Thomas Crooks’ phone was photographed with a remote transmitter and his body on the roof of the manufacturing plant where he shot and killed former President Donald Trump, after it emerged he had asked his boss for the day off because he had “got to take care of business.”
Photos showed a grey 12-button remote control and a “newer model” phone were recovered from the 20-year-old man’s body on the roof of the AGR International Corp. complex after a Secret Service sniper team shot and killed him during a rally on Saturday. Retrieved by WPXI.
Investigators have suggested Crooks planned to create a distraction during the shooting, and the transmitter is believed to have been connected to an explosive device found in Crooks’ car.
A police source told the outlet that Crooks was spotted by police holding a rangefinder and looking at his cell phone about an hour before Trump was due to take to the stage.
He first aroused suspicion when he went through security carrying a rangefinder at about 3 p.m., about three hours before the shooting. According to CNN.
A rangefinder is a device similar to binoculars used by hunters and target shooters to measure distances for long-range shots.
According to the outlet, investigators hypothesize that Crooks went to his car to retrieve an AR-style rifle that he had stolen from his father.
WPXI reported that a Beaver County police officer noticed a suspicious man on a roof, took photos and called the police about 5:45 p.m.
Local police officers intercepted Crooks seconds before he shot Trump, and the suspect pointed an AR-style rifle at the officer, who fell to the ground and dropped eight feet below.
While the bullet only grazed President Trump’s right ear, Crooks also killed Corey Comperatore, a heroic firefighter and father who was at the rally with his wife and daughters.
The 50-year-old father yelled “Get down!” before being fatally shot and used his body to shield his family from the gunfire, his grieving wife told The Post on Monday at their home in Thurber, Pennsylvania.
Two other rally participants were also injured.
Read the latest Washington Post article about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Crooks, who worked at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, allegedly told co-workers she would meet them on Sunday.
Sources told CNN the shooter told his superiors he had “something to do” and had requested leave for July 13.
Just before the shots were fired, one of the Secret Service’s four counter-attack teams spotted Crooks looking at them through a rangefinder.
“While he was looking at them, they were looking at him,” the official told the outlet.
He climbed onto the building’s air conditioning system and then pulled himself up onto the roof.
Investigators found a bulletproof vest, three loaded magazines and two remote-controlled explosive devices in Crooks’ car, according to CNN.
Two sniper teams were set up on rooftops near where Crooks opened fire, WPIX reported Tuesday, citing law enforcement agencies in several Pennsylvania counties.
Embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said Tuesday that the roof Crooks was on was too tilted so a Secret Service team could not be deployed.
Cheatle acknowledged that he was aware that the building’s roof was a security weakness but chose not to station agents there, leaving Crooks with an unobstructed view of Trump on stage.
The cell phone found on Crooks’ body is one of two being investigated by the FBI, which also reportedly found a dead cell phone at his parents’ home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The Washington Post.
Investigators had sent the cell phone found on the shooter’s body to the FBI office in Pittsburgh to be opened, but they did not have the technology to do so.
The device was then sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, where agents reportedly opened it in 40 minutes using technology from digital intelligence company CellBright.
A search of the phone, first reported by The Washington Post, turned up few clues, prompting investigators to turn to Crooks’ laptop.
