A remote detonator was found on would-be assassin Thomas Crooks’ body alongside his cell phone after he was shot dead by Secret Service snipers at a Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
A picture first published by Pittsburgh’s WPXI showed the detonator, a rectangular grey device with a keypad similar to a television remote control, alongside the gunman’s cellphone.
It was earlier reported that investigating FBI agents recovered explosive materials inside of the troubled 20-year-old’s car. CNN reports that the those materials were connected to the detonator.
Crooks attracted the attention of security at the rally, held in the town of Butler, 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, after he was behaving strangely around the metal detectors, at least an hour before the attempted assassination, and was later seen using a range finder.
The gunfire rang out at the rally at 6:11 pm. Trump took to the stage at 6:03 pm, an hour later than advertised.
Four days after the shooting, law enforcement have not commented on what they believe Crooks may have been planning to do after the shooting with the Secret Service facing increasing scrutiny for their inability to secure the event.
Channel 11′s Nicole Ford, who obtained the exclusive photo, revealed that law enforcement agents saw Crooks outside of the the single-story AGR International building from which he shot the ex-President.
This new development comes as Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle faces fresh questions after local law enforcement officials directly contradicted her claim that a Beaver County sniper team was stationed in the very building from which Trump was shot.
It emerged on Tuesday that the killer penetrated the security area of the rally a full three hours before carrying out his attack, after driving the 50 miles north from his home in Bethel Park on the southern outskirts of Pittsburgh.
At 3pm Crooks triggered a metal detector as he tried to gain access to the site, and was found to be carrying a rangefinder – a gun sight typically used by hunters and marksmen preparing to shoot at distance.
He then fell off the radar until shortly before 5.45pm when an officer with the Beaver County Police Department saw him acting suspiciously near the outer perimeter and took a photograph.
It was claimed on Monday that a team of police snipers was stationed in the AGR International building, and that they saw him outside three times in the minutes leading up to the attack.
A law enforcement official told CBS that no action was taken after one of the snipers first spotted Crooks looking up at the roof of the building.
The gunman disappeared around a corner before he was seen a second time, sitting down and looking at his phone, prompting one of the snipers to take his picture.
The sniper then radioed to a command post after seeing Crooks take out his rangefinder.
But no further action was taken before Crooks reappeared a third time, this time wearing a backpack and disappearing from sight as he walked to the back of the building.
A further radio report relaying the information was submitted by the sniper team who did not realize that Crooks was now scaling their building.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
