THE RARE, EXOTIC AND POWERFUL RIFLE THAT SAVED DONALD TRUMP’S LIFE
THE SECRET SERVICE SNIPERS THAT KILLED TRUMP'S WOULD BE ASSASSIN, THOMAS CROOKS, USED A RARE AND POWER RIFLE MADE IN ENGLAND
The elite Secret Service snipers armed with Accuracy Internation Mk13 Mod 7 rifles who killed Donald Trump’s would-be assassin on July 13, 2024.
July 15, 2024
If sniper rifles were sports cars, the rifle that killed Donald Trump's would-be assassin is an Aston Martin.
As far as sniper shots go, the 400-or-so foot long shot a Secret Service Counter Sniper team used to save Trump's life and the lives of supporters attending his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Sat. was a chip shot. Any ordinary infantryman could have made it. But it does shine a light on the weapons America's best snipers use.
Thomas Mathew Crooks somehow managed to get onto the roof of a factory about 400 feet from where Trump was speaking. The 20-year-old pushed an AR-15-style rifle ahead of him as he slowly crawled forward to the peak of the slightly-angled roof, video shows.
Passersby saw Crooks and alerted police. One officer hoisted another up to the roof. As the second officer tried to mantle onto the roof-top, Crooks saw and aimed his rifle at the officer. That officer let go of the roof and fell to safety. Crooks turned around and opened fire on Trump.
His first shot went through Trump's ear, but miraculously missed his head. Trump dove to the floor for cover.
A pair of Secret Service snipers were on the roof of a barn behind the stage Trump was speaking on. Before Crooks opened fire, both snipers were already on their big, black bolt-action rifles. Both were looking through their scopes at the rooftop Crooks was on top of.
But because the roof of the rectangle-shaped factory was parallel along its long axis towards the rally site, the peak of the slightly-angled roof rose in front of Crooks as he crawled up it. He was likely screened from the snipers' view until he reached the top—and aimed his rifle at Trump.
Just before the first shot rings out, one of the snipers lifts his head off of his gun for a moment then very quickly puts his eye back on the rifle scope. Crooks fires three shots then pauses. The pause lasts several seconds long. Five or six more shots are heard, but they're interrupted by one or two much-quieter shot-like pops.
Those two pops were likely the two snipers opening fire on Crooks as he was firing into the crowd after wounding Trump.
One spectator was killed, two were gravely injured.
Crooks was shot at least once in the head, through the mouth, and appears to have died instantly.
We know what kind of gun Crooks had, a common AR-15 variant, but what kind of gun did the Secret Service agents use to kill him?
But agents appear to have used the same model of rifle. It's made in England by Accuracy International. It is based on a variation of the company's standard rifle chassis first made for the Marine Corp called the Mk 13 Mod 7. The Corp started using it in 2018.
According to the company, the Mk 13 Mod 7 is available in .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester magnum and what is reportedly snipers' favorite, .338 Lapua Magnum. The caliber determines the range. The .308 and .300 can reliably hit targets at 1000 yards while the .338 is lethal out to almost 2,000 yards. The company also makes an even more powerful .50 caliber version of the rifle.
Whatever the caliber, the guns cost around $7,000, each.
Both of the Secret Service agents' rifles were equipped with very high-power telescopic scopes and sound suppressors. The scopes appear to be Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II, which are only available on request and cost about $4,500. The suppressors run about $1,500 each and do not "silence" the guns but do make them almost whisper quiet.
The public rarely sees these exotic weapons and has never seen one in action before Butler. The only other time Secret Service snipers were seen using the Mk 13 Mod 7 was during the George Floyd-inspired Black Lives Matters protests in Washington, D.C. on June 1, 2020.
That's when then-Pres. Trump walked from the White House to St. John's Church for an infamous photo op where he holds a bible.
Riot police cleared peaceful protesters from LaFayette Square so the president and his entourage could walk to the church. A Secret Service sniper team was there too. News photographs captured one with a Mk 13 Mod 7.
A CBS News video of Secret Service snipers training with the rifle is below.