Research is still ongoing into the attempted murder about former President Donald Trump, who appeared Monday night at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — the first time he has been seen in public since he shot and wounded during his campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The crowd at the convention cheered Trump, whose ear was connected after being hit by a bullet on Saturday.
Details are emerging about the moments leading up to the shooting. Bystanders alerted police to the gunman on the roof of a building about 410 feet from the stage at least two minutes before the first shot was fired at Trump, according to video analyzed by CBS News.
A local law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the incident told CBS News that three snipers — local tactical teams deployed to assist the U.S. Secret Service — were stationed in the building the shooter used in his attack. The operational plan had them stationed in the building, watching the gathering from its windows.
One of the local snipers saw the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooksoutside and looking up at the roof, observing the building and disappearing, according to the officer. Crooks came back, sat down and looked at his phone. At that moment, one of the snipers took a picture of him. Crooks grabbed a rangefinder and the sniper radioed the command center. Crooks disappeared again and then came back a third time with a backpack. The snipers called with information that he had a backpack and said he was walking toward the back of the building.
Officers believe Crooks used an air conditioning unit to get onto the roof. By the time other officers arrived for backup, he had climbed onto the roof of the building and was above and behind the snipers in the building, the officer said.
Two other agents, hearing the sniper, tried to climb onto the roof. State police rushed to the scene, but by then a Secret Service sniper stationed in a building behind the former president had killed Crooks with a single bullet, multiple law enforcement officials said.
The FBI is investigating whether the shooter was a politically motivated domestic violent extremist, and investigators are still combing through his background. Justice Department officials told reporters that investigators have the shooter’s phone and are examining it at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.