Trump shooting bodycam: Crooks turned gun at cop who later says, 'Dude, he turned around on me'

Police bodycam footage appeared to show for the first time that the failed assassin of Donald Trump was indeed confronted by cops just split seconds before he fired shots at the former US president and injured him on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

While CNN said it obtained the video first, multiple media outlets have since published the nearly four-minute footage.

While it's not clearly shown on the video, police said Thomas Crooks, the shooter, turned his gun on the cop who located him on the rooftop of a building, before shooting Trump.

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The cop, whose bodycam footage was shared, was initially hoisted up by a colleague onto the rooftop. The bodycam clip shows him reaching the roof, but immediately dropping down. Then he runs for his gun in a nearby police car, and shouts to alert others.

Probably unaware that Crooks has already been killed by a Secret Service Sniper, a bunch of cops gather near the rooftop of the AGI building and someone shouts 'Show me your hands', thinking the suspect is still alive.

Separate videos have audio from a local cop saying he had asked US Secret Service to put somebody on top of the roof at least four days before the shooting.

Also Read:Secret Service had marked Thomas Crooks as 'threat' minutes before assassination attempt on Trump

All this new information documented in such clips will only add to the blame game and sheer lack of accountability exhibited by federal agencies, after gaping security lacunae were exposed in one of the most epic events in this US presidential election season.

What the bodycam video shows

After seeing Trump on the roof, the cop gathers his gun from a nearby police car and returns to the scene. He shouts: “F**king this close bro...Dude, he turned around on me.”

“He’s straight up...Who’s got eyes on him?,” he shouts, adding, “He was right where you picked me up, bro. He was on that left side.”

Around this time, the audio of shots being fired could be heard. It must have been Crooks firing at Trump, and the shooter being killed by a Secret Service sniper.

It is clear that the shooting had already happened when the local cop returns to the scene, as there's audio on the walkie-talkie: “We have two civilians – tending to them...I need an ambulance in the back.” This was probably a reference to Trump rally attendees being shot.

“Don’t put up your head – he’s right there!,” says the cop whose bodycam was shared. “He’s got glasses, long hair...I climbed the wall and I popped my head right in front of him bro, he’s got a book bag, he’s got mad s**t, AR laying down.”

"He turned around, I f**king dropped,” he later recalls to some colleagues.

Watch the video here:

A separate bodycam footage released by police in Butler has a local cop lamenting that he had told Secret Service to post their people in the building. “I f**king told them they need to post the guys f**king over here... I told them...the Secret Service, I told them that f**king Tuesday."

“I talked to the Secret Service guys, they were like, ‘Yeah, no problem, we’re going to post guys over here,’” he added.

VIDEO:Trump rally shooter was spotted by cops nearly 100 minutes before shooting, says report

Earlier reports had suggested that one of the three local counter snipers posted in a nearby building had even taken a picture of Crooks and went looking for him.

“The U.S. Secret Service appreciates our local law enforcement partners, who acted courageously as they worked to locate the shooter that day,” CNN quoted Anthony Guglielmi, a US Secret Service spokesperson, as saying, in response to the newly released footage.

(With inputs from agencies)