Thomas Crooks was spotted by security as a person of interest at former President Donald Trump’s rally long before Crooks fired the bullet that killed a spectator and wounded Trump and two others, according to a new report.
“Earlier in the day, he went through Secret Service security WITH his rangefinder and scoped out the snipers, who spotted him and said they need to keep an eye on him,” News Busters journalist Curtis Houck wrote in a post on X.
“He went into work at a nursing home and asked off for Saturday, but told coworkers he’d see them on Sunday.
“Detonators for the explosives in his car were found on him on the roof with three, fully loaded magazines of nearly 100 rounds and a bulletproof vest,” he wrote.
Houck posted a video of CNN‘s John Miller summing up what he learned about Crooks’ activities before shots were fired.
#BREAKING: CNN’s John Miller reveals three new details on the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump:
– Earlier in the day, he went through Secret Service security WITH his rangefinder and scoped out the snipers, who spotted him and said they need to keep an eye on him.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 16, 2024
“When he got to the fairgrounds where this rally was being held for Donald Trump, the first thing that puts him on the radar of security people is … near the magnetometer area where they’re screening people in, he’s carrying in his hand a rangefinder, it’s a device that looks like a small pair of binoculars, but it’s used by shooters to measure the distance when they’re setting up a long-distance shot,” Miller said.
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“Because he didn’t have a weapon, that would not have prevented him from going through security, but they did flag ‘what does he have this in his hand for?’
“At that point, they told people to keep an eye on this guy, but then he leaves the secure area, the staging area, and he doesn’t turn up again for some time, until the crowd says there’s a guy crawling up the roof, and it appears he has a rifle,” he said.
Miller said there was what he called an “eerie moment’ where Crooks was “taking the rangefinder and looking through it at the counter-sniper positions.”
“And one of the counter-sniper positions is looking at him through the scope. At this point, there’s not a gun in the picture, as I understand it, but they’re saying, ‘He’s looking at us looking at him,’” Miller said.
Miller also noted that Crooks’ car contained “two remote-controlled IEDs, remote-control bombs, in the car.”
“The remote control for those devices found on his person on the roof,” he said, adding that authorities also found “three fully loaded magazines with nearly 100 rounds [and] a bulletproof vest.”
“So it raises the question: Did he expect to escape from this? And if so, what was all that intended for?” he said.
Earlier Saturday, Crooks bought a five-foot ladder and 50 rounds of ammunition, according to CNN.
At some point, Crooks is believed to have used the ladder to reach the roof, where he would later fire at Trump, wounding the former president and several other rallygoers and killing one person.
The Secret Service has been trying to say security for Saturday was not its job alone, according to CNN.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said local police were inside the building from which shooter Thomas Crooks fired, and it was the job of local police to secure that building.
“There was local police in that building – there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building,” Cheatle said.
