A claim is spreading like wildfire online that the sniper who shot Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, has been fired for disobeying orders.
The sniper, supposedly named Jonathan Willis, is said to have revealed his termination in a post to the anonymous imageboard 4chan just hours after the shooting took place.
Screenshots of the anonymous message, which have gone viral on sites such as TikTok and X, insinuate that the Secret Service may have wanted the assassination to take place.
“My name is Jonathan Willis, I’m the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at Trump’s rally," the post reads. "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% the top brass prevented me from killing the assassin before he took the shots at president Trump."
Comments across social media suggest that countless users believe the claims and are calling for an investigation into Trump's security detail.
"jonathan willis should have taken the shot when he saw the shooter, orders be damned, who DIDN'T give the order to shoot?" one X user asked. "That person needs to be talked to, but we are talking the FBI...i'm now afraid for jonathan willis...he has info necessary...."
Over on TikTok, responses were much the same. Many suggested that the alleged sniper's life was now in danger for supposedly blowing the whistle.
"If this is true, he needs to go into hiding for posting the truth!" one TikTok user added. "God save him. God bless him."
Not long after their initial remarks, the anonymous 4chan user continued by suggesting that he had been arrested by the FBI for attempting to protect Trump.
“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," the post continued. "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."
It's unclear if the poster is alleging to work for the Secret Service or local police. As online sleuths have noticed, the bulletproof vest in the image in question read "Police," meaning the shooter could have been a local officer used by the Secret Service.
Only a handful of users appeared to question the validity of the claim, with many noting that an anonymous post on 4chan, the message board that spawned the debunked QAnon conspiracy theory, was not a legitimate source by any means.
"if you think the secret service sniper is posting on 4chan about what happened to him after the incident then I genuinely think there should be some sort of info box attached to your social media profiles warning people that you're an absolute moron," an X user said.
In reality, no evidence whatsoever indicates that the post is even remotely true. As should be obvious, an anonymous claim on 4chan is not sufficient.
Secondly, as noted by Secret Service spokesman Nate Herring, no individual named Jonathan Willis is employed by the agency.
The attempted assassination of Trump has produced a seemingly unprecedented explosion of conspiracy theories online. Left-wing conspiracy theorists are suggesting that Trump staged the shooting against himself to garner sympathy, while right-wing conspiracy theorists are claiming that everyone from the deep state to President Joe Biden to antifa are to blame.
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