On July 13th, Thomas Matthew Crooks20, tried to kill the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Although he did not achieve his objective, his action turned the electoral campaign in the United States upside down and was even one of the elements that finally caused the Democrat to Joe Biden to drop out of the race for re-election. Nearly two weeks later, new, startling details have emerged about what happened that day.
Crooks I use a AR type rifle from his father to shoot at Trump from a rooftop Located about 150 meters away from the rally stage. He wounded him in the right ear and killed a firefighter and injured two other attendees at the campaign event. After firing eight shots, seconds later was shot dead by Secret Service snipers.
On Tuesday, Christopher Parisa commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Policeappeared at a National Security hearing in the House of Representatives and revealed new details about the security flaws that led to the attempted assassination.
According to the news network CNN, Paris revealed that two agents of Pennsylvania They abandoned a building where there were strategic observation points overlooking the ceiling From where Crooks shot at Trump.
He said the two police officers Emergency Services Unit (ESUfor its acronym in English) of Butlera tactical force that has snipers, They left their posts in the building to search for an individual who had been reported as suspicious.. It was about CrooksCNN reported.
“So, are you saying, to the best of your knowledge, that those ESU officers left the place where they could look out the window to go looking for this person?” asked Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina, according to CNN.
“That’s what I understand”Paris replied. “I don’t want to set a minute-by-minute schedule because we don’t have one yet.”he continued.
Paris also explained to the congressmen that “several agents of the Secret Service”They told the state police zone commander that the ESU Butler was responsible for securing the building where Crooks fired the shots.
The police officer said that A municipal agent confronted Crooks when he was already on the roof and before he shot Trump.
This happened after some local agents who had learned of the position of Crooks On the roof, they tried to climb up to confront the attacker. However, while the agent was “hanging” from the roof, Crooks pointed his rifle at him and he fell, Paris said.
The policeman calculated that Crooks He was on the roof for about three minutes. He added that Only a few seconds passed between the moment the agent confronted him and when he shot Trump..
Paris also confirmed that before the rally Crooks had been seen using a rangefindersomething that aroused the suspicions of the local police.
He said there was “a thread of text messages” with members of the Emergency Services Unit from the county of Butlersome of whom first saw Crooks and alerted him that he was a suspicious individual.
He said state police received a call and text message from ESU about the activity. Crookswhich they immediately transmitted to the Secret Service.
That day, three other people were identified as suspects, Paris said.
The drone, the explosives and the detonator
On Wednesday, FBI Director, Christopher Wrayconfirmed that Thomas Matthew Crooks blew up a drone about the rally area about two hours before he was due to appear Trump.
Christopher Wray He appeared before a special congressional committee and said the investigation had not yet been able to determine the motivation for the attack.
Wray said the drone flight lasted about 11 minutes and that the aircraft passed about 200 meters from the scene where Trump I was planning to speak.
According to the FBI chief, the drone and its remote control were found in the attacker’s car, which was parked in the area of the rally.
Two “relatively crude” explosive devices were also found in the vehicle and another one at the residence of Crooksthe FBI director added.
Crooks He had a transmitter with him, he said. Wrayindicated that it seemed that remote detonation “would not have worked.”
Wray revealed that Crooks’ rifle had a folding stockwhich would explain why witnesses did not see him walking with a long gun.
He reported that eight bullet cartridges were found on the roof next to the gunman’s body.
Wray confirmed that Crooks He had purchased a 1.5-metre-high ladder, according to a bloody receipt he had with him. He added that the ladder was not found at the scene. He said it was unclear how he got onto the roof.