A local law enforcement officer may have played a bigger role than previously known in stopping Thomas Crooks from firing more shots at Donald Trump. The Washington Post, citing officials close to the investigation and analysis of video evidence, reports that Crooks changed his position and stopped shooting after the local officer fired at him. He did not fire his weapon again before he was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Butler County DA Richard Goldinger confirmed to the Post that the officer, a member of a unit similar to a SWAT team, fired at Crooks.
"I don't know if the officer actually hit Crooks and don't believe he fired the neutralizing shot," Goldinger said, though he believes the shot bought the Secret Service some time to take out the would-be assassin. Officials told the Post that "there was definitely some sort of reaction" after the shot. They said Crooks "slumped over." "Anything that disrupts an active shooter can keep the situation from being significantly more catastrophic," one official told the Post. Officials said the officer, who had been assigned to a barn near the rally stage, fired at Crooks after seeing the muzzle flashes from his rifle. (The acting director of the Secret Service was grilled by two Senate committees Tuesday.)
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