The crazed man who stormed the “Today” show set on Thursday was seen in the background of one of the show’s segments minutes before the incident.
A man who closely resembles Andrew Truelove could be seen pacing and smoking outside the studio at Rockefeller Center as Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin reported on a great white shark that may be heading toward Cape Cod, per TMZ.
The video aired at 8:45am, just fifteen minutes before Truelove managed to slip into the studio.
Truelove, 41, who has a rap sheet in New York, including a felony conviction, reportedly followed a staffer who used their ID badge to enter the “employee’s only area” from the lobby, according to the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Millicent Kastenbaum, who said this during an arraignment on Friday.
He then came face-to-face with Melvin in a stairwell and demanded to know Al Roker’s whereabouts.
During the interaction, Truelove took a few steps toward the host and berated him with a racial slur, according to the criminal complaint and sources.
Truelove was nabbed at the scene and arrested along with another man.
He faces a count of burglary in the third degree as a hate crime and a count of menacing in the third degree as a hate crime.
“I always wanted to call a black famous person the N-word,” Truelove allegedly told Melvin, 47, who then called security, leading to the intruder being detained and arrested.
On Friday, Truelove was also arraigned on hate crime charges, and the judge in the case set bail at $10,000.
He is being held at Rikers Island as of Friday, per court records obtained by The Post.
Truelove faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, and is due back in court on July 22.
Page Six exlusively reported that the security guard who failed to stop Truelove has been fired.
Both Melvin and Roker were granted protective orders against the crazed stalker, too.
Following the frightening incident, NBC released a statement sharing that the “Today” show is “cooperating fully with law enforcement as they investigate the matter.”
On Friday, Melvin addressed the incident, assuring viewers that he is “safe and sound.”
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