PA - Assassination attempt, shooting injures former POTUS Donald Trump, leaves 1 spectator deceased two in critical condition, 13 July 2024 #2

[Chimera]

I don’t think he had any help at all. He’d need multiple people from multiple organizations in on it.

People risking their careers for a strange guy who couldn’t shoot straight.

It’s all explained by poor planning, a lack of resources, and staggering incompetence.

Indeed.
Makes sense.
Esp. the bolded.

I'd add that the campaign organizers or the city planners who hosted the event were totally unprepared.
The security for a sitting president would be different than a non-incumbent ; but I'd expect close to the same level for any of the former presidents ?

As far as the secret service, etc., they should have been well aware of the possible threats.
That was their job !!!
Still smh over this.
Omo.

 

[Ruminations]

I buy that. Maybe there is an undocumented immigrant friend who he was afraid would be sent back.

Or, maybe his undocumented friend could get a job at a Trump golf course. Trump is all talk on that issue; his work force is undocumented.

Report: Trump Happily Employing Undocumented Workers Amid ICE Raids

The president is fine with an immigrant “invasion” when it’s benefitting him financially.

www.vanityfair.com

We Googled 'Trump Polish workers.' Here's what we found

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio charged Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump with hypocrisy for hiring undocumented

www.politifact.com

 

[TootsieFootsie]

If it was something like unrequited love, the person is not very likely to come forward and tell anyone, that's if they even realise what may have happened.
The wrath of the media would soon descend on them. Then the blaming them would begin.

 

[Ruminations]

Agree. I'm not sending either to him.

It's one thing to say simmer down hateful, inflammatory rhetoric, and it's time to unify. To truly change, you have to change your hateful heart.

Perhaps not all hope is lost, as "people can change".

Let's hope there is a change about violent rhetoric.

I will be very happy if there are no more rallies with words that incite violence.

MOO

 

[Inthedetails]

It was never going to make complete sense, but it now appears this is on a track where we’ll have much fewer answers than we usually do.

Usually there’s something discovered right away, and there’s just nothing here.

No note. No online profile. Nothing found in his phone. It’s frustrating.

My current hunch is he wanted to be re-create a Lee Harvey Oswald moment with himself as the star/villain. I might have a different theory tomorrow, but for today, that's my theory.

The more information we learn, the more it does NOT seem like this was politically motivated. I don't see any conspiracy either. We haven't heard about mental-health issues, but clearly a healthy person doesn't do this or even think about it. He obviously thought about it, yet no one has mentioned mental-health issues other than he was bullied in school and was a loner who didn't dress in style.

I'd like to hear what his JFK-assassination project was like - what did TC say about Oswald?

jmo

 

[Tutter]

He picked the biggest bully.

Murder isn’t the answer to who one might perceive as a bully. Nor an excuse.

I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right!

 

[formerlyme]

there may never be an understandable why, he could have just had some psychotic break, woke up and thought hey this is a good idea . The sum of all the little things in life that did not go right for him... Things that most people learn to accept , deal with or work through. Things that an average ( I hate that word but am at a loss for another) person would maybe hide under the covers and cry for an hour then get up and get on with things, just something he could not process like others.

 

[Tutter]

Let's hope there is a change about violent rhetoric.

I will be very happy if there are no more rallies with words that incite violence.

MOO

Biden pulled his ads, so that’s a start!

 

[formerlyme]

Biden pulled his ads, so that’s a start!

they weren't who he is to begin with he was just matching the fight. In my opinion.

 

[Sarahlou]

Murder isn’t the answer to who one might perceive as a bully. Nor an excuse.

Nobody said it was either. But it could have been one of the reasons in the killer's brain.

 

[NuttMegg]

What changed his mind?

"A third classmate, who asked not to be named, said that Crooks was very smart, took honors classes, and was shy. She said that he had a group of friends who were fairly conservative, some of whom would wear Trump hats."

Thomas Matthew Crooks: What we know about the Trump rally shooter so far | CNN

amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[Diddian]

Gunman planned to attend local 4-year university this fall​

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old suspected gunman, planned to attend Robert Morris University this fall, according to a school spokesperson.

Robert Morris University is a private, four-year university located outside of Pittsburgh.
"We have been in touch with law enforcement and stand ready to assist in their investigation," school spokesperson Brian Edwards said.

Crooks had earned his associate degree in science from a local community college and graduated in May with high honors.
He was accepted into both RMU and the University of Pittsburgh, a public-research university also a close drive from his home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

A spokesperson for the University of Pittsburgh said Crooks was told in February that he could attend this fall semester as a transfer student. In March, Crooks informed Pitt that he would not attend.

Injured victim shot in chest, liver; out of medically induced coma

abcnews.go.com

I'm curious whether RMU allows commuter students or whether they require a student live on campus the first year attending (although I don't know how that would apply to a student transferring in as a sophomore or junior, with credits from a community college).

My thinking - given what has been learned about Crooks' personality, reports that he did not have any friends, and reported bullying by other students in high school - is that Crooks may have feared residing among other students, if that WAS required. Maybe Crooks couldn't see himself in the future that was forming in front of him.

 

[303gmf]

It can look a bit like one, but doesn’t act like one. Most rangefinders look like binoculars but turned vertically instead of horizontally.

I see golfers using them on the course

 

[Ontario Mom]

Exactly, he breaks the profile almost completely.

No known mental health issues.

No crazy posts online.

No manifesto.

No apparent trigger.

Not known to law enforcement.

Moving on with his education.

Stable job.

Coworkers seemed to really like him, and didn’t set off any alarm bells.

The only thing that fits is that he was a loner, but it’s not like that’s an incredible rarity.

Which to me, says there's something missing. Either something LE haven't uncovered yet, or something they have and are keeping from the public while the investigation continues.

jmo

 

[MassGuy]

there may never be an understandable why, he could have just had some psychotic break, woke up and thought hey this is a good idea . The sum of all the little things in life that did not go right for him... Things that most people learn to accept , deal with or work through. Things that an average ( I hate that word but am at a loss for another) person would maybe hide under the covers and cry for an hour then get up and get on with things, just something he could not process like others.

The evidence seems to indicate this was not some sort of psychotic break.

It takes time to obtain the materials to build bombs, and then actually build them. Apparently he had a transmitter that was designed to trigger explosives in his car, which is pretty complex.

In the weeks before the assassination attempt, he also began accumulating rounds via in person and online purchases.

So there's evidence of a great deal of planning here, but we don't know if it was planning for this specific attack, or if it was planning for something else initially.

 

[formerlyme]

The evidence seems to indicate this was not some sort of psychotic break.

It takes time to obtain the materials to build bombs, and then actually build them. Apparently he had a transmitter that was designed to trigger explosives in his car, which is pretty complex.

In the weeks before the assassination attempt, he also began accumulating rounds via in person and online purchases.

So there's evidence of a great deal of planning here, but we don't know if it was planning for this specific attack, or if it was planning for something else initially.

a psychotic break could have started it weeks ago, however I do not think he is the regular age for such a break that would be more late 20's I think. I do think a mental illness undiagnosed could be a catalyst.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Aha. Thanks for that clarification.

Still the question, why in the world did he do this when it seems like his life was progressing in a good direction??

Will it ever make sense?

jmo

And what chances he took to achieve this goal, given how many people spotted him. This could have, instead, led to a long time in prison had they perhaps searched his backpack and found the gun or bomb materials. Did he really think he could pull this off and have it end in his death, if that's what he wanted?

 

[Diddian]

Maybe they do, but I'm surprised that Secret Service doesn't use more cameras to fill the spaces they don't have enough agents to occupy. I'd think there are plenty of high places where a moving camera could observe whether there are any people where they should NOT be.

 

[formerlyme]

Interested in learning if the "explosive device" was viable... how would you know how to do that and not leave a trace a search on how to or a book checked out from the library does such a thing exist? ) ?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I can empathise with how it makes you feel being bullied at school, and also how it makes you feel being excluded and made to feel like an outsider. It's like getting your heart broken again every day.

I think I'm lucky that it didn't make me think there was something wrong with me. I had to work on realising that.
I thought it was them and they just couldn't see what a nice person they were lucky enough to meet... ME