Local SWAT snipers saw Trump rally gunman nearly 2 hours before assassination attempt, text messages show | July 30, 2024

Annonce:

A local SWAT sniper noticed the suspected gunman at former President Donald Trump’s deadly campaign rally earlier than previously known, according to text messages obtained by ABC News.

On July 13, in what authorities have said was an assassination attempt, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one spectator, critically injuring two others and leaving Trump bleeding from his right ear.

PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. — Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by…

At 4:26 p.m. — nearly two hours before the shooting began — a sniper leaving the area where local SWAT members assembled saw Crooks “sitting to the direct right on a picnic table about 50 yards from the exit,” the text message said.

Watch: ABC News’ exclusive first interview with the local SWAT team on the ground during Trump’s assassination attempt airs in its entirety on “Good Morning America” on Monday, July 29, at 7 a.m. ET.

The obtained text messages were shared among snipers in the American Glass Research (AGR) building area, which was being used as a staging area for local police, who were inside the structure.