On Wednesday local time, FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed that in the previous assassination of Trump, the gunman flew a drone for investigation before the official start of the campaign rally, and he also searched for details of the assassination of Kennedy. On the evening of July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Pennsylvania, fired several shots from the roof of a building about 140 meters away from Trump's podium at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring the upper part of Trump's right ear, killing one person and seriously injuring two people in the audience. Crooks was shot dead at the scene.
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, the FBI director revealed some of the latest progress in the investigation. At about 4 p.m. that day, two hours before Trump took the stage, the gunman Crooks released a drone in the assembly area.
The drone was in the air for about 11 minutes, and investigators believe Crooks watched live footage from the drone on his cellphone. The drone was found in Crooks' car after the shooting.
Additionally, Crooks had two bombs in his car at the time of the shooting, and a bomb was also found in his home. But there is doubt that Crooks would have been able to detonate the bombs from the roof where he was killed.
Investigators said Crooks fired about eight shots at Trump with an AR-15 rifle before being shot dead by a U.S. Secret Service counter-sniper.
FBI officials have repeatedly said they believe the shooter acted alone and used a rifle his father purchased legally. Wray reiterated on Wednesday that there was no evidence of any co-conspirators.
Wray added: "I have said many times, we live in an environment of heightened threats. The shooter is dead, but the FBI investigation is ongoing."
Investigators examined Crooks' phone and computer, examined his search records and bedroom, and interviewed his family and friends, but it was difficult to determine a motive for Crooks' actions.
However, investigators found that Crooks searched for details about the assassination of former President Kennedy on July 6. The search question was: How far away was the gunman Oswald from Kennedy? This shows that Crooks did not act suddenly, but had already planned the action. On November 22, 1963, the murderer Oswald shot Kennedy in public.
The day before, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Chittel officially announced her resignation under pressure from Republican and Democratic lawmakers after serious dereliction of duty in the Trump assassination.