More Details About the Trump Assassin's Use of DJI Waypoint Flights to Preplan His Attack

[GadgetGuy]

This certainly won't help our cause.

"According to local law enforcement authorities, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a DJI drone on a pre-programmed flight path to survey the rally site ahead of the event. This drone, equipped with a high-resolution camera, captured detailed aerial footage of the area, giving Crooks more insights than what he would have gathered from a Google Maps satellite view of the area. Federal authorities also indicate the drone was flown more than once as Crooks researched and scoped out the event site to plan his attack with precision"

"The drone is said to have been flown over the Butler Farm Show grounds several hours before the rally, mapping out the stage area and potential escape routes. This surveillance data helped Crooks locate a rooftop approximately 400 feet from the stage, where he later positioned himself with an AR-15-style rifle."

Drone debate: Attacker's asset or security blind spot in Trump rally?

Did drone tech facilitate the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump? Or could drones have prevented the attack altogether?

dronedj.com

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

It occurrs to me that the guy likely used a number of implements to aid in this shooting, will the capabilities and or availability (to the general public) of those other implements also be raised/questioned?
And if he did use the drone for escape route planning .... it wasn't very successful was it ?

 

[GFields]

Important​

Please stay on topic. Unrelated posts will be removed. Thanks for your cooperation.

 

[Nanny Ogg]

One might wonder if the Secret Service will learn a lesson from this that they could also use drones to scope out the area around an event to prevent attacks from succeeding.

 

[Prop Wash]

One might wonder if the Secret Service will learn a lesson from this that they could also use drones to scope out the area around an event to prevent attacks from succeeding.

I believe the Secret Service will be learning a LOT from this situation. In order to improve their protection of any HVP, they must study this to take the necessary steps to safeguard not only the person they are sworn to protect, but also the civilians in attendance.

 

[Army Vet]

The technical term for what happened is FUBAR. Literally there is enough blame to go around for everyone. A Secret Service Drone would have probably identified the shooter well before he got into place. Unfortunately according to the outgoing director (lower case) a drone was not assigned to this event. I am wondering how many previous events were understaffed and under planned? That technical term is SNAFU!

 

[rjwmorrell]

It occurrs to me that the guy likely used a number of implements to aid in this shooting, will the capabilities and or availability (to the general public) of those other implements also be raised/questioned?
And if he did use the drone for escape route planning .... it wasn't very successful was it ?

His whole plan was doomed to failure from the start, as anyone who spent more than 5 seconds in a military environment would tell you.

Exposed position on a rooftop? No rehearsal before the operation? Operating alone without support elements? Left his distraction IEDs in his car? A string of failures, and thankfully he was an unlucky shot, too.

 

[GadgetGuy]

His whole plan was doomed to failure from the start, as anyone who spent more than 5 seconds in a military environment would tell you.

Exposed position on a rooftop? No rehearsal before the operation? Operating alone without support elements? Left his distraction IEDs in his car? A string of failures, and thankfully he was an unlucky shot, too.

Depends upon how you define failure. I suspect the mapping out "potential escape routes" statement is highly speculative. IMHO, this was clearly a suicide mission, where success did not include survival.

But for his poor marksmanship at that close range, it would otherwise have been a success! Everything else in the featured quote in the initial post points to how the prior pre-programmed flights, aka "waypoint missions," were instrumental:

"Federal authorities also indicate the drone was flown more than once as Crooks researched and scoped out the event site to plan his attack with precision."

 

[rjwmorrell]

Actually, nothing was wrong with his marksmanship. Had Trump not turned his head at that precise moment, the results would have been different ... as it was, he was still able to claim several victims.

I'm not so sure he didn't plan to escape, either. It seems he was also researching the Democrat national convention as a potential target, according to media reports. Explosive devices may have been intended to delay pursuit or cover an escape.

We may never know what his intentions were given that, as was already stated, he was an abject failure.

 

[mavic3usa]

About the drone:

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[Ms Ivy]

what worries me about this is whole mess is there was already a effort to ban DJI drones in congress. This will be just one more bit of fear-mongering to put that that final nail in the coffin, and why stop at DJI drones , why not ban all drones that is equipped with RTK or 4k cameras . The Recreational flyers will be limited to flying with the RC guys.

 

[Chip]

I wonder if the shooter registered his drone with the FAA and had remote ID. If not, imagine the phone call that Chris Wray would have to make to DJI:

Hello is this DJI customer service? This is Chris Wray of the FBI calling. I was wondering if you could tell me who the registered owner of a DJI drone is if we give you the serial number? You see we had a slight incident here at a Trump rally recently and we are trying to determine who owned a drone flown over the site the same day. We are trying to figure out if this dumb kid acted alone or had help. Why should you help us with our investigation? Well we are huge fans of your country and your company and we have always had the deepest respect and I mean that most sincerely.

 

[rjwmorrell]

what worries me about this is whole mess is there was already a effort to ban DJI drones in congress. This will be just one more bit of fear-mongering to put that that final nail in the coffin, and why stop at DJI drones , why not ban all drones that is equipped with RTK or 4k cameras . The Recreational flyers will be limited to flying with the RC guys.

You're not wrong to have that fear. Time and time again, high profile incidents have been the catalyst for drastic policy changes that usually punish the many in order to prevent the few.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Actually, nothing was wrong with his marksmanship. Had Trump not turned his head at that precise moment, the results would have been different ... as it was, he was still able to claim several victims.

I'm not so sure he didn't plan to escape, either. It seems he was also researching the Democrat national convention as a potential target, according to media reports. Explosive devices may have been intended to delay pursuit or cover an escape.

We may never know what his intentions were given that, as was already stated, he was an abject failure.

Perfect plan, then.
Just bad luck that Trump also leaned forward at the same time as as he turned his head, leaning his left forearm on the podium. Otherwise, his turn of the head alone would not have mattered. Center is still center.

The "would be" assassin had a serendipitously successful plan that did not involve his own survival, but it only failed because of bad luck.

Research of other potential alternative targets is not necessarily evidence of serial intentions, with a plan to escape after each. He found and exploited the vulnerabilities he had surveilled that day with his DJI drone waypoint missions, and chose this target over the alternatives.

 

[Ms Ivy]

You're not wrong to have that fear. Time and time again, high profile incidents have been the catalyst for drastic policy changes that usually punish the many in order to prevent the few.

Indeed

 

[GadgetGuy]

More about the shooter's research beforehand:

"The gunman who tried to assassinate former president Donald Trump had searched online days earlier for information about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and used a rifle with a collapsible stock that may have made it easier for him to disguise the weapon before climbing onto a roof, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said Wednesday."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/07/24/wray-fbi-trump-shooting-testimony-capitol-hill

 

[Ms Ivy]

The good news is: It was a DJI drone and it had flight data the FBI could use in their investigation. whether the shooter flew it legally or illegally, The drone still recorded flight data like any other aircraft.. , which you seldom read about.
The bad news is: Its a DJI drone and there is already a push to ban them in the US, and this will just give the "Oligarchy" more reason for banning all drones.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Latest quote states:

“We believe he was live-streaming the footage, as there’s no recording of what he saw during those 11 minutes,” Wray said. “We’re still trying to determine exactly what he could see from the drone’s flight pattern and capabilities during that time.”

FBI reveals new details on drone use in Trump rally attack

FBI Director Christopher Wray shared critical insights into the mind of the gunman and the role a DJI drone played in the Trump rally attack.

dronedj.com

Couldn't he have just already removed the microSD card, instead of leaving it in the drone they recovered in his car? Hmmm.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Latest quote states:

“We believe he was live-streaming the footage

Most, if not all, DJI drones record whether or not the drone was recording video in their .txt flight logs.

 

[rjwmorrell]

Latest quote states:

“We believe he was live-streaming the footage, as there’s no recording of what he saw during those 11 minutes,” Wray said. “We’re still trying to determine exactly what he could see from the drone’s flight pattern and capabilities during that time.”

FBI reveals new details on drone use in Trump rally attack

FBI Director Christopher Wray shared critical insights into the mind of the gunman and the role a DJI drone played in the Trump rally attack.

dronedj.com

Couldn't he have just already removed the microSD card, instead of leaving it in the drone they recovered in his car? Hmmm.

He probably forgot an SD card. And anyway, what did he need to record it for?