Donald Trump Assassination Attempt

[DixonHur 11,305]

1 hour ago, bolverk said:

There are not a ton of new details from an AP update, but here's a portion that was new to me. This says the cops were alerted before he got on the roof, and it makes it sound like the ladder could have already been in place. If so, it sounds like local LEOs or the USSS may have gone up there to scope things out and/or have someone positioned on the roof, but they didn't stick around and left the ladder in place.

Several rallygoers reported to local officers that Crooks was acting suspiciously and pacing near the magnetometers, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. Officers were then told Crooks was climbing a ladder, the official said. Officers searched for him but were unable to find him before he made it to the roof, the official added.

Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe told the AP that a local officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who saw the officer and turned toward him just before the officer dropped down to safety. Slupe said the officer couldn’t have wielded his own gun under the circumstances. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him, according to two officials who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

So where was the rifle while Crooks was pacing?  How did he get a rifle there without anyone noticing?  Why was there an unattended ladder conveniently located by the nearest building to Trump?  How did the secret service not notice the concerned rally goers?  If they did notice, why didn't they immediately swarm Trump and whisk him away like they did months earlier at the mere hint of danger?

Barney Fife could have prevented this shooting.

 

 

Edited July 15 by DixonHur

[scottsins 1,966]

Hence the word "supposedly". I think more likely is no one had eyes on him until the last minute, the cop arrived which startled the shooter, cop retreats, shooter immediately turns and starts firing, sniper blows his head off. 
I took from the article posted yesterday that quoted a SS source. Could it be bullshit, maybe. 

But the quote in that article did not actually say that was the rule.

[elfenix 34,242]

12 hours ago, cactusflinthead said:

There are two Thomas Crooks in PA. At least two anyway. One is 69 and gave money to Act Blue. The other is the shooter and registered as a Republican.

 

the zip on the act blue is for bethel park

[Blotto 23,512]

36 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

I've never caught this guy bullshitting in the one year I've known him, but he's also a trumptard. 

Does not compute. 

[LTbear 4,170]

13 minutes ago, smuggs said:

 

Missing 2 stars and 1 stripe.

[Vegas64 675]

So let me get this straight from reading all the posts of the last 36 pages:

25% on the right think this is some grand conspiracy AGAINST Trump to try and kill him.

25%  that is Black Twitter / The Black community + The far left think it's a grand conspiracy FOR Trump to give him an iconic photo op of defiance, bury the iconic mug shot photo as his legacy, and rally support.

25% are either absolutely exalted and enchubbened that this happened because "AMERICA! You Can't Kill TRUMP! Good vs Evil!, etc." or very salty and barely hiding their disgust that Trump survived and he just continually gets lucky and wiggles out of jams to the chagrin of democracy and society.

25% are both saddened by the attempt and reasonable that this doesn't do much to sway the election one way or another, and worried about the future political environment we have been barrelling towards.

So, there is no hope for a normalcy. Great.

 

[Hank Kingsley 20,941]

1 minute ago, elfenix said:

the zip on the act blue is for bethel park

Yes, now been confirmed that he did donate.

Almost impossible find real information on Twitter due to the "citizen" journalists. Thanks, Elon. 

 

[ohchaucer 1,443]

  Can you imaging what someone with real experience/training could have accomplished?

I imagine it pretty much every day.

[Leeroy Jenkins 2,404]

57 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:

Military and LEO snipers are trained to only shoot when they have a clear identification of the target and are certain that the target must be neutralized.  If the local LEOs were responsible for that particular rooftop the SS snipers would have to ensure that the shooter was not a local LEO and that he was an actual threat.  That takes time and judgment, and usually confirmation.  It seems to me that once the shooter drew down on the LEO who climbed the ladder, the SS snipers assessed the threat and got lead on target as quickly as possible.  The shooter was just able to roll back over and fire at Trump two or three times before the snipers got their rounds off.

The rooftop should have had a law enforcement presence on it in the first place.  That's where I think the failure lies, not with the speed of the snipers.

I can also bet that the majority of the SS was on a completely different radio frequency than the local LEO.  I bet that time delay will also will be a contributing factor.  

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,871]

3 hours ago, Longboard Horn said:

lol, nah. he'll be dead and the whole world will be better off

[Nicole44 22,060]

That was the headline just now. It squares with what many of us thought. That SS likely thought the shooter was with PA LE. Until he opened fire. That is still a colossal failure but makes the most sense of all the theories. 

[chainsaw 9,869]

Have they said if it was broken glass that hit his ear?

[bolverk 29,675]

13 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

So where was the rifle while Crooks was pacing?  How did he get a rifle there without anyone noticing?  Why was there an unattended ladder conveniently located by the nearest building to Trump?  How did the secret service not notice the concerned rally goers?  If they did notice, why didn't they immediately swarm Trump and whisk him away like they did months earlier at the mere hint of danger?

Barney Fife could have prevented this shooting.

1. Don't know
2. Don't know
3. Whoever had cleared the roof / was supposed to be positioned on it didn't do what they were supposed to and left it there. It was hidden from view (see below) in that nook between the gray roof building and the white one. It's hard to see, but there's also a small tree in that nook. There's also a much larger tree that blocks the view of that portion of the building from the vantage point of the counter-sniper position.
4. The rally-goers who spotted him were pretty far away by some trees. They may have been outside the security perimeter.
5. Not enough warning until shots were fired? As pointed out above, the view from the counter-snipers could've been blocked by the gabled roof.

A couple of additional questions for me are:

• Where was his car parked?
• Where were the magnetometers located?
• Was that parking lot accessible to the public for parking?

[YGIFS 19,450]

The "it was all staged" thing is insane on both sides.  If you wanted this done, you don't grab some 20yo with no history of professional instruction (they've asked every gun range within a 100 miles of the area), no law enforcement or military training.  Who just got the rifle a few months prior and probably just used it out in a field somewhere in rural Western PA.  Yeah, he fits the profile---but his shooting skills would be a glaring issue.  Still, it was a difficult shot without a scope, etc.  

to me the impressive skills the kid had was sliding through layers of LEOs, looking like he was supposed to be there or just remaining out of sight.  That's not easy to do at 20yo and keep your cool with a fucking rifle bag.  And discretely moving that ladder and scaling it with nobody the wiser.  Then staring down a cop right behind him.  Then calming himself down to begin firing.  Only reason it sounds like he was spotted (other than USSS sniper teams), was because the kid didn't realize some people at the back of the crowd had line of sight on despite him being well tucked-down.  

[Nicole44 22,060]

Just now, chainsaw said:

Have they said if it was broken glass that hit his ear?

Nope. But based on the AP pics that appeared to catch the bullet in the air headed at his ear it seems like he was grazed. When he fell there were tons of pics of him on the ground under the podium. In the interview he gave, the reporter wrote a small piece of his ear came off. So he had a CT scan. I’m guessing bc of ruling out a concussion but I’m not a doctor. But no mention of stitches or anything. I assume there were stitches whether grazed by a bullet or hit by glass. But he had a CT scan after. 

[chainsaw 9,869]

21 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Yes, now been confirmed that he did donate.

Almost impossible find real information on Twitter due to the "citizen" journalists. Thanks, Elon. 

 

I don't think there's a doubt he's conservative.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/thomas-matthew-crooks-trump-shooting-bethel-park-20240714.html

Quote

Max R. Smith recalled taking an American history course with Crooks as a sophomore. He did recall Crooks making political statements — but they shed no light on his actions Saturday.

“He definitely was conservative,” he said. “It makes me wonder why he would carry out an assassination attempt on the conservative candidate.”

Smith recalled a mock debate in which their history professor posed government policy questions and asked students to stand on one side of the classroom or the other to signal their support or opposition for a given proposal.

“The majority of the class were on the liberal side, but Tom, no matter what, always stood his ground on the conservative side,” Smith said. “That’s still the picture I have of him. Just standing alone on one side while the rest of the class was on the other.”

[Horn Dog 9,855]

1 hour ago, Mittens said:

nsiap

 

Wait, Kamala was one of the SS agents??  HUGE if true!

[Red Five 40,859]

7 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:

That was the headline just now. It squares with what many of us thought. That SS likely thought the shooter was with PA LE. Until he opened fire. That is still a colossal failure but makes the most sense of all the theories. 

The maga folks walking around sure didn't think he was police or SS. 

[immamac 42,850]

none of this matters anymore. Trump has already moved on, he thinks he's invincible.

[Hank Kingsley 20,941]

Due to the growing sense that the shooter didn't have strong political beliefs/ties and acted alone, it feels like it's kinda deflated the outrage or fascination with what happened. This is now looking like just another case of good old fashioned American gun violence. A lot of people are numb to it at this point. 

The right's desire for people to have easy access to firearms might end up burning them here. Good. 

 

[Nicole44 22,060]

The zones around the RNC convention look nuts. Different groups protesting and other groups showing support. 
 

At the very least moving forward for other events with Biden/Harris and the DNC coming up I feel better about the protection now. It’s like after 9/11. Probably the safest time to fly. There will be a lot more safeguards in place. I was concerned about future events with other people. Bc of 1968. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,512]

Not an expert but I find it surprising that the SS outsources critical security details to local teams. I understand that the SS cannot bring a force of 100 to every event for a candidate/ex-President but this practice seems to be asking for trouble. Lack of coordination, miscommunication, uncertainty of who is who, and finally lack of training. I would hope there is some vetting of the local team to weed out incompetents and perhaps a crazy person, but the SS looks to have dropped the ball.

[Derka 6,198]

 

[Hank_Hill 18,807]

5 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

 

The right's desire for people to have easy access to firearms might end up burning them here. Good. 

 

Lol have you learned nothing? The answer is always MOAR guns

[Hank Kingsley 20,941]

5 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Due to the growing sense that the shooter didn't have strong political beliefs/ties and acted alone, it feels like it's kinda deflated the outrage or fascination with what happened. This is now looking like just another case of good old fashioned American gun violence. A lot of people are numb to it at this point. 

The right's desire for people to have easy access to firearms might end up burning them here. Good. 

 

To put a finer point on this: Republicans have been issuing nothing but "thought and prayers" for decades while innocent children/people get mowed down in schools and other public places. It feels like non-MAGA response to Trump getting shot at by someone with a classic school shooter profile is "Yeah, so? What's your fucking point?"

 

[Js1 85,338]

8 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

This is now looking like just another case of good old fashioned American gun violence

Oh good, then everyone can just get over it 

[Hank Kingsley 20,941]

2 minutes ago, Hank_Hill said:

Lol have you learned nothing? The answer is always MOAR guns

You're missing the point I'm trying to make. 

Just now, Js1 said:

Oh good, then everyone can just get over it 

It feels like a lot of people outside of Trump world are. 

[jimmyjazz 45,957]

46 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

So where was the rifle while Crooks was pacing?  How did he get a rifle there without anyone noticing?

No idea, but he might have stashed the rifle up on the roof prior to the rally.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,512]

6 minutes ago, Derka said:

 

Once again not an expert but I agree that it looks like he was hit by shrapnel more than the bullet itself. However I don't take that as less of an assassination attempt. If some talking head wants to toss out a phrase that Trump was one inch from dying, I still don't think that is much hyperbole. 

[MotownHorn 1,762]

Pretty sure PA is an open carry state so he could have had the rifle out in plan sight and no one could do anything about it.

WIsconsin is also an open carry state. Milwaukee tried to use a local ordinance to not allow open carry inside the "outer perimeter" of RNC security zone (equivalent to where the shooter was in PA). That attempt failed. What could go wrong?

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-assassination-attempt-impact-rnc-security-plan-officials/story?id=111935286#:~:text=Due to Wisconsin state law%2C people will be allowed to,patrolled inner "hard perimeter."

[DigglerontheHoof 21,199]

15 minutes ago, immamac said:

none of this matters anymore. Trump has already moved on, he thinks he's invincible.

According to U.S. law, he is. 

[Indomitable 80]

3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

No idea, but he might have stashed the rifle up on the roof prior to the rally.  

I would think if a roof was identified as a security threat beforehand that they would have done a quick sweep of it?

 

15 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Due to the growing sense that the shooter didn't have strong political beliefs/ties and acted alone, it feels like it's kinda deflated the outrage or fascination with what happened.

I find it curious that a 20 year old had no social media. I'll be interested to hear what they find on his phone.

[Hard Times 302]

21 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

The "it was all staged" thing is insane on both sides.  If you wanted this done, you don't grab some 20yo with no history of professional instruction (they've asked every gun range within a 100 miles of the area), no law enforcement or military training.  Who just got the rifle a few months prior and probably just used it out in a field somewhere in rural Western PA.  Yeah, he fits the profile---but his shooting skills would be a glaring issue.  Still, it was a difficult shot without a scope, etc.  

to me the impressive skills the kid had was sliding through layers of LEOs, looking like he was supposed to be there or just remaining out of sight.  That's not easy to do at 20yo and keep your cool with a fucking rifle bag.  And discretely moving that ladder and scaling it with nobody the wiser.  Then staring down a cop right behind him.  Then calming himself down to begin firing.  Only reason it sounds like he was spotted (other than USSS sniper teams), was because the kid didn't realize some people at the back of the crowd had line of sight on despite him being well tucked-down.  

He was kicked out of his HS shooting class he was so bad. If you either want an assassination or you want to hit an ear at 150 yards and miss a head there's no way in hell you chose this guy. Oswald was a trained military marksman and top of his class. These 2 were on different planets on skill level.

[Hank Kingsley 20,941]

6 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Once again not an expert but I agree that it looks like he was hit by shrapnel more than the bullet itself. However I don't take that as less of an assassination attempt. If some talking head wants to toss out a phrase that Trump was one inch from dying, I still don't think that is much hyperbole. 

I agree, but there is a difference between getting shot and being shot at.  That distinction matters. 

[TexEx15 17,531]

[smuggs 9,353]

28 minutes ago, YGIFS said:

to me the impressive skills the kid had was sliding through layers of LEOs, looking like he was supposed to be there or just remaining out of sight.  

And while also looking like Rocky Dennis.

[jimmyjazz 45,957]

6 minutes ago, Indomitable said:

I would think if a roof was identified as a security threat beforehand that they would have done a quick sweep of it?

I'm not suggesting that there wasn't a huge lapse in security, there clearly was.  I'm just positing that, given such a lapse, he didn't necessarily need to be walking around with a rifle before climbing the ladder in broad daylight.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

"As an angel, it feels weird deflecting the whole cartridge , but my orders are my orders."

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

(that's, unfortunately, magazine/clip talk.  i apologize).

[Hookah Horns 3,083]

29 minutes ago, immamac said:

none of this matters anymore. Trump has already moved on, he thinks he's invincible.

Unfortunately, he is invincible. 

[Constant 6,732]

If im Biden, I am handling the rest of my campaign via zoom. 

[Pato del Muerto 52,499]

2 hours ago, Red Five said:

This can't be true.

Probably different ROE for different sites/events but didn’t they take out a guy that hopped the fence at 1600 Pennsylvania and was running toward the residence, in the past 10 years or so?

Edited July 15 by Pato del Muerto

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

1 minute ago, Constant said:

If im Biden, I am handling the rest of my campaign via zoom. 

who are we to judge?  he won in 2020 doing it.  i remember being furious at his basement sitting lazy ass campaign.  turns out it worked.

['stache 21,815]

They go full bore into really stupid conspiracy theories, so I’m allowed to half heartedly believe that something about this whole thing stinks. A bullet just happening to graze an ear, an infinitely tiny probability. SS just fucking standing around him after shots fired for a photo op and not taking him to the ground or directly offstage like every other situation we’ve seen something like this happen. Immediate reports after are that local law enforcement was responsible for that perch and actually encountered him and just walked away. The resulting talking point is that SS was in on a Biden plot to assassinate his opponent. And less than 48 hours later he’s back to rage tweeting from the shitter, like it was no big deal that he was an inch away from certain death. Just feels off to me, but whatever I guess. Let the hypocritical rage machine continue.
 

 

[Helobious 9,454]

13 minutes ago, Indomitable said:

I find it curious that a 20 year old had no social media. I'll be interested to hear what they find on his phone.

That’s becoming more and more common in that demographic. Discord has said he had an account on there but that his chat history only pertained to gaming and had no mentions of violence or plans for violence.  

[Underdog 28,644]

42 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

Have they said if it was broken glass that hit his ear?

 

[Gooby 640]

1 hour ago, smuggs said:

 

Missing 2 stars and 1 stripe.

And who knew the lead singer of DEVO is now working for the USSS?

[Rip76 4,928]

This is also a little odd.

Maybe not.

Thomas Matthew Crooks appeared in a 2022 BlackRock ad

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thomas-matthew-crooks-blackrock-ad-pulled/

[RomaVicta 29,908]

1 hour ago, DixonHur said:

The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him,

Wow. Even rushed, he could still take down an ear. That's some fancy shootin'.

Seriously, without the distraction, we might all be in a totally different mood now. Horror, of course.

[Red Five 40,859]

5 minutes ago, Rip76 said:

This is also a little odd.

Maybe not.

Thomas Matthew Crooks appeared in a 2022 BlackRock ad

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thomas-matthew-crooks-blackrock-ad-pulled/

So, a literal crisis actor?