The cellphone that could reveal why Thomas Crooks tried to kill Donald Trump has been spotted for the first time next to a transmitter, raising more unanswered questions about the assassination attempt.
The photo was taken by law enforcement officers seconds after the 20-year-old was shot dead by Secret Service agents following his attempted assassination of the former president at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The existence of the transmitter raised new questions about whether the shooter was communicating with someone else at the scene and whether more chaos was planned for the day.
Nicole Ford from Channel 11who obtained the exclusive photo, revealed that law enforcement officers saw Crooks acting suspiciously outside Butler’s single-story AGR International building, from where he shot the former president, more than an hour before pulling the trigger at 6:11 p.m.
And Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing new questions after local law enforcement officials directly contradicted her claim that a Beaver County sniper team was stationed at the same building from which Trump was shot.
It emerged Tuesday that the gunman had breached the protest’s security zone three hours before carrying out his attack, after driving 50 miles north from his home in Bethel Park, on the southern outskirts of Pittsburgh.
The 20-year-old suspected killer was repeatedly spotted and photographed by police officers before he scaled his building and opened fire.
Law enforcement personnel stand over the body of Thomas Matthews Crooks on a rooftop near the Trump rally on Saturday
At 3 p.m., Crooks set off a metal detector when he tried to access the site and was found to be carrying a rangefinder, a gun sight typically used by hunters and shooters preparing to shoot from a distance.
But security officers allowed him to enter while keeping him under surveillance until he left the secure area a short time later, the official said.
He then disappeared from the radar until shortly before 5:45 p.m., when a Beaver County Sheriff’s Department officer spotted him acting suspiciously near the outer perimeter and took his photograph.
On Monday, it was claimed that a police sniper team was stationed at the AGR International building and was seen outside three times in the minutes leading up to the attack.
A law enforcement official told CBS that no action was taken after one of the snipers first spotted Crooks looking up at the roof of the building.
The gunman disappeared around a corner before he was spotted a second time, sitting up and looking at his phone, prompting one of the snipers to take a photo of him.
The sniper then radioed a command post after seeing Crooks pull out his rangefinder.
But no further action was taken before Crooks reappeared for a third time, this time carrying a backpack and disappearing from sight as he walked to the back of the building.
The sniper team radioed in another report with the same information, but they did not realize that Crooks was climbing their building.
Police snipers return fire after shots were fired as Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump was speaking at a campaign event.
As Trump raised his fist toward the crowd, some could be heard cheering his name and chanting “USA” and “Make America Great Again.”
Channel 11 reported Tuesday that multiple sources confirmed Crooks was on the roof with a gun for less than seven minutes before being confronted by a Butler Township police officer.
That officer retreated after Crooks swung his AR-style weapon in his direction, leaving the killer free to aim at his target.
Investigators have yet to uncover a motive for Crooks’ murder, who had a minimal social media presence, and are hoping his phone may hold some clues.
But a bulletproof vest, three fully loaded magazines containing about 100 rounds and two remote-controlled explosive devices were found in Crooks’ car after the shooting, it emerged Tuesday.
Crooks’ father, Matthew, opened the door to several FBI personnel who entered the modest brick home shortly before 10 a.m.
Another bulletproof vest and a third remote-controlled bomb were later discovered in the home he shared with his parents.
The latest revelation that he also had a transmitter has raised fears that Crooks may have planned to continue his killing spree if he had escaped the roof alive, and may have had an accomplice to help him.
Hours earlier, Crooks had asked his boss for the day off, telling him he had “something to do,” before traveling to Saturday’s demonstration.
The suspected killer told his colleagues at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center that he would see them on Sunday.
But a Secret Service agent at Butler’s rally said he would be the last person Crooks would see as he stared the killer down before shooting him dead, graphic video revealed.
Trump grabbed his right ear as the first shots rang out at 6:12 p.m.
Officers found him in their sights and one pulled the trigger seconds after the 20-year-old shot and killed Pennsylvania Fire Chief Corey Comperatore, critically wounded two others and struck Trump in the right ear from his vantage point 147 yards away.
“They were watching him while he was watching them,” a senior federal law enforcement official told CNN.
The video shows Crooks staring through the scope of his father’s AR-style weapon and firing toward the protest as onlookers shout from the base of the building.
A second burst of gunfire is instantly heard and Crooks is seen lying dead on the roof as those on the ground gasp in horror.
“The Secret Service doesn’t mess around, man,” one exclaims. “Shit!”
He had climbed into the building’s air conditioning system and onto the roof, where MAGA fans saw him “bear-crawling” along the sloping surface with his rifle, and warned law enforcement of the danger.
“I was like, ‘Why is Trump still talking? Why hasn’t he been taken off the stage?'” one witness told the BBC. “The next thing I knew, five shots rang out.”
Crooks was a nutritional assistant at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, where she provided food and care to elderly and post-hospitalized patients.
“We are shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement, as Thomas Matthew Crooks performed his job without concern and his background check was clean,” Trustee Marcie Grimm said in a statement.
A colleague at the centre said Crooks never expressed political views at work and was not a “radical”.
“It’s hard to see everything that’s going on online because he was a very, very good person who did something very bad, and I wish I knew why,” she added.
The alleged killer was a registered Republican and a 2022 high school graduate. Records show he donated on Inauguration Day 2020 to a progressive group backing President Joe Biden.
He graduated from the Community College of Allegheny County in May with an associate of science degree in engineering, according to school officials who said they were “shocked and saddened by the horrific turn of events.”
Crooks’ father, Matthew, was seen Tuesday morning for the first time since the shooting when he opened the door of the family home to FBI agents.
A neighbor of Crooks’ sister, Katie, said her brother helped her move into her nearby apartment three years ago, describing her as a “hardworking” woman who worked as a janitor at a local high school and as a waitress at a restaurant.
Both of Crooks’ parents are behavioral therapists and Crooks’ father said he was baffled by his son’s actions.
The Justice Department, Secret Service and FBI are expected to brief senators on the investigation on Wednesday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday night as the Secret Service faces intense scrutiny over its handling of security at the rally.
A timeline showing the dramatic events that took place on July 13.
From the “normal kid” who liked to play soldiers and mini-golf, to the increasingly disturbed young man who grew his hair long and isolated himself from his friends.
Crooks, known as Tom to his family, grew up in the suburb of Bethel Park, where his family still lives with his parents and older sister; the family home is seen here.
Republican officials gathered in Milwaukee have been demanding that the agency take responsibility even as the feds are implementing tighter security measures around Trump and other protectees.
“Someone, somewhere, has a lot of serious questions to answer,” House Judiciary and Gun Committee member Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota told DailyMail.com.
The investigation launched by President Joe Biden after the incident is being overseen by the Justice Department, not Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.
“That says a lot,” said former House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
