Video does not show Trump shooter dragged from crowd

"This video allegedly shows the shooter who tried to assassinate Donald Trump being carried away," said Paul Golding, leader of the far-right Britain First political party, in a July 13, 2024 post on X.

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Screenshot from X taken July 17, 2024

The clip shows a snippet of footage from Fox Corporation's LiveNOW streaming channel in which Pennsylvania State Police troopers haul a man's body out of the stands behind the stage where Trump was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt. The shooter, which the FBI identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, killed one spectator and injured two others in the attack.

Similar posts fanned out across X and other platforms as prominent users such as Sulaiman Ahmed, who has previously spread disinformation, amplified it to people scanning social media for updates.

"BREAKING: VIDEO OF ALLEGED SHOOTER OF PRESIDENT TRUMP AT RALLY," Ahmed said July 13.

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Screenshot from X taken July 16, 2024

But the clip does not depict Crooks.

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An undated image obtained 14 July, 2024 shows a driver's license photograph of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected shooter of former US President Donald Trump (AFP / HANDOUT)

Footage shows Crooks lying on his belly and aiming an assault rifle from atop a rooftop some 500 feet (150 meters) away from Trump at the rally, which took place days ahead of the Republican National Convention. A Secret Service sniper team shot him dead after he opened fire.

Lieutenant Adam Reed, director of the Pennsylvania State Police Communications Office, told AFP the man officers are carrying in the video shared online is "obviously not the shooter."

"That's one of the victims being assisted by our troopers," he said in a July 17 email.

Victoria Gurrieri, director of corporate communications for Fox Television Stations, shared the full LiveNOW segment, further confirming it does not show the perpetrator.

"This video was from moments after the shooting," Gurrieri told AFP in a July 17 email. "That is not the shooter in the video. It is one of the people killed or injured by the shooting."

Reports from CBS Pittsburgh and other local and national media outlets featured similar footage of the officers carrying the man (archived here, here and here).

AFP also captured photos of the moment.

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A person is removed by state police from the stands after guns were fired at Republican candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 (AFP / Rebecca DROKE)

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Trump supporters are seen covered with blood in the stands after guns were fired at Republican candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024 (AFP / Rebecca DROKE)

Jim Sweetland, an emergency physician who attempted CPR on the victim, appears in the coverage wearing a red "Keep America Great" hat and a white "USA" shirt covered in blood.

Sweetland told CNN the man harmed and lifted out of the stands was Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old firefighter and father of two who died shielding his family from the gunshots (archived here).

"He was struck behind his right ear and the wounds were quite severe," Sweetland said in the interview.

"I was tapped on the shoulder by a Pennsylvania state trooper, and he and another trooper -- the biggest troopers I've ever seen -- picked Corey up like a ragdoll and got him off that stand as quickly as I've ever seen anybody be moved in my entire medical career."

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the assassination attempt here.