Gunman might have scoped out site 6 days before Trump rally
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The new details about Thomas Crooks’ possible whereabouts on July 7 mean that he might have checked out the Butler Farm Show grounds even before law enforcement officials did a security assessment.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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WASHINGTON – Federal investigators are examining a possibility that a would-be assassin scoped out an area where Donald Trump was to speak six days before a campaign rally in Pennsylvania where the former US president was wounded.
A cellphone linked to the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania,
Crooks opened fire from a warehouse roof at the site on July 13, grazing Trump’s right ear, killing a rally attendee and seriously injuring two others.
The new details about Crooks’ possible whereabouts on July 7 mean that he might have checked out the site even before law enforcement officials did a security assessment.
The Secret Service and local law enforcement officers did a first walk-through on July 8 and finalised plans a few days later.
The Secret Service ultimately decided to exclude from the security zone a complex of warehouses to the north of Trump’s stage, despite the closest one being within a rifle’s range.
That decision is now under intense scrutiny by Congress. The FBI is responsible for investigating the attempted assassination but officials have not said whether it intends to write a report.
Federal officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss details about the ongoing inquiry, said the FBI learnt more about Crooks’ movements after he might have surveyed the show grounds.
He told his employer at a nursing home where he worked that he needed to take July 13 off because he had to do something important.
A man holds a sign with a picture of Thomas Crooks, following a shooting during a rally in which Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was injured, outside the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Then, in the afternoon before the shooting, he visited a gun range, officials said. The next morning, he bought a ladder at a Home Depot – though officials do not believe he ended up using any such tool to ascend to the warehouse roof – and purchased ammunition at a nearby gun store.
After Secret Service snipers killed Crooks, authorities recovered a bulletproof vest and several magazines for the rifle from his car, along with rudimentary explosive devices.
The FBI continues to examine cellphones, laptops and thumb drives that belonged to Crooks, hoping to glean clues about what drove him to act. The bureau is intensely focused on developing a portrait of him and what he did during the last months of his life.
Typically, the FBI is able to gather an enormous amount of information within days about shooters in high-profile investigations. But for the most part, Crooks has remained an enigma, leaving few clues online.
The FBI has said that Crooks did not have any known mental illness, but in the briefing to Congress, officials said he searched online for “major depressive disorder”. NYTIMES
