Investigation into shooting at Trump rally continues as new details of assassination emerge

The investigation is ongoing in attack about former President Donald Trump, who appeared on Monday evening at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — the first time he was seen in public since he shot and injured at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

The crowd at the convention cheered Trump, whose Ear was connected after it was hit by a bullet on Saturday.

Details about the moments leading up to the shooting are emerging. Bystanders alerted police to the gunman on the roof of a building about 125 meters from the stage at least two minutes before Trump was first shot, according to a video reviewed by CBS News.

A sniper from a local tactical team assisting US intelligence at the rally took a photo of the Protect and saw him looking through a rangefinder, minutes before he tried to murder the former president, a local police official with direct knowledge of the events, told CBS News.

The sniper was one of three members of local response teams stationed in the building the gunman used for the attack, the official said. The operational plan called for them to be stationed inside the building, looking out windows at the rally and scanning the crowd. The details about the three snipers were first reported by local news outlet BeaverCountian.com.

The FBI is investigating whether the shooter – Thomas Matthew Crooks – was a politically motivated domestic violent extremist, and investigators are still digging into his past. Justice Department officials told reporters that investigators have the shooter’s phone and are examining it at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.

A federal police bulletin obtained by CBS News describes the shooter as an “apparent lone gunman” and warns that violent extremists may attempt “follow-up or retaliatory attacks” related to the November election in the coming months.

The shooter killed Corey Comparatore – Translationa firefighter. Trump and two others – 57-year-old Marine Corps veteran David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver – were injured.