Nearly 100 minutes before former President Donald J. Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., a local countersniper preparing to end his shift noticed a young man outside the fenced area of the event site. The officer, part of the security detail overlooking the rally site from a warehouse, alerted his colleagues at 4:19 p.m. on July 13 as he exited the second floor.
The officer observed the young man with long stringy hair sitting on a picnic table near the warehouse. He texted his colleagues at 4:26 p.m., warning them that the individual might have seen him with his rifle and was aware of their presence in the area. The officer later confirmed that the person he saw was identified as the gunman involved in the subsequent shooting.
By 5:10 p.m., the young man had moved from the picnic table and was directly below the countersnipers stationed in the warehouse owned by AGR International. One of the countersnipers even took pictures of the individual, as documented in a law enforcement after-action report. The texts exchanged between the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit and the visuals from the warehouse were shared with The New York Times by Senator Charles E. Grassley’s office, shedding light on the events leading up to the tragic incident.
