Secret Service officials say the 20-year-old would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who carried out the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, had concealed his weapon beforehand.
However, it was not immediately clear where he had hidden it, and by the time investigators found him on the roof, he already had it.
“We went from golf rangefinders to AR-15s and now we have to close the gap,” a source told Fox News.
Trump rally shooting: Local police desperately searching for “suspicious man” who escaped traffic control
Two FBI agents search the roof of the AGR International Corporation adjacent to the Butler Fairgrounds, where suspect Matthew Thomas Crooks fired a shot at former President Donald J. Trump in the aftermath of an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 14, 2024. Trump sustained an ear injury and was taken into custody by Secret Service personnel. One attendee was killed and two seriously injured at the July 13 rally. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Authorities said Thursday that Crooks was a “person of interest” but not a “threat” when they first saw him Saturday carrying a golf rangefinder.
At the time, distance measuring devices were not banned at public gatherings, but authorities are expected to review the list of banned items.
He was not considered a formal threat until he was seen with a weapon.
The Secret Service said there were four anti-sniper teams stationed around the rally, two from the Secret Service and two from local police.
Authorities approached the spot where the suspected gunman fell after the U.S. Secret Service returned fire during the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. (Source: Fox News Digital)
Two of the four teams opened fire — one local and one police — and a federal sniper shot the gunman dead seconds after the shooting began.
Former Secret Service officer warns agency is “stretched thin” with new responsibilities and staffing shortages
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, following the shooting by suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Crooks shot at least four people with an AR-15 from the rooftop, killing 50-year-old father-of-two Corey Comperatore and severely wounding 57-year-old David Duch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver.
Authorities have spent much of this week trying to pinpoint who was responsible for security at the AGR building where Crooks opened fire.
WATCH: Timeline of the Trump Pennsylvania rally shooting
Trump later said he had been shot in the right ear, and photos from the scene showed him with blood on the right side of his head, crouching for cover before standing up.
He appeared in public later that week at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his ear bandaged.
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Comperatore’s wake was scheduled for Thursday.
He will be buried in a private funeral on Friday.
Hospital officials said the condition of the other victims had been upgraded from critical to serious but stable.
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