The gunman who made an attempt on Donald Trump’s life used a drone to survey the Pennsylvania rally site possibly days, or even hours, before he took aim at the former president.
Investigators said they found the drone inside the car of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks after the 20-year-old’s deadly shooting in Butler County this month, according to multiple law enforcement officials who spoke with CBS News.
The officials said the drone took a programmed flight path over the Butler Farm Show grounds, but couldn’t peg exactly when it was in the air.
Authorities also found an armored tactical vest, four magazines of ammunition and two makeshift explosive devices in the car.
Investigators said the explosives appeared to be detonated by a remote trigger. They have yet to determine if those triggers were operable.
The gunman narrowly missed Mr. Trump during his July 13 assassination attempt. Crooks shot and killed one rallygoer and severely wounded two others while letting off an eight-round barrage.
Secret Service snipers killed Crooks seconds after he opened fire on the crowd.
Investigators haven’t established a clear motive for why the gunman tried to kill the former president.
A friend from a mathematics book club at Crooks’ community college said the gunman offered only moderate or slightly right-of-center views whenever politics came up, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“I puzzled through all my memories to think why” Crooks would open fire on Mr. Trump, the friend, who wasn’t named, told the newspaper.
The would-be assassin registered for the Butler rally on July 7, though he looked up speaking dates for President Biden and when the Democratic National Convention was taking place as well.
The shooter also researched how to make explosives and looked up Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley before his attack, according to CNN.
Crooks was a good shot, according to a classmate at a Pittsburgh-area gun range, and used an AR-15-style rifle owned by his father for the assassination attempt. Authorities found multiple guns in Crooks’ family home when it was searched.
He went to a gun range the day before the rally and bought 50 rounds of ammunition hours before opening fire on Mr. Trump from roughly 150 yards away.
Matthew Brian Crooks, the gunman’s father, told Fox News outside a grocery store Monday that family members “just want to try to take care of ourselves right now.”
“Please, give us our space,” Mr. Crooks, 53, said. “We’re going to release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so. Until then, we have no comment.”
Multiple security lapses at the rally — such as law enforcement identifying Crooks as a suspicious person, yet still letting him climb onto a roof overlooking the main stage — triggered a wave of scrutiny on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
During her appearance Monday in front of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Ms. Cheatle offered little insight into her agency’s confounding decisions.
Lawmakers hammered the director for not placing agents on the rooftop perch because she said its sloped surface was considered a safety hazard. Instead, countersnipers were ordered inside the building and observed Crooks’ strange behavior on at least three occasions before the shooting.
“All the law enforcement I have talked to recently are amazed there wasn’t an agent stationed on that roof,” Rep. Pat Fallon, Texas Republican, said during the Monday hearing. “You are providing nothing but pathetic excuses.”
Ms. Cheatle resigned from her post on Tuesday.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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