Who, by the way, studied the attack on Robert Fico fervently before his death.
Leaked messages show that local police noticed Donald Trump's assassin much earlier than previously known. Based on an internal group discussion, they met with Thomas Matthew Crooks 90 minutes before the shots were fired. The 20-year-old assailant was sitting at a picnic table when he was spotted by one of the local snipers. The man then texted his two colleagues as a warning that someone had followed their example, sneaked in and parked next to their cars.
A little over an hour later, Crooks got up from the table and walked into the warehouse building with snipers on top. At that time, he was photographed and the following message was sent about him in the common police chat:
"A child is looking at the building we are in. I saw him survey the stage with a range finder. Know about it. Maybe notify the Secret Service to look at it. I can't see it anymore."
Half an hour later, Crooks fired at Trump, hitting him in the ear. He died a short time later after being shot by the police. It is still not possible to know all the details of the assassination. The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) told a congressional hearing that Crooks flew a drone about 180 meters from the podium a few hours before Trump's speech. He also researched the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy on the Internet.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting officials, was heavily criticized for the assassination, and its director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned.
He was also interested in the Fico assassination
The attack on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was also studied by Thomas Matthew Crooks, who committed an assassination attempt at former US President Donald Trump's campaign rally on July 13, a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Monday.
An official from the Pittsburgh office of the investigative authority told reporters: the investigation so far established that the 20-year-old man had studied mass shootings with mass casualties in preparation for the attack, as well as looked into remote-controlled explosive devices.
He also reported that, following the 450 interviews so far, the killer's personality was outlined, according to which Thomas Matthew Crooks had a high level of intelligence, but his social relations were almost exclusively limited to his family, and he had few friends or acquaintances throughout his life. The perpetrator's parents proved to be fully cooperative during the investigation, the agent added.
An FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) official said:
Donald Trump agreed to be interviewed by investigators. He emphasized that interviewing the victim and recording his observations during the incident is a routine procedure during any investigation.
On Monday, the American media made public several exchanges of messages that took place between police officers securing the area of the election rally in the city of Butler before the attack on Donald Trump. These, among other things, reveal that the police and security personnel were aware of the later attacker's presence and were watching him.
One of the messages reveals that they suggested notifying the Secret Service snipers who provide direct protection for Donald Trump.
Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he would like to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, in part to pay respects to the memory of former volunteer firefighter Corey Comparatore, who died in the attack against him. The Republican presidential candidate will hold a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
BBC / MTI
Featured image: MTI/EPA/Cristobal Herrera
