Thomas Crooks asked his boss for the day off, telling him he had ‘something to do’, before travelling to Saturday’s Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania and shooting the ex-president.
The would-be assassin told colleagues at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center that he would see them on Sunday.
But a Secret Service agent at the Butler rally ensured that he would be the last person that Crooks saw as he locked eyes with the killer before shooting him dead.
Agents found him in their sights and one pulled the trigger seconds after the 20-year-old shot dead Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore, critically injured two others and hitting Trump in the right ear after scaling a building 147 yards away.
‘They were looking at him while he was looking at them,’ a senior federal law enforcement official told CNN.
Police personnel stand over the body of Thomas Matthews Crooks on a rooftop near the Trump rally on Saturday
As Trump pumped his fist to the crowd, some were heard cheering his name and chanting ‘USA’ and ‘Make America Great Again’
The graphic video shows Crooks peering intently through the sights of his father’s AR-style weapon and firing towards the rally as onlookers scream from the base of the building.
Instantly a second volley of shots is heard and Crooks is pictured lying dead on the roof as those on the ground gasp in horror.
‘The Secret Service don’t f*** around man,’ one exclaims. ‘Holy s***.’
It emerged on Tuesday that the killer penetrated the security area of the rally a full three hours before carrying out his attack, after driving the 50 miles north from his home in Bethel Park on the southern outskirts of Pittsburgh.
At 3pm he triggered a metal detector as he tried to gain access to the site, and was found to be carrying a rangefinder – a gun sight typically used by hunters and marksmen preparing to shoot at distance.
But security officers allowed him in while keeping an eye on him until he left the secure area a short time later, the official said.
He then fell off the radar until shortly before 5.45pm when an officer with the Beaver County Police Department saw him acting suspiciously near the outer perimeter and took a photograph.
It emerged on Monday that a team of police snipers was stationed in the same single-story AGR International building that Crooks chose to fire from, and that they saw him outside three times in the minutes leading up to the attack.
A law enforcement official told CBS that no action was taken after one of the snipers first spotted Crooks looking up at the roof of the building.
The 20-year-old would-be assassin was repeatedly seen and photographed by police officers before scaling their building and opening fire
Police snipers returned fire after shots were fired while Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump was speaking at the campaign event
Crooks’s father Matthew opened the door to several members of the FBI who entered the unassuming brick home shortly before 10am on Tuesday
The gunman disappeared around a corner before he was seen a second time, sitting down and looking at his phone, prompting one of the snipers to take his picture.
The sniper then radioed to a command post after seeing Crooks take out his rangefinder.
But no further action was taken before Crooks reappeared a third time, this time wearing a backpack and disappearing from sight as he walked to the back of the building.
A further radio report relaying the information was submitted by the sniper team who did not realize that Crooks was now scaling their building.
He clambered up building’s air conditioning system and hoisted himself onto the roof where MAGA fans saw him ‘bear-crawling’ across the sloping surface with his rifle, and warned law enforcement of the danger.
‘I’m thinking to myself “Why is Trump still speaking, why have they not pulled him off the stage?”‘ one witness told the BBC. ‘The next thing you know, five shots ring out.’
Crooks was a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center – where he provided food and care for post-hospital elderly and sick people.
‘We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,’ administrator Marcie Grimm said in a statement.
A colleague at the facility said Crooks never expressed political views at work and wasn’t a ‘radical’.
‘It’s hard seeing everything that’s going on online because he was a really, really good person that did a really bad thing, and I just wish I knew why,’ he added.
The would-be assassin was a registered Republican and 2022 high school graduate. Records show he donated on the day of the 2020 inauguration to a progressive group backing President Joe Biden.
Trump grabbed his right ear as the first shots rang out at 6:12pm
A timeline showing the dramatic events that took place on July 13
He graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County in May with an associate degree in engineering science, according to school officials who said they were ‘shocked and saddened by the horrific turn of events’.
Crooks’ father Matthew was seen on Tuesday morning for the first time since the shooting as he opened the door of the family home to FBI agents.
A neighbor of Crooks’ sister Katie said her brother helped her move into her nearby apartment three years ago, describing her as a ‘hardworking’ woman who worked as a janitor at a local high school and as a server at a restaurant.
Both of Crooks’ parents are behavioral therapists and Crooks’ father said he was baffled by his son’s actions.
Investigators too have yet to figure out a motive for Crooks who had a minimal social media presence.
But they found a bulletproof vest, three fully-loaded magazines containing around 100 bullets, and two remote-controlled explosive devices in Crooks’ car after the shooting it emerged on Tuesday.
The news raised concerns that Crooks may have been planning to continue his killing spree if he had escaped from the roof with his life.
Another bulletproof vest, and another remote-controlled bomb was discovered at the house he shared with his parents.
The Justice Department, the Secret Service and the FBI, are due to brief senators about the investigation into the shooting Majority leader Chuck Schumer revealed on Tuesday night as the Secret Service faces intensive scrutiny over its handling of security at the rally.
From the ‘normal little boy’ who liked to play soldiers and miniature golf, to the increasingly disturbed young man who grew his hair long and isolated himself from friends
Crooks, known as Tom to his family, grew up in the Bethel Park suburb where his family still live with his parents and older sister, the family home is seen here
Republican officials gathering in Milwaukee have been calling for tough scrutiny of the agency even as the feds are implementing tighter security measures around Trump and other protectees.
‘Somebody, somewhere has a really, really a lot of serious questions to have to answer,’ House Judiciary and ‘Weaponization’ committee member Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota told DailyMail.com.
A probe set up by President Joe Biden after the incident is being overseen by the Justice Department, not Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.
‘That speaks volumes,’ former House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz said.