The photo was taken around 5:30 p.m. Saturday by a Beaver County Emergency Services officer who reported a suspicious person in the area near the stage at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, WXPI reported. The photo, which has gone viral online, shows Crooks with long brown hair and glasses, wearing a gray T-shirt that promotes the popular YouTube gun channel Demolition Ranch. It is unclear from the photo whether Crooks was carrying a gun.
Law enforcement sources told the station that a Beaver County emergency services officer searched the area for Crooks after sending the photo, but he had already left the area. Around 5:45 p.m., 26 minutes before the shooting, the same Beaver County police officer spotted Crooks a second time, this time on a rooftop, took a second photo, and transmitted it to the command center. At 6:11 p.m., Crooks fired his first shot at Trump from about 350 feet away, grazing his ear and killing one rally participant. Two other people were seriously injured in the attack.
According to local television, Crooks was still on the ground when Trump took the stage and had not yet reached the roof of the building. He was spotted on the roof about seven minutes before the shooting. A local Butler Township police officer had reached the roof of the factory minutes before Crooks opened fire and was engaged in a physical confrontation with the shooter. What happened next is a blur: Crooks at least remained on the roof and fired, but it is unclear what happened to the officer. Sources told the station that the FBI plans to interview the emergency services officers who were at the scene later this week.
Photos also emerged of Crooks’ cellphone and remote control next to his dead body on the roof of the manufacturing plant where he attempted to commit the murder. According to photos obtained by WPXI, the 20-year-old was found in possession of a gray 12-button remote control and a “newer model” phone after the shooting. The transmitter was believed to have been wired to an explosive device found inside Crooks’ vehicle, and investigators have speculated that he was planning to cause a distraction during the shooting.
Photo: Social networks
Law enforcement officers spotted Crooks using a rangefinder and looking at his phone nearly an hour before Trump took the stage, though he first aroused suspicion around 3 p.m. that day when he walked through security with a rangefinder. The binocular-like device is used by hunters and marksmen to measure distances when shooting at long range. The working theory is that Crooks went to his car to retrieve an AR-style rifle he stole from his father, the station reported. Authorities have not yet released a possible motive for the shooting.
Source: rg.ru
