A ladder could be smoking gun of assassination attempt

Plenty of salient questions remain unanswered.

This aerial photo shows the ladder near a small annex building concealed by fir trees. The photo was taken after the shooter had been killed, but, strangely, no police officers are seen in the photo. If law enforcement officers had previously moved the ladder to this location, why didn’t anyone use it to climb up on the roof, or at least onto the flat-roofed building once reports of a “shooter on the roof!” began? Also, if this ladder was in this location for hours, why wasn’t it considered a security red flag?

Days after the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, I’m fixated on one object that might answer the most-important questions. This object is a ladder.

Before Thomas Crooks could fire the shot(s) intended to kill a former and likely future president, the shooter had to get up on this roof.

As depicted in numerous photos, a ladder was present inches from the wall of a small annex building, a building which provided easy access to the metal roof where the shooter fired several shots and was, himself, killed by “counter sniper” fire.

First key and still-unanswered question: Is the ladder depicted in these photographs the one that allowed the shooter to gain access to this building? 

Note: Other published reports, citing authorities working on the investigation, maintain the shooter gained access to the roof of the building via an air conditioning unit. 

Also, various news sources report the shooter purchased a “five-foot ladder” or “extension ladder” the morning of the shooting at Home Depot. As will be discussed, the ladder in the much-viewed photos does not appear to be a five-foot ladder. It appears to be at least an 8-foot ladder (if not a 10-foot or 12-foot ladder) with eight rungs not five.

(A citizen correspondent posting on X provided images of a five-foot ladder and an eight-foot ladder and states his firm conviction this was an 8-foot fiberglass ladder.)

A closer view of the ladder, which has at least 8 rungs and is obviously not a five-foot ladder.

If the ladder was already there …

From deductive reasoning, it seems likely/plausible that this ladder was already present when the shooting occurred.

And if the ladder was already at this location, one has to ask: how did it get there? Who put it there?

Obviously, someone put it there. The key questions would be who put it there and when?

One’s first thought might be that the killer brought that ladder … Either this or someone else placed that ladder in this location on the day of the shooting. 

It’s the latter possibility that makes one seriously consider the possibility other people could have helped the shooter carry out an assassination that would change the nation and world. The thought is: No ladder =  an assassin who is not able to get on the rooftop and commit these acts.

As noted, several reports state Crooks bought a “five-foot” ladder that morning at a Home Depot. Indeed, a receipt for said ladder was reportedly found in his pockets. However, The BBC reports:

“Police sources have also told CBS that he purchased a ladder at Home Depot before the shooting, although it is unclear if he brought it with him …”

Comment and questions:

I’ve yet to read a report a five-foot ladder was found in Crooks’ Hyundai sedan. Nor have I read any reports a five-foot ladder was found on the rooftops or on the grounds of the rally site. This begs the question: Where is the five-foot ladder Crooks allegedly bought at Home Depot … or, if this ladder has been found, why wouldn’t authorities report this salient information?

Another question: Why would Crooks buy a ladder that he ended up not using or needing? Is it possible he later learned he didn’t need this ladder? If so, where did he dispose of the ladder he’d just bought?

The (possible) fact Crooks bought a ladder suggests Crooks might have been “working on his own.” In other words, possible co-conspirators had apparently not told him: “Don’t worry about a ladder; we’ve already have one at the site for you.” Or: was Crooks perhaps notified by someone that he didn’t need the ladder he’d purchased after all?

It’s impossible to believe Crooks could have

snuck an 8-foot ladder past everyone

If Thomas Crooks brought an 8-foot (or taller) ladder with him (or even a five-foot ladder), how did he conceal this ladder or maneuver the ladder against the wall with no one seeing him do this? 

This possibility seems more farfetched as we’ve recently learned the staging area for local police was the very building Crooks used to fire his shots (or, according to newer reports, an “adjacent building” was used as the security staging office.) 

Here the thought is that someone would have surely noticed a 20-year-old kid with long hair, a rifle (either in view or somehow hidden) who was also … carrying a ladder.

The only explanation that makes sense is that a “lone wolf assassin” (someone who carried out this shooting with no help) must have brought the taller ladder one or more days earlier and somehow hid the ladder in a way no person doing pre-event “security sweeps” would have found it.

(One obvious hiding place for a “pre-staged” ladder would be the grouping of four skinny and tall fir trees located between the parking lot and the small annex building. If the killer did hide a ladder inside the foliage of these trees and no law enforcement officers looked closely inside these trees, they should be fired.)

If the killer did pre-position and hide a ladder,

when did he do this? 

One possibility might be that Crooks had pre-positioned the 8-foot ladder prior to Saturday but wasn’t sure if this ladder would have been discovered and removed. Perhaps the purchase of the smaller ladder was an insurance policy in the event the taller ladder had been discovered and removed?

Also, Crooks reportedly drove to the event in a Hyundai Sonata, a small sedan. It would be extremely difficult if not impossible to transport an 8-foot (or taller) ladder in such a small car. (Per reports of citizen correspondents, authorities towed a white van from Crooks’ parent’s house in the middle of the night. It’s possible, I guess, the shooter could have used this van to transport a larger ladder in the nights before the shooting).

The above conjecture suggests that if this was the ladder that was used to gain access to the rooftop, the shooter most likely brought the ladder days before the event … and, in the days that followed, no law enforcement discovered the ladder.  If this is what happened, this suggests a level of incompetence that’s hard to fathom.

Where is the security footage when we need it?

I also wonder if this area was covered by security cameras. The fir tree that partially obstructs view of the small annex building is only three parking spaces from one of the main entrances to the AGR office complex and also not far from a warehouse loading dock - two sections of this sizable manufacturing business that one might expect to have security cameras.

If this area was covered by video surveillance, it would seem investigators could easily find out if anyone visited this area before the shooting - and when. The same cameras would also show law enforcement officers who searched the same areas for suspicious objects before the Trump rally. Or, perhaps more disturbing, show that nobody searched this area. 

If no security cameras cover this area, this might also raise the eyebrows of conspiracy theorists.

More details that suggest the ladder was already there …

Assuming a ladder was not photo-shopped into these photos, a ladder was leaning against a building - and that ladder, apparently, was already set-up minutes or moments after the shooter was killed.

An “aerial photo” taken by the AP shows what seems to be an 8-foot ladder, a ladder clearly visible when the shooter was already dead - but before any law enforcement officers had gotten onto the roof and examined the dead body.

As depicted by multiple photos, a dead Crooks can be seen on the roof with his rifle nearby and with another object (his backpack?) near the flat-roof annex building. Significantly, none of these photos show any human beings or law enforcement officers close to the ladder. 

This photo, which doesn’t show a body, shows a wider angle of several buildings. On the far right, one can see several AC units, but I don’t think Crooks could have used these to gain access to the roof without another ladder. In the top center of this photo, another possible AC unit is perhaps visible (beyond the second small building), but if Crooks gained access to the roof at this location, he would have been seen by counter-snipers.

If law enforcement had recently placed a ladder in this location, it seems members of law enforcement would have quickly used said ladder.  

A somewhat nonsensical  scenario is that very soon after a series of shots were fired from this location, someone in law enforcement moved a ladder to this location … and then immediately left and nobody used the ladder for an unknown amount of time.

Per my thinking, if law enforcement discovered a suspicious ladder, this would qualify as key evidence and instantly be considered a focal point of a “crime scene.” I would expect this ladder would have been guarded by law enforcement. (Detectives might expect to find Crooks’ finger prints on the ladder).

Basically, this author finds it odd that law enforcement didn’t quickly converge on this area and quickly discover this ladder. If this had occurred, at least one police officer would have been depicted in the photos taken soon after the shooting happened.

Eventually officers used ladders to access the roof …

Photos taken later show four armed law enforcement members on the roof standing over the dead body. (Presumably these rifle-wielding men used a ladder(s) to get on the roof, although, strangely, I haven’t seen photos or videos showing them climbing any ladders). 

Aside: Those law enforcement officers clearly had little trouble standing on this roof. Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, has been quoted as saying the reason no one was on top of that roof was it was not safe - because the pitch of the roof (4.76 degrees) was too steep.

I also note that the smaller annex building where the ladder is seen in pictures has a perfectly flat roof and any officer stationed on this building could have stopped, deterred or seen any would-be assassin on adjacent buildings.

As of this writing, the public still doesn’t know who placed this ladder next to the small annex building … or when. This would seem to be important as this building would have been the easiest and fastest route for the shooter to get to that roof and an optimal firing position. 

From his position, shooter was protected

by a tree with a wide canopy

If the AC unit Crooks reportedly used to get onto the roof was at the other end of this building (to Crooks’ right), Crooks would been exposed on the roof much longer.

Crooks probably could not be seen by counter snipers due to one large tree. This tree also blocks the view of the small annex building where a large ladder was set-up. It seems doubtful Crooks would have crawled across the roof from the left side of this building. If he had, he would have been seen much earlier.

As several posters and media reports have pointed out, one tree in particular blocked the line-of-sight of the counter-snipers, who fired the lethal shot only after Crooks had bear-crawled beyond the canopy of this tree (which was to Crooks’ left).

In other words, if Crooks had crawled from the right sections of this roof, he would have easily been spotted by snipers. Crawling to his final firing position from a starting point near the 8-foot ladder essentially kept his movements hidden from counter snipers. 

FWIW, I’ve looked at many pictures, but I don’t see any scale-able AC units that would have ensured that Crooks could crawl into his final firing position and remain behind the the canopy of this tree.

Hopefully, officials will soon release photos of the AC unit the FBI maintains Crooks climbed to reach the roof, including diagrams of the layout of the glass company buildings.

Also, officials should explain why they didn’t have a team of counter-snipers or observers stationed on top of the water tower that overlooked all of these buildings. From this bird’s-eye view, it would have been impossible for a spotter to miss someone crawling across an expanse of white roofs.

Yet another possibility …

Yet another possibility is that members of the security detail placed the ladder adjacent to the small annex building the day of the event … perhaps to be used if security changed their mind and decided to station someone at this key point of vulnerability. 

However, if this explanation is forthcoming, this will raise another question: If members of the security detail knew they had a pre-positioned ladder in this key position, why didn’t anyone quickly use this ladder once reports of a “shooter on the roof” started flooding the radio airwaves?

Leaving a ladder unattended that could be used by an assassin would also qualify as  gross malfeasance.

Five days after the shooting, I haven’t heard of any other ladders being found near other possible roof entree points.

A photo of Crooks reportedly taken by a law enforcement officer who considered him suspicious. According to one report, Crooks didn’t even gain access to the roof until after Trump walked on stage. That is, it didn’t take him much time to get onto the roof and into firing position.

Lastly, I note that law enforcement personnel and spectators had identified Crooks as suspicious at least 30 minutes, or even hours, before the shooting. A Pennsylvania TV station reported that Crooks was still on the ground when Trump walked onto the stage. If true, this means it didn’t take Crooks long to escape the eyesight of law enforcement and access the air conditioning unit he allegedly used to get on the roof.

(This may have been possible, but, to me, it might have been much faster and easier for Crooks, carrying a rifle, to get onto the roof from the ladder depicted in these photos).

As no one saw Crooks on the ground with a ladder, he’d either pre-positioned a ladder or, at some point, determined he didn’t need one to get on the roof.

Regardless of the method he used to reach the roof, if officials didn’t know it was this easy to get to a lethal firing position,  our so-called “security experts” need to refund their publicly-paid salaries.

Maybe a better explanation is coming soon …

In coming days, a reasonable reason could explain why this ladder was positioned where it was. I would simply note that, in five days, this reason has yet to be presented to the public.  (I’m far from the only person who has focussed on this mysterious ladder). 

The known-knowable is that the shooter got onto the roof somehow. How he easily did this with nobody seeing him, for now, constitutes the greatest mystery of our times.

If Crooks received assistance, one or more accomplices are still on the loose. If that help came from someone in our own government, we have an event as sinister as the widely-held belief our own government orchestrated the assassination of JFK.

Or we have yet another example of government authorities and “experts” who are stunningly incompetent.

(Whew. This article took a lot longer to compile and write than I thought! Reader Comments always appreciated.)

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