Two Different Counter-Sniper Views of Crooks

North and south teams were on their scopes up to two minutes before Crooks fired.

At approximately the same time that people on the ground next to the building on which Crooks was perched started frantically yelling and gesturing at the roof, two counter sniper teams — one on the north barn and one on the south barn behind the stage—aimed their rifles at the roof about which the alarm was raised.

The following is a diagram shows the two sniper teams relative to Crooks.

3D representation produced by Washington Post

In a recent report on this incident, the Washington Post interviewed a former Tulsa police sniper:

Countersniper teams commonly scan for threats with binoculars, which offer a wider field of vision than a rifle optic, said Jason Lawless, a retired officer who worked as a sniper with the Tulsa Police Department’s Special Operations Team. But about two minutes before gunshots were fired, the northernmost team had already moved to their rifle positions, suggesting they were attuned to a potential threat at that point. It’s unclear exactly when Crooks first became visible to Secret Service countersnipers. …

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the shooting said the sloped roof could have created a visual block to the countersnipers. The countersniper who killed Crooks had him in his sights for some moments trying to assess whether he had a gun and was a threat and then shot him seconds after Crooks fired, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity amid an ongoing investigation.

Authorities have not said which member of Trump’s protection team shot and killed the gunman.

Note that, like CNN, the Washington Post is exclusively quoting anonymous law enforcement sources.

The fact that the man crawling on the roof was armed with a rifle was noted by eyewitnesses up to five minutes prior to Crooks firing on the stage. Two eyewitnesses have stated they explicitly alerted police officers on the ground—and pointed to Crooks on the roof—minutes prior to the shooting.

1). Why didn’t law enforcement on the ground immediately notify Secret Service on stage and on the two barn roofs that a man with a rifle was crawling up the roof on the building to their north?

2). Why was no police interdiction immediately launched from the ground next to the building? Even a police officer with a sidearm on the ground could have fired on Crooks—perhaps not hitting him, but at least suppressing him from advancing up the roof. The view of this photo taken from the ground might as well have been the view looking down gun sights.

3). Why did no law enforcement officer ascend the ladder and go onto the roof? From just peaking onto the roof, he could have seen Crooks lying in a prone position with his head facing the opposite direction, towards the stage to the south.

4). Is the US Secret Service not equipped with surveillance drones than could have scoped the entire roof in a matter of seconds?

It’s clear that counter-snipers were informed of the potential threat on the roof. The ONLY way they could have remained uncertain that Crooks was armed was if this information was deliberately withheld from them.

QUESTION: Were the counter-snipers being told in radio communications that the boy on the roof might have been a foolhardy teenager just playing around?

Even if Donald Trump and his closest advisors know and like the counter-snipers in their Secret Service detail, they should insist on performing their own interviews with these men to ascertain what exactly these men knew and what they were being told. Trump’s lawyer should insist on full access to all radio communications between the counter-snipers and whomever was tasked with securing and monitoring the building to the north.

Trump and his advisors should consider that the counter-snipers may have been corrupted or subjected to intimidation by the Secret Service or FBI, especially if they have families.