FBI Says Trump Rally Shooter Flew Drone 200 Yards Away From Stage Hours Before Assassination Attempt

 The FBI believes the gunman who opened fire on former President Donald Trump‘s rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month flew a drone near the venue for about 11 minutes in the hours before the shooting, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified to the House on Wednesday.

In an exchange with House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Wray said investigators “recovered” a drone that the shooter, identified as a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks, “appears to have used.”

The drone was recovered in Crooks’ vehicle, where it and the controller were located at the time of the shooting, Wray said, who noted the drone is being “exploited and analyzed by the FBI lab.”

Wray said “it appears” that around 3:50 p.m. on the day of the shooting, Crooks was flying the drone “around the area,” which he explained was “about 200 yards, give or take, away” from the stage.

The FBI director said investigators “think, but we do not know” that Crooks was “live-streaming — you know, viewing the footage … for about 11 minutes.”

Later in the hearing, Wray explained how there were no recordings or photos on the drone from the day of the rally, but the FBI has been able to recreate the flight pattern. He said experts believe that Crooks was using the drone to view the area with a live stream.

Roughly two hours after the drone is believed to have taken flight on July 13, Crooks began shooting with a rifle from the rooftop of a building roughly 150 yards away from the stage where Trump was speaking to supporters.

A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the gunman while other personnel rushed to protect Trump and escort him off the stage, but not before a bullet ripped through the former president’s ear. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured.

Wray told Jordan the FBI recovered three explosive devices, two from Crooks’ vehicle and one from his residence. The devices were “relatively crude” but did have the capability to be “detonated remotely,” Wray added.

Receivers for two of the explosive devices were found with the devices themselves, Wray said. He added that Crooks had a “transmitter” with him when law enforcement killed him.

Wray said the devices were also being reviewed by the FBI’s lab and noted how “at the moment” it appears to investigators that because of the “on-off position on the receivers,” if Crooks “had tried to detonate those devices from the roof, it would not have worked.”

Wray said the FBI “finally” got into Crooks’ phone in an effort to determine his motives and state of mind. He said Crooks had been using “some encrypted messaging applications.”

During another exchange, this one with Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Wray said investigators recovered “eight cartridges” on the roof of the building where Crooks opened fire.

Asked why Crooks was able to get off eight shots, Wray responded, “Well, that I think is something we’re still digging into.”

Under questioning from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Wray testified that a laptop linked to Crooks revealed a Google search related to Lee Harvey Oswald and the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

In particular, Wray said, Crooks queried “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” on July 6, which appears to be the same day the shooter registered for Trump’s rally.