https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-ass...tion-continues-new-details/story?id=112020474 The most comprehensive write up of the security side of it I've seen yet.
That the best open source article I've seen so far setailing what is known about the security at the time & the shooter
The odd detail that Ive missed is anyone describing a suspect hauling around an AR15 in the crowd. They skim the section where he was spotted in the crowd but I read elsewhere that he was spotted as suspicious near the metal detectors because he had a range finder on him. NOT because of the fact he had a rifle on him. He may have stashed it and went back to it after scoping the entrances but how he got within five miles of that place with no one noticing boggles my mind. Looks like a normal sized AR with standard collapsible stock. Talking 25-30 inches minimum (not some 8 inch pistol barrel with brace). Wasn’t exactly wearing clothes to hide it under.
That wouldn't have helped, since he was shot in the head. The local law enforcement sniper that shot him after the USSS counter sniper killed him also shot him in the head.
Also, what's the deal with the "Iran plot to assassinate Trump"? Does that mean "some Iranians" wanted to do that, or does it mean the "Country of Iran" officially wanted to? The info I've seen is unclear.
It's a genuine possibility that, due to this threat, the Secret Service on duty that day were more keyed into looking for a possible Iranian agent and that led to them overlooking a domestic shooter.
That should not have been a genuine possibility. And, if it were, that's some shitty leadership at the top.
Couple of thoughts: Secret Service punts the complex out of their perimeter to the locals. The local perimeter probably started with cordoning off traffic miles away. The idea they wouldn't secure the building they were using as a staging area is fucking hysterical. There had to have been at least 5 cops in the building he was on top of, and spectators were sending cops after him. I have to assume at a Trump rally there's a high number of concerned citizen false positives, or Butler PA's finest were...uh...distracted. The number one complaint Secret Service has is liaising with the locals. At no point would a building filled with local cops seem like a legitimate security concern. When the shooter gets spotted, I'd wager he looked more like a kid in desperate need of a place to pee than a would be assassin. He was trying to sneak around, a cop moved towards him and he backed off and said cop went back to scanning for titties. He doesn't look any more or less suspicious than anyone else there and the parking lot was right there. Again, not a threat on the ground. 100% agree on the rifle issue. How this kid got the rifle there is a major question. The article mentions him avoiding the magnometers, and no way was he concealing an AR. He was worried about the IED transmitter he had in his pocket. I'm thinking he probed around, and got it from the parking lot to the side of the building, and found some way to obscure it, while he figured out how to get on the roof. He wasn't IN the crowd with an AR, right? There's a chance he hid it before the event started, but....unlikely. A random kid during staging would definitely have stood out. Broken the gun down into components, and smuggling them in one at a time? There was a disconnect between the county sheriff who was radioed about Officer Uvalde's encounter with the shooter, and the Secret Service. Secret Service are WAY more worried about friendly fire, and WAY more sensitive to firing into civilians, so they aren't going to just unload on a rando who is ON TOP OF THE POLICE STAGING AREA. Yes even if they make a gun, yes even if he can't be id'ed. At best, the secret service folks are waiting on the local cops to intercept or tell them to fire. Put a different way: the most likely scenario for someone on top of the police staging area at a Trump rally is someone wanting to be internet famous for waving a flag until they get tackled or tased. Not a threat that a sniper needs to put bullets into. Anyone know why the images of the secret service snipers show two shooters, no spotter? I was under the impression that was a big no no. Last thing: he had 3 ieds, 2 in his car one in his home. The two in his car were in ammo cans. I wonder if those were designed for smoke/bang, not actual casualties. I dunno what you could fill an ammo can with that would do serious damage, and if they were sealed....I assume those were distractions/diversions. I would guess the plan was to drop those cans somewhere, trigger them, and in the ensuing chaos, take a shot or three. Same logic with leaving the vest: he needed to get the rifle on the roof, the vest made him look WAY more conspicuous, and he already kind of got clocked. His plan might have been get rifle on roof, go back, drop can 1, drop can 2, climb on roof. Him being clocked, security looking for someone suspicious, etc, and him seeing a straightforward path to the roof meant he abandoned the IED's. Or the IED's were the plan when he didn't know if he could steal his dad's gun. I don't buy that, because he kept the transmitter in his pocket. It's unlikely he field tested IED's (although stranger things have happened), so he probably had a healthy fear of those things going off on their own. Here's the thing I'm losing my shit on: how did a 20 year old know to use a transmitter? Why would he not try and trigger the devices with his phone? He's 20 years old, he's never seen a world where an iphone doesn't do something any other electronic device can do. Even in the movies, it's a burner phone. How did he get a design for an IED transmitter and ammo-can sized IED's? The one thing the lone wolf shooter always does is broadcast a motive. The longer it takes to find one, the less it feels like a lone wolf. Getting the rifle on the roof and getting a shot off, that could theoretically be luck. The IED's and a transmitter are not something you can just google up an instruction manual for without the one of the alphabet fellas taking note. Also, the kinds of communities (online or otherwise) that this kid could leverage to probe security, build IED's, KNOW NOT TO USE A PHONE FOR A TRANSMITTER, he has no established connection to. The whole thing is fucking weird. The would-be assassin just happens to be the last 20-year old white Republican male capable of shutting the fuck up? Getting more doubtful by the day.
Are spotters even needed anymore? With the crazy optics with built in range finders and automatic bullet drop compensators most of their work is done.
Maybe not for their traditional workload, but I have to imagine there's still value in having someone with a much wider range of vision while the sniper is locked-in looking down their high-powered scope.
My tinfoil hat is telling me that he’s having another episode like the night of the debate and they didn’t want him in public.
The "spotter" is also a sniper, as Tim Kennedy mentioned in the comprehensive video posted one page earlier in this thread. Also, the "two snipers" photo that is making the rounds is one of 4 counter sniper posts (that we know about), and they are not the ones who took out the shooter. That's what you're losing your shit on? Two days ago, Time Magazine posted: I have no idea what an associate degree in engineering science includes. But, I'd be willing to bet there was an electronics course available. Also, that "remote detonator" looks like garage door opener key pad. I have one mounted outside my garage, and it runs on a 9V battery just like that. If I press the code, it triggers the motor in the opener. I have never tried to build a remote bomb in my life, but if I took apart the motor housing, I think it would take me 5 minutes to make that same activity happen.
If we really wanna go tinfoil hat, then earlier today he said that a doctor telling him to step down would be the only reason he would do so, and so Nancy Pelosi stabbed him with a syringe embedded in the tip of an umbrella.
She may have stabbed him last Friday. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/politics/video/biden-youtube-complex-interview-tapper-lead-digvid
Also, crap. This is going to give RFK, Jr more campaign fodder, isn't it? Biden has had Covid so many times. And, a couple years ago, he had that rebound case following that anti-viral treatment. RFK, Jr is going to be all "see, the drugs gave him dementia, just like I said!"
It might be the pretext for him to bow out. He said today that he would leave the race if a doctor told him to. Gets Covid... issues with lingering side effects or long Covid... "doctor tells him" to leave the race.
reading that article about the timeline and such, none of this strikes me as crazy smart or thought out. Nothing beyond the scope (heh) of capabilities of your everyday bubba with a hunting rifle. So then what's kinda scary to think about, is maybe there's just SO MANY wannabe assassination attempts/half-ass attempts, that this just happened to be the one that got through? Like the people who get pregnant while on birth control -- it's 99% effective, and they're that 1%.