The HUGE Problem with the Assassination Investigation
The investigators are investigating the investigators again...or whatever.
This is a glimpse of an unfortunately realistic picture that clearly indicates those who carry the burden of direct responsibility for the attempted assassination of a former and future U.S. President.
I firmly believe the only explanation is an intentional lapse in security.
This is a look of how those who offer “best practices” of tactical response to the entire country willfully chose to ignore it.
The same people have subsequently and consistently misled others tasked with the responsibility of securing the premises that day, a lapse that resulted in two lives that never had to be taken.
The Locals
Several of the local officers on-duty on July 13, 2024 at the Butler, PA rally gave a TV interview and have shared many statements through attorneys to the ABC News network.
In the days and weeks after the rally, many people claiming to be eyewitnesses have come forward, offering claims and claims of evidence to what happened that day.
Butler’s own David “Dave” Stewart
Amongst the frenzied reporting of the aftermath of the Butler Rally has been a recently prominent figure in disseminating information about the Butler area, as well as promulgating and promoting overlooked information about the events that day.
Recently, an X account using the handle “@realDJStew724” claimed to be filming that day and self-identified as local native Dave Stewart. Stewart claims to be the individual in the red shirt running the video below:
“@realDJStew724 has also claimed to be the individual pictured here:
Interestingly enough, the account “@realDJStew724” first surfaced publicly on July 24th - 7-24.
There has to date been no concrete way to verify his claims of identity, however. Stewart has also offered his YouTube channel, which clearly displays a LONG history with local (Butler) police.
Stewart was identified in what he claims was an impromptu (and hypothetically illegal) interrogation at 10pm one evening. His purported audio is provided below:
Butler County District Attorney Richard “Rich” E. Goldinger
Butler County D.A. Rich Goldinger ran for Judge in 2021 as a Democrat, but has since proclaimed to be a Republican.
Goldinger served as the President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute in 2021, and was the Former President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association.
ABC News Interview
Excerpts (edited for time only):
ABC News’ interview of the Butler rally SWAT and tactical personnel featured a couple of cleverly deceptive edits to the bodycam footage to help prop up some of the officers’ statements given during the interview.
ABC blurred the timestamp in the broadcast of the video but then used a “jump edit” to a clip with the timestamp NOT blurred, only bolstering the “fear” story given by officers climbing onto the roof 20 minutes after Crooks’ demise.
Oddly about ABC is that they are the recipient of federal funding by way of “National Cable Satellite Corporation” or commonly known as “C-SPAN.”
You are about to see why that could be a huge impediment to their ability to be objective as a news organization on this specific story.
Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (BCESU)
Patrick Young
Robert Patrick "Pat" Young is the commander of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit. He is a well-respected and regarded as highly capable and proficient in mitigating "extraordinary events."
Chief among his roles with the Unit are his contributions to the Electronic Forensics Unit — which in a perfect world, would have reasonably made troubleshooting and compliance of electronic equipment a non-issue on July 13th.
Young's role with the Crimes Against Children Federal Task Force lands him squarely in coordination on a regular basis with the FBI.
Michel Vasiladiotis-Nicol
Another member of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit is Physician Assistant Michel Vasiladiotis-Nicol, the wife of Beaver County ESU counter-sniper, Gregory Nicol.
Vasiladiotis-Nicol was a SWAT MEDIC on duty at the Butler Rally and is captured in the 28 total minutes of the bodycam footage released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
“Loudness-enhanced” audio bodycam footage combined in sequential order)
Greg Nicol
Michel’s husband, Gregory Nicol, was also on the scene of the Butler Rally as a counter-sniper. Greg Nicol would prove to be a centerpiece of the “communication breakdown” at the most crucial point of the entire day.
Nicol first popped onto the internet radar in 2013 when he was featured in an article bringing attention to the Monaca Police Department’s new K-9, Kazan, joining the force.
Greg Nicol’s LinkedIn page also offers his “Interests,” which include the Department of Justice, the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA), and FBI-LEEDA.
FBI-Law Enforcement Executive Development Association, or FBI-LEEDA, is a nonprofit leadership development program for public law enforcement officers worldwide based right outside Philadelphia, PA.
National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) is the group tasked with devising and implementing response protocols for an astounding assortment of situations and scenarios, filtered to LEOs nationwide by federal agencies and task forces.
Greg’s wife, Michel, along with Patrick Young are verifiably part of the 2023 National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) Standards Review Committee while a Physician’s Assistant for Beaver County.
National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA)
The National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) has the privilege of drafting the “Tactical Response and Operations Standard for Law Enforcement Agencies,” published in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018, and 2023.
These standards are, simply put, a summary of widely acknowledged “best practices” for responding to crisis situations, and form the general basis from which law enforcement agencies around the world operate.
Pictured below are the NTOA standards for a “TIER 4 Perimeter Control and Containment Team,” and further below, a “Span of Control Example” illustrating NTOA’s recommended command structure.
“The scope of this standard includes concepts and principles related to the organization, training, operational tactics, personnel management, and equipment of tactical law enforcement teams. The standard will not dictate how member agencies will write and apply specific policies related to such operations. Instead, it will provide guidance based on the terminology and collective viewpoint of the NTOA organization and its stakeholder partners.“
NTOA 2023 Impact Report
The National Tactical Officers Association advertises itself having 40,000 members representing almost 20,000 agencies worldwide.
“Across three regions, all 50 states and 32 countries, the National Tactical Officers Association provides training to federal, state, county, municipal, international law enforcement agencies and other first responders. Our training programs are the heart of the NTOA. It is at this level where our members, students, instructors, and partners professionally, socially, and personally link to each other and the broader public safety community.
NTOA Standard Review Committee
The group’s Standard Review Committee is comprised of NTOA members from all over the United States. As luck would have it, two officers on the scene that day also served on the Standard Review Committee, who just published their most recent standards in June of 2023.
Notice in these excerpts from the “Tactical Response and Operations Standard for Law Enforcement Agencies,” that the Commander of the entire Beaver County Emergency Services Unit along with Michel Vasiladiotis-Nicol actually review the standards sent out to law enforcement worldwide.
Potent Potables
Other notable figures to the committee give the Pennsylvania State Police representation with Matthew Falcone, and the American Sniper Association a seat at the table with Derrick D. Bartlett.
7150 Campus Drive, Colorado Springs, CO
NTOA’s registered address on 2022 IRS nonprofit tax forms was “7150 Campus Drive, Colorado Springs, CO.” Though the filing is without a suite number or sub-unit designation, NTOA uses Suite 215 of the building.
7150 Campus Drive, Colorado Springs, CO is the Woodmen Corporate Center that houses several companies like DoD services providers Summit Technical Solutions, LLC and Delta Solutions and Strategies, LLC, an investment firm called PFS Investments (a wholly owned subsidiary of Primerica Finance Corporation), G4S Secure Solutions (formerly Wackenhut), and Salem Media Group.
All of the companies listed above, including Salem Media Group, have received federal funding in some form in the past ten years.
The Pentagon IT services provider Leidos also has a presence in the building, though more difficult to pin down.
The CEO of PFS Investments, Estee Faranda, is on the Board of Directors at the American Securities Association (ASA).
In Suite 300 of this building, a Certificate of Waiver for the FAA was filed to the address for Clarence Shockley, a project manager for Leidos, the Pentagon IT services provider.
Curiously, this Suite 300 address, specifically, is either currently, or was very recently shared by behavioral health specialists who, like many of these other tenants, receive(d) a substantial amount of government funding.
NTOA co-sponsored an “Active Shooter Symposium” just over two weeks before the active shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
FBI-Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA)
This is not meant to convey or imply any sort of nefarious activity per se, but to illustrate the totality of their relationships. This only goes to highlight the tight-knit relationship of the NTOA’s role as one of the many nonprofit arms of federal capabilities, in whatever capacity.
The Situation
The crux of the failed response to shooter Thomas Crooks and his position atop the AGR, International building is in the moments before the first shots rang out at 6:12 PM.
Fox New Digital’s newly released video reaffirms many widely held suspicions that the official testimonies of agency and local law enforcement leadership is not only confusing, but verifiably misleading.
“Injured” police officer doesn’t appear injured
Until now, the prevailing narrative has been that the local officer who made first contact with Thomas Crooks injured his hands to the point of bleeding at the scene. Newly released video shows that was not the case at all in regards to the first officer to make contact with Crooks.
In fact, the same local officer (first point of contact) is also purported to have climbed the building and seen the shooter, Thomas Crooks, point the weapon at him before falling back off of the building.
The discrepancy here isn’t that this unidentified officer fell off of the building, but that the trained officer runs immediately into the line of sight of the shooter he just supposedly identified as armed.
Mere seconds after doing so, shots rang out from the building complex.
The Lead-Up
Text messages released by the office of Senator Chuck Grassley paint a stunning and equally terrifying picture of an undermanned, ill-informed mobilization to fill the gaps in security for the rally that day.
On July 8th, text messages show that Butler Police requested assistance from Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU), of which Patrick Young was the Commander, and for which both Michel and Greg Nicol served.
The Activation
It would seem from the text messages that the third member of the Beaver County ESU that left early could be Patrick Young, indicated by the text messages showing the responses in the color grey, one with the last initial “N,” and the other not a “Y” for “Young.”
Remember back to the clips of Stewart’s alleged interrogation above, where he volunteers that he left work at Sheetz at around 4:30pm.
There was a text sent to the group that Nicol was privy to at around 4:30PM that highlighted a supposed newcomer who parked their car in the lot, and who was sitting at a picnic table nearby one of the building’s entrances.
Oddly, this person at the picnic table was referred to simply as “he” as if everyone already knew who the texter was referring to.
Stranger yet, during the same interrogation captured by @realDJStew724, the Pennsylvania State Trooper (Glasko/Plasko?) informs Stewart that he was surveilled communicating with Crooks before the shooting.
Beyond the strangely worded texts in regards to the picnic table, Nicol knowingly introduced even more confusion around the unattended bicycle and backpack than necessary.
At 5:52PM, the officer who left the rally early fired another text to the Beaver County unit that said “that bike was not there when I pulled out…” referring to the picture of a bicycle that had just been sent to Command at 5:51PM.
Was this officer leaving the rally referring to Butler’s local police provocateur Dave Stewart sitting at the table?
What could have been…
Bodycam footage and aerial footage of the scene immediately following the incident clearly show the 2nd floor window with a clear view of everything Crooks would have been up to in the moments before the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
The video below is from Rep. Eli Crane’s own investigation of the shooting as an experienced combat sniper.
It makes abundantly obvious that anyone at all in the 2nd floor had not only an open view of Crooks, but that the window even opened in a manner which provided a clean shot at Crooks’ position.
Nicol LIED about Crooks leaving for Sheetz
Nicol had a clear visual all the way around the 2nd floor at every HVAC unit that Crooks was physically able to climb. This is true even if it meant Nicol having to wait until Crooks breached the roof to have a visual from their lookouts.
Nicol did not have a visual at all on the picnic table that was actually relevant to Sheetz from anywhere in the 2nd story, as it was obscured completely by the first story building. Further, Nicol had no read on anything on the “Sheetz side” of the building from where he is reported to have been.
Washington Post Finally Circles the Wagons
The Washington Post correctly pointed out recently that the statement Nicol gave about the suspect walking toward Sheetz was odd due to the layout of the building. Nicol’s assertion was that Crooks was walking from the enclosed side of the building in a direction that would have put him on a path directly through the building.
Nicol leaving the perch in the 2nd story left only one sniper in the AGR perch (as of 4:30 PM), set up in the “far” two windows, indicated in the Butler County After Action Report supplied to Senator Grassley’s office.
If Crooks was the person seated at the table referenced in text messages at 4:30 that afternoon, then at 5:52 when he was advised about the new bike, Greg Nicol should have already been aware that the bicycle and backpack did not belong to Crooks.
Nicol noticed a bicycle unattended and a person who saw the photo (Patrick Young?) suggested investigating a car that pulled into the parking around 4:30 PM in — again — the complete opposite direction.
Greg Nicol sent the pictures himself that in one move heightened suspicions, to which he gave a general, admitted guess of a response in text at 6:00 PM when he said, “If I had to guess towards the back. Away from the event.”
First Contact
The unnamed Butler Police officer was first to contact shooter on the roof, evidenced in the video recently released by CNN and Fox News Digital (August 8th). This Butler officer was not bleeding from his attempts at accessing the shooter on the roof at 6:10-6:11 PM, as has been previously asserted.
Beaver County ESU officer Greg Nicol could be seen immediately after the shots downstairs with ground team in video (7:15) posted to X by user @realDJStew724 (below with “loudness-enhanced“ audio).
The Second Window
Beaver County ESU officer Greg Nicol and Beaver County themselves put on record with Senator Grassley in their After Action Report (above) that the “BCESU Sniper” (blue square) was accompanied by the “Butler Co. Sniper” (teal triangle) in the 2nd floor perch or command center for the local police SWAT forces.
Greg Nicol declined to use either of the two open windows with a perfect line of sight to what would be Crooks’ final resting place after his murderous outburst. The side window of the 2nd floor — with roof access — even appeared in bodycam footage released by Senator Grassley to be completely missing, or very recently cleaned.
Five Murderous Minutes
At 6:12PM, according to Beaver County ESU, Nicol’s position was on building “4” (Grassley diagrams) near the original spot Nicol radioed seeing Crooks headed toward the Sheetz gas station (through a solid structure) at approximately 6:05 PM.
According to them, the “BCESU Sniper” was at the corner of the building, and presumably everywhere between 2nd floor lookout and the corner where Dave Stewart was filming for the five minutes of chaos between 6:06 and 6:11PM.
At 6:08:20, it hit the radio that someone was on the roof. Three minutes was plenty enough to access either of those 2nd floor windows to access the roof, or to neutralize the threat.
The rally goer mentioned in the timeline above was close enough to law enforcement that if someone were in the 2nd story sniper windows, the message could easily have been relayed to someone to get them onto the roof from their command center.
It was during this five minutes of Nicol’s unknown whereabouts that Crooks made it onto the roof, and the same time when a person was caught scurrying across the AGR rooftop on video.
Final Thoughts
The Trump Campaign announced the Butler, Pennsylvania rally on July 3rd.
The National Tactical Officers Association received a second payment of $16,275 on an I.C.E. (DHS) contract totaling $135,825 on July 5, 2024.
Parting Questions
Where there snipers in the 2nd floor command center at the time of the first shots?
Why were they not trying to neutralize a suspect on the roof from their perfect position?
Were they busy?
You should apply at the FBI because you do a much better job than they do. Thank you for the time you put into this. Your efforts truly don’t go unnoticed!
🩵🙏🏼