Former President Donald Trump's near-assassin, Thomas Crooks , had a transmitter with him that was wired to explosives he had in his car.
Investigators suggested Crooks may have "intended to stage a distraction during the shooting" by triggering the explosives and drawing attention away from himself.
Police spotted Crooks shortly before he began firing as bystanders shouted to officers about his presence on a roof. An officer climbed to his position, but Crooks aimed a rifle at him, causing the officer to retreat. Soon after, Crooks began firing on Trump before police officers found him, and he was quickly shot dead. Crooks grazed the former president, killed one man, and seriously injured two others in the shooting.
The shooter took July 13, the day of the shooting, off from work at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center because he had "something to do." The medical facility "provides individualized post-hospital skilled nursing care in a comfortable environment," and he allegedly told colleagues he'd see them the day after the shooting.
Before the shooting, Crooks drove an hour north to the rally. Police later found a bullet-proof vest, three fully loaded magazines, and two remote-controlled explosive devices in the vehicle.
After parking his vehicle somewhere, Crooks had gone through a security screening area around 3 p.m. with a rangefinder, a tool used to measure distances when setting up a shot at a target. Security personnel kept an eye on him until he left the area.
It's unknown where Crooks went after that, but investigators believe he returned to his car to retrieve his father's rifle and later climbed onto the rooftop, where he fired at Trump by "climbing on top of the building’s air conditioning system and hoisting himself up," according to CNN.
Trump was rushed to a local hospital with a minor injury to his ear that could've been significantly worse had he not turned his head at the last second to look at a chart he was showing to the rally participants.
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His motive for the shooting is still unknown as a law enforcement search of his phone and computer, according to CNN, yielded little evidence of note. A 1997 Secret Service study into those who had attempted assassinations since 1949 found there was no single indicator that a person might seek to take the life of a public figure. However, two-thirds of all attackers were described as “social isolates," similar to Crooks.
Several investigations in the House and Senate, and one directed by President Joe Biden, have begun and will likely reveal more details in the coming days about the Secret Service's response to the incident.
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