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New York- The man who tried to kill former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used a drone to obtain images of the rally venue before it began last Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Citing security officials briefed on the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s attacker, Thomas Crooks, had used a drone hours earlier to fly over the area where the event was being held in Butler, Pennsylvania, on a “predetermined flight path,” indicating that he flew the device more than once.
The information reflects a critical security lapse in the organization of the political convention and adds to other details of the attack that have been leaked in bits and pieces while the FBI is leading a major investigation into two big unknowns about the attack: what motivated the crooks to take shots at Trump and how he did it.
Details about the attacker’s device search history, which included Trump and President Joe Biden, and the two men’s subsequent public interventions, have been released following a meeting between FBI and Secret Service members and members of Congress last Wednesday.
Investigators also found photos on his phone of Ethan Crumbley, the minor shooter in the 2021 Michigan school shooting that killed four students and injured seven, as well as information about his parents, who were convicted of involuntary murder, CNN reported.
According to ABC, on the day of the attack, a Secret Service sniper saw Crooks on the roof of the building 20 minutes earlier, and security forces had named him as a suspect an hour earlier. He was even observed using a rangefinder.
Crooks, 20, was shot dead by a sniper seconds after he opened fire as Trump took the stage to speak. The former president was not injured, only his right ear was wounded, while one person in the audience died and two others were seriously injured.
Next Monday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is scheduled to testify before a U.S. congressional committee. JS
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