Trump's Rally Shooter Caught Relaxing on Phone Moments Before the Shooting Happened

A new photo shows the Donald Trump rally gunman using his phone just before the shooting. Thomas Matthew Crooks, who’s 20, opened fire at a Trump event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. He ended up killing one person and injuring two others. In the photo, Crooks is sitting on a wall, looking pretty relaxed and using his phone. We still have no news of what he was doing with it.

Authorities still don't know Crooks' motive or if he acted alone. They searched his phone but found nothing suspicious. His last internet searches were for porn. New documents reveal problems with security planning before the rally. A local sheriff warned it would be a "circus" with not enough space for the expected crowd. Police asked for extra help from nearby counties. But despite the preparations, Crooks was able to open fire from a nearby roof, as per The Sun.

After the shooting, things got tense between local and federal law enforcement. Local officials say the Secret Service wrongly blamed them for what happened, and one even hinted that the real story will come out eventually. Since the attack, Trump’s ramped up security at his events. He’s got bullet-proof glass now and a lot more Secret Service agents, some of whom were moved from protecting President Joe Biden to looking after Trump. There are still a lot of questions about the shooting, and investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong and how to stop it from happening again.

On a related note, Trump recently announced plans to return to Butler, Pennsylvania. He is planning to make this trip in October. Trump made the revelation during a live talk with Elon Musk on X. It is reported that this live talk drew approximately a billion views. "By the way, we're going back to Butler, and we're going to go back in October," Trump said, the date of this visit is yet to be announced.

He called Butler a "great area." He further stated that he has been in touch with the families affected by the shooting incident. Trump believes a last-minute change to his event setup saved his life. He had asked to have immigration numbers shown on a giant screen to his right. Which prompted him to turn away from the shooter's line of fire. "The bigger miracle was that I was looking in the exact direction of the shooter. And so it hit me at an angle that was far less destructive than any other angle," Trump explained.

The former president praised various first responders. It included local police, U.S. Secret Service agents, and medical staff. He specifically commended a Secret Service sniper who took out the shooter. He praised how the sniper killed his shooter with a single shot from about 400 yards away. Regarding security failures that allowed the incident to occur, Trump stated, "They're going to learn from this." He acknowledged there were mistakes made but expressed confidence that law enforcement would improve their procedures, as per Fox News.