BUTLER, Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, chairman of the House task force on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, on Monday questioned the seemingly “frozen” response by police when they first discovered the shooter, Thomas Crooks.
Kelly’s comments came after his second visit to the assassination site at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Crooks shot Trump during the former president’s July 13 campaign rally, killing one attendee and seriously wounding two others.
“I just want to know who the quarterback was? Who was the one that made the decision? … And when the sniper already had the shooter in his sights and, from what we’ve heard so far, was waiting for clearance to shoot. … Some quarterback has to make that decision. If he doesn’t make that decision, the team can’t act. And that’s what I’m seeing here. It was kind of frozen for a while,” Kelly told Fox News Digital.
Kelly, who is originally from the Butler area, added that he believes it is too early to judge whether some sort of criminal negligence was involved in the attack.
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Rep. Mike Kelly points into the distance as U.S. lawmakers from a bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempt on former President Trump visit the scene of the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, Monday, August 26, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
“The worst thing you can do in life is not to be prepared,” said the Pennsylvania lawmaker.
The bipartisan task force charged with investigating the shooting – a House resolution passed 416-0 – is still working to interview federal, local and state officials, as well as rally attendees, to get a better idea of what went wrong on July 13. Several members pointed out during their visit to Butler on Monday that the task force has the right to subpoena federal agencies for information.
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Representatives Mike Kelly and Laurel Lee join U.S. lawmakers as part of a bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempt on former President Trump, visiting the crime scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, Monday, August 26, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
Senior Army Representative Jason Crow (D-Colorado), a decorated former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told reporters Monday that the task force’s goals include restoring Americans’ confidence in the security of their politicians.
“At this point, there are many more questions than answers.”
“I definitely noted today that many lines of sight appeared to be unsecured,” he said. “And at this point there are certainly more questions than answers.”
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U.S. lawmakers stand on the roof of the AGR building as part of a visit by a bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempt on former President Trump to the scene in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday, August 26, 2024. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
He and other lawmakers present at the assassination site on Monday were able to see exactly where Trump had spoken on stage near the American Glass Research (AGR) building from which Crooks fired at least eight shots. The FBI had previously said he climbed over the heating and ventilation system and piping on the side of the one-story industrial building to get to his firing range.
The gunman spent at least 70 minutes at the rally site on the morning of the shooting and flew a drone over the area for about 10 minutes that afternoon.
Video taken by James Copenhaver, one of the victims seriously injured in a July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump, shows a figure moving across a rooftop just minutes before shots rang out at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. (James Copenhagen)
Attempted Trump assassin was seen at rally in Pennsylvania shortly before he opened fire
Video footage recently provided to Fox News Digital by Iron Clad USA, a clothing brand that sold merchandise at the rally, shows Crooks running around the area for at least an hour and a half before opening fire.
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Text messages obtained by Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley show that snipers spotted the gunman, Crooks, about 90 minutes before he fired multiple shots at the former president, killing 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and wounding 74-year-old James Copenhaver and 57-year-old David Dutch.
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Local police also spotted Crooks on the roof of the AGR building minutes before the shooting when one officer lifted another officer up to look at the roof of the AGR building. At that moment, the lifted officer spotted Crooks, but the 20-year-old shooter pointed his AR-15 rifle at the officer, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
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These two officers apparently reported a suspicious person on the roof, but the shooter fired shortly thereafter.
In footage from a Butler Township Police Department body-worn camera, police officers can be heard saying they ordered U.S. Secret Service to cover the roof of the AGR building.
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Kelly said the task force has been investigating the attempted murder since early August.
FBI officials are trying to determine Crooks’ motive for the attempted murder and whether there were co-conspirators, but the agency said there is no evidence that anyone else was involved in the attack.
