Text messages reveal local snipers saw the gunman earlier than previously known.
A local SWAT sniper spotted the suspected gunman at former President Donald Trump’s deadly campaign rally, according to text messages obtained by ABC News.
On July 13, in what authorities said was an assassination attempt, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at an event in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one bystander, seriously wounding two others and leaving Trump’s right ear bleeding.
At 4:26 p.m. — two hours before the shooting began — local SWAT members left the area and found a shooter “sitting directly to the right on a picnic table about 50 yards from the exit,” the text message says. .
WATCH: ABC News’ exclusive first-hand interview with a local SWAT team on the ground during Trump’s assassination attempt airs on “Good Morning America” Monday, July 29 at 7 a.m. ET.
The received text messages were shared among snipers in the American Glass Research (AGR) building area, which was used as a stage for local police inside the structure.
The shooter, who warned others that Crooks was lurking in the area, noted that Crooks may have known the position of the snipers, saying, “You see me go out with my gun and put it in my car, so he knows you’re there . . .”
Within an hour, as ABC News previously reported, a member of the same shooting team identified Crooks as a suspect — and then called local command to alert them of the suspect’s presence.
In their first public comments since the assassination attempt, the Beaver County SWAT team and their supervisors spoke exclusively with ABC News Senior Investigative Reporter Aaron Kadersky that day.
On July 13, it was the first time any major law enforcement officials gave first-hand accounts of what happened.
“Whenever Secret Service members show up, we’re supposed to have a face-to-face briefing with them, and that’s not happening,” said Jason Woods, lead sharpshooter for the SWAT team in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
“So I think that was a tipping point where I started to think things were wrong, because it didn’t happen,” Woods said. “We have no connection.”
The Secret Service, an on-site team as usual by local, county and state law enforcement agencies, ultimately took over the security of the event. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Secret Service agents complained that they were not informed of the warnings.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi declined to respond directly to Woods and his colleagues’ comments. “The agency is committed to better understanding what happened before and after the assassination attempt on former President Trump to ensure it doesn’t happen again. That includes fully cooperating with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations,” he said.
Beaver County Chief Detective Patrick Young, who directs the Emergency Services Division and SWAT team, said cooperation is key when lives are on the line.
“I believe our team did everything humanly possible that day,” Young said. “We talk a lot in SWAT, we as individuals are nothing until we come together as a team.”
