that white trailer to hear the message, according to two law enforcement officials. Instead, the federal agency had its own mobile command post with Pennsylvania State Police almost 300 yards away — and had no direct, open communication line to the local police hub. The local commander inside the trailer had to pick up his cellphone and dial a state trooper to relay the message, the two officials said.

The lack of a direct communication link would later hamper the ability of the Secret Service to quickly grasp the threat posed by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks as local police searched for him over the next 29 minutes, resulting in the federal agency’s gravest security lapse in decades, a Post examination found. At 6:11 p.m., Crooks opened fire from a rooftop, unleashing eight bullets that left the former president wounded, one rallygoer dead and two others critically injured.

Sgt. Ed Lenz was the commander for the Butler County mobile unit, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to the post. Lenz relayed information about the shooter to state police Sgt. Joseph Olayer, who would then give information to Secret Service agents who were set up with him at a separate location.

For more than 20 minutes, police scrambled to share information as they attempted to find the shooter. At one point, officers had trouble sharing photos of Crooks because “internet and cell service is down.” Messages about the spotty service were sent around 5:47 p.m.

“Your picture is probably not going to go through because I don’t have any service,” a deputy radioed at one point.

Previously released text messages have shown officers communicating about the shooter.

Crooks was spotted again at 6:02 p.m., but the same sniper who originally spotted him reportedly said he was headed in the opposite direction that he actually was.

At 6:08 p.m., officers were informed that someone was “on the roof” of the building where Crooks would fire from only minutes later.

“Someone’s on the roof,” a local officer radioed.

Video taken by Dave Stewart at the Butler rally showed police surrounding the building and searching for Crooks from the ground.

Someone gifted me a premium membership! I can upload longer videos here now. Thanks for all the birthday wishes my friends :) It was a good one

I’ll get working on the next part in the morning. Goodnight everyone! pic.twitter.com/gvSKZZt39T

— Dave (@realDJStew724) July 29, 2024

Lenz clarified there were no police “assets” on the roof. Another officer said at 6:09 p.m. they had a “good view” of Crooks on the roof.

At 6:11 p.m. an officer hoisted himself onto the roof enough to see Crooks was armed.

“He’s got a long gun,” the officer said seconds before Crooks opened fire.

As Lenz was ordering the Quick Response Force to deploy on the building and relayed there was a “long gun,” he interrupted his own order to report, “shots fired.”

Read the entire Washington Post report here.