An new image of Donald Trump’s would-be assassin sitting on a wall looking and at his phone emerged Friday, showing the moments before he took a shot at the ex-president’s life.
Thomas Matthew Crooks can be seen perched on a wall in a grassy area of the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Butler, Pa., on July 13 as he waited for Trump, 78, to take the stage.
In the picture taken from above, Crooks, 20, appears to be scrolling on his cellphone, which was found alongside a remote transmitter after he was killed by return fire from a Secret Service sniper.
In the picture, the gunman is wearing the same gray influencer-branded shirt he was seen sporting in the only other image previously released of Crooks in the lead-up to the shooting, which killed retired fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously injured David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.
The new image was released Saturday by Judicial Watch, along with documents that detail how local law enforcement was stationed in preparation for the rally.
Not long after the snapshot was taken, Crooks shimmied up on top of a nearby building and crawled into his final position with a rifle in hand to line up for the shot.
The killer was on law enforcement’s radar well before he made the assassination attempt: One local cop snapped two pictures of the “suspicious person” looking for the perfect spot to open fire.
An officer spotted Crooks using the rangefinder and looking at his phone nearly an hour before Trump took the stage — an encounter that could have led to the newly released image.
Despite suspicions, Crooks was able to whip out his gun and squeeze off eight shots at Trump before he was killed.
The gunman narrowly missed Trump — instead causing shrapnel to graze the ex-president’s ear.
The gunman’s motive is still unknown more than one month after the shooting.