Cellphone and detonator found on rooftop near suspected Trump shooter
The items were shown on the rooftop from which Thomas Matthew Crooks used an AR-15-style rifle to fire on the former president and Republican presidential nominee.
A picture obtained by a Pittsburgh-area TV station showed a cellphone and detonator carried by the gunman who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at the Butler county show grounds in western Pennsylvania last Saturday.
Trump suffered an injury to his right ear. One rally-goer was killed and two injured.
The 20-year-old gunman was shot dead by security officers.
WPXI, an NBC-affiliate station, obtained and reported the picture of Crooks’s phone and detonator on Tuesday.
The gunman’s motives remained unclear, though officials said they had been able to access his phone. Sources told the Washington Post that “cracking the phone did not crack the case”, though it offered leads to pursue.
Crooks’s car was found to contain a metal box of explosives connected to a receiver, CNN reported, adding that investigators were considering the idea Crooks intended to create a distraction during the shooting.
WPXI also reported on continuing confusion over why the gunman was not confronted before he fired on Trump.
Crooks was seen by witnesses and by law enforcement but not conclusively confronted.
Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the US Secret Service, has said local police officers were inside the building from which Crooks shot.
“We did share support for that particular site and the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter,” Cheatle told ABC News. “And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter.
