The gunman who shot Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday flew a drone over the site before Mr Trump took to the stage, according to Sky’s US partner network NBC News.
The camera drone made by DJI allowed 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks to get an overhead view that could have helped him plan his attack, said NBC’s source who is familiar with the matter.
Mr Trump was shot in the ear in the assassination attempt and a spectator was killed, while two others were injured. Crooks was killed by the Secret Service.
The suggestion of aerial surveillance adds to criticism of security services that allowed Crooks to nearly kill the former president.
It’s common for the Secret Service to ban drones over areas they are securing but it’s unclear if that happened at the Butler rally.
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A drone and drone equipment were recovered from Crook’s vehicle.
It’s unclear how investigators learned about the drone flight but drones often leave electronic traces of their flight paths, and DJI may have had a record of the flight.
On Friday, investigators uncovered Crooks’ phone history, revealing searches involving a teenage mass shooter in Michigan, according to two law enforcement sources.
The sources said his phone had searches on it regarding the Oxford High School shooting and gunman, who was 15 when he fatally shot four students and wounded several others in suburban Detroit in 2021.
He was sentenced to life in prison.
He had also searched for depressive disorder and had images saved on his phone of the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania where he shot Mr Trump.
Crooks’ former classmates at Bethel High School said he was quiet with a small friend group.