The US Secret Service has moved to debunk wild online claims that its snipers were delayed from killing would-be Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks to allow him to fire at the former President.
Within eight hours of the assassination attempt, which saw a bullet skim Donald Trump‘s right ear, an anonymous post was made on website 4Chan.
The Republican presidential hopeful was targeted while he spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, sending shockwaves around the globe.
Three other attendees were also shot, including Corey Comperatore, 50, who died, and David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74, who were seriously injured, after Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire.
The 4Chan poster claimed to be called “Jonathan Willis” and wrote: “I’m the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at Trump’s rally. I came here to inform the public that I had the assassin in my sights for at least 3 minutes, but the head of the secret service refused to give the order to take out the perp.
“100 percent the top brass prevented me from killing the assassin before he took the shots at President Trump.”
Within About 20 minutes, another post appeared from the same user, stating: “I didn’t follow the orders though, as soon as the shooter opened on Trump I returned fire despite strict orders to not engage.
“I had eyes on the shooter for three minutes watching him fiddle with his rifle and adjust the scope, it was obvious he was a shooter yet I wasn’t allowed to engage. After I killed the shooter I was arrested, questioned by the FBI, and just released an hour ago. Already lost my job for not following orders, but I’m glad I took the shots anyway.”
Some other users of the website appeared to believe the poster, with one replying: “I want to believe you. I’m sorry you were in that position. Thank you for coming forward.”
Another said: “I’ll be watching for this hero to be in a single car auto accident over the next week.”
A screenshots of the original post was shared on X and viewed more than a million times.
The Secret Service has quickly quashed the 4Chan post.
A Secret Service spokesperson said: “The Secret Service has no employee by that name (Jonathan Willis), and the claim is “categorically false.”
However, Crooks’ attack has sparked a flurry of other conspiracy theories that he was a secret service agent there to eliminate Trump for incumbent President Joe Biden, or even that it was an “inside job” by Trump’s camp to garner support for him.
There is no evidence to support any of these wild theories, however, serious questions do remain over how Crooks was able to get onto the roof of the nearby building he lay on to shoot from just around 150 metres away from Trump.
He was able to fire off at least eight rounds from an AR-15 assault-style rifle before he was then shot dead by Secret Service snipers, who had seemingly not spotted him from their position on another rooftop.
The lone shooter’s motive has yet to be established.
Multiple witnesses who were close to the building in question said they saw the gunman before he opened fire and tried to warn nearby police officers.
And, former US Secret Service agents have questioned why none of its snipers were also posted on the roof in question, an American Glass Research building.
Charles Marino, a former Secret Service agent, said it would have been the task of agents to survey the surroundings for “concerning areas.”
Paul Eckloff, who retired from the service in 2020 said agents should have surveyed all the rooftops with a line of sight to the rally before it went ahead.