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The counter-sniper who ultimately shot Crooks HAD to have seen the shooter when he took aim from the roof’s ridge. The kill shot hit Crooks when his head was positioned 3-5 feet downslope of ridge.
The FBI just released the following timeline of the Trump and Crooks shooting.
5:10 p.m. Crooks first identified as a person of interest.
5:30 p.m. Crooks spotted with a rangefinder.
5:52 p.m. Crooks spotted on the roof by USSS.
6:02 p.m. Trump takes the stage.
6:12 p.m. Crooks fires first shots. Crooks shot 26 seconds later.
Bottom graphic: Fern on YT.
As I noted in my earlier post, Puzzling Features of Crooks Crime Scene, at the instant Crooks was shot, his head was positioned a significant distance downslope of the roof’s ridge.
The position of his body marks the position at which he was shot in the head.
Using Crooks’s body length and the rifle for approximate scale, his head appears to be 3-5 feet downslope from the roof’s ridge.
This post-mortem photograph suggests that Crooks was trying to crawl backwards, back down the slope, at the instant he was shot. In order to aim his rifle down the opposite slope and towards Trump, his elbows had to have been positioned considerably closer to the ridge—especially considering the ridge is equipped with an elevated vented ridge. Note in the following diagram that Trump’s head was significantly lower than the elevation of the roof’s ridge.
A video filmed by a bystander on the ground and published by TMZ captured Crooks’s final seconds. Due the camera angle and the angle of the ridge axis relative to the photographer, it’s difficult to say from this perspective exactly how far Crooks is from the ridge. However, to reiterate, his elbows had to have been very close to the protruding vented ridge.
Altogether, it strikes me as a logical deduction that the counter-sniper who ultimately shot Crooks HAD to have seen Crooks at the instant the shooter rested his rifle on the vented ridge and took aim at Trump. It must have taken at least a few seconds for Crooks to acquire his target and take careful aim at it from this position.
The TMZ video shows Crooks fixed in this position for at least five seconds before his first shot can be heard. Because he is fixed in this prone position when the video starts, it’s likely he was already in this position for an additional few seconds before the camera rolled.
In the world of professional counter-snipers, five seconds is an eternity.
Two counter-sniper teams—with two riflemen on the north barn and two riflemen on the south barn—were scoping the ridge when Crooks opened fire.
Given that the team on the north barn may not have been able to see the entire east side of the ridge, the obvious choice was to assign each of the four riflemen to scope a particular section of the ridge. The two riflemen on the south barn could indeed see the ridge behind which Crooks popped up to take aim.
It’s very hard for me to believe that at least one of the riflemen did not see Crooks aiming his rifle in time to shoot him before he fired. According to the FBI, even after Crooks completely gave away his position by firing from it, it still took the counter-sniper 26 seconds to return the fatal shot. Something must have caused the counter-snipers to hesitate.
NOTE: My objective with this post is NOT to draw definite conclusions about motives for this security failure, but to raise questions that should be posed to the FBI
POSTSCRIPT: Some commentators have suggested that Crooks fired his first burst from a position on the roof far enough east to obscure his position from both sniper teams, and then moved laterally (to the west) across the roof in order to reposition himself for the second burst that can be heard a few seconds later. I doubt the few seconds between bursts afforded enough time for him to move laterally across the roof, assume a second prone position, and aim for the second burst. He could not easily slide across the roof seams, but would have had to do a series of crab movements to his right while holding his rifle with one hand, then reassume a prone position, then reacquire the target and aim for the second burst. As the TMZ video fades in to capture his position when he was shot, he is already in a fixed prone position and you can hear his first two shots. He does NOT change his position prior to firing the second burst about four seconds later. About ten seconds after his second burst, one can hear a distant snap and the bystander says, “Oh, he’s down.” Even if Crooks did move laterally across the roof before firing the second burst, why didn’t the counter-sniper shoot him before he was able to fire the second burst?
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