Trump rally shooter was spotted with a gun 2 to 3 minutes before first shots, police official says

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris told the House lawmakers on Tuesday that two municipal police officers searching for Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks in the leadup to the assassination attempt spotted him with a weapon just minutes before the first shots were fired. 

Paris, speaking to the House Homeland Security Committee, said the officers were “actively looking” for Crooks and “It became apparent at some point that he was up on the roof” that he ultimately fired at Trump from. 

“Those two municipal officers who responded then, to their credit, actively once they realized that he was on the roof, one boosted the other one up,” Paris said. “By the time that officer was boosted up on top of the roof, Crooks was on it almost in that final position that you saw, he had the AR out, and he pointed it at the municipal officer who was suspended from the roof, [who] was not in a position -- feet dangling at that point -- to draw a weapon or continue hoisting himself back up on the roof. He drops back down from the roof.” 

“By the time that that, municipal officer was hoisted up onto the roof and saw him, he had the weapon out,” Paris added, saying the encounter happened “at most two and a half to three minutes before that first shot rung.”