The gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump may have had a firearm with a collapsible stock, making it easier for him to carry and conceal the weapon, the director of the FBI testified Wednesday.
The gunman also had researched President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
On July 5, Thomas Crooks, 20, traveled to the site of Trump’s July 13 presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, for the first time, Wray said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
The next day, Crooks searched “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy,” referring to the 1963 assassination, and registered for the rally, Wray said.
A series of congressional hearings this week have begun to shed light on how Crooks was able to evade law enforcement and open fire at Trump. Wray’s testimony has offered the clearest timeline of Crooks’ activities on the day of the shooting and in the week leading up to it, highlighting his level of preparation.
On the morning of the rally, he went back to the campaign site, where he stayed for about an hour, and left that afternoon to buy 50 rounds of ammunition.
Wray said Crooks was back at the rally site shortly before 4 p.m., when he flew a drone about 200 yards from the main stage area, Wray said.
Two hours later, witnesses began to shout about a suspicious man on the roof of a nearby building.
Wray said Crooks may have had a collapsible stock, which would explain why witnesses did not see him walking around with a weapon beforehand and why the firearm was not spotted until Crooks was already on the roof.
Crooks began firing at least eight gunshots seconds after he noticed a law enforcement officer on the ground had spotted him, Wray said.
The officer had gotten a boost from a colleague and pulled his head up over the roof. Crooks pointed his gun at the officer, causing him to fall, and then started shooting at Trump, Wray said.
The FBI still does not know Crooks’ motive. Wray said it has been frustrating that the investigation has not “yielded significant clues.”
He said investigators have seen “indications,” however, that Crooks was interested in public figures and that he became “very focused” on Trump and the rally about a week before July 13.
Lawmakers have been frustrated that key questions have remained unanswered, particularly by Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned as director of the Secret Service on Tuesday after Republicans accused her of failing to fully cooperate with the House Oversight Committee in testimony the day before.
“We need to know play-by-play, moment-by-moment, second-by-second,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Wray on Wednesday at the start of the hearing.
Wray said the FBI recovered the drone in Crooks’ car, where it also found a drone controller and two explosive devices that could be detonated remotely.
Crooks had a transmitter, Wray said, adding that it appears the remote detonation “would not have worked.”
Eight bullet cartridges were found on the roof with the gunman’s body, he said.
Wray said Crooks had bought a ladder about 5 feet tall, according to a bloodied receipt he had on him, but the ladder was not found at the scene. Wray said it is unclear how Crooks got onto the roof.
Crooks was a “fairly avid shooting hobbyist,” who went to a shooting range the day before the assassination attempt, “probably” with the same AR-style rifle he used at the rally, Wray said.
On Tuesday, Col. Christopher Paris, commander of the Pennsylvania State Police, told the House Homeland Security Committee that officers with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit had spotted Crooks from a second-story window and left their post to search for him.
Paris said Crooks was identified as suspicious before the shooting because he was hanging around but never tried to enter the rally. The suspicion was later heightened, Paris said, when Crooks was seen with a range finder.
That day, three other people had been identified as suspicious, Paris said.
Crooks was not designated as an actual threat until seconds before he opened fire, Paris said. Trump was shot in the ear, a rallygoer was killed and two other people were wounded.
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