Timeline
I know there are many questions surrounding the timeline of events.
Again, I want to be clear the purpose of our investigation is not to identify security failures of any agency that day.
I want to provide some details about what we’ve gleaned about the subject’s movements and planning activities prior to the attack.
Starting in the spring of 2023,
the subject made more than 25 different firearm-related purchases from online firearms vendors using an alias.
Throughout the first half of 2024,
the subject made six chemical precursor-related purchases online of materials used to create the explosive devices recovered in the subject’s vehicle and home, again using aliases.
On July 3, the campaign announced its intention to hold a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and on July 6 the subject registered to attend the event.
That same day, the investigation revealed our subject used an internet search browser to query "how far away was Oswald from Kennedy."
July 7, the subject traveled from his home to the site of the rally, spent approximately 20 minutes in the area, including the area around the AGR buildings in what we believe was an early surveillance of the site before heading back home.
July 12, the day before the rally, the subject visited a local shooting range and practiced with what we believe was the same weapon used in the attack.
July 13, Day of the Attack
The following timeline of events highlights confirmed significant sightings of the subject in and around the rally site that day,
established through an exhaustive review of police dash camera video and from cameras of six local area businesses.
This timeline does not take into account much of the information from known radio communications between law enforcement on the ground, as the FBI is still working to confirm the exact timeline based on that information; however, we have included some information here to help explain his movements.
We assessed the ammunition used the day of the attack was purchased legally that day. The subject bought 50 rounds at a local gun store.
The morning of July 13,
the subject traveled from his home to the site of the rally at approximately 11 a.m. and spent over an hour in that area before traveling home again.
At approximately 1:30 p.m.,
the subject obtained the rifle from his residence and informed his parents he was heading to a nearby shooting range.
At approximately 3:45 p.m., the investigation confirmed the subject again arrived in Butler at the site of the rally.
He parked his vehicle and began flying his drone in proximity to the rally site from about 3:50 p.m. to just after 4 p.m. for approximately 11 minutes.
The investigation found this drone flight was conducted approximately 200 yards from the site of the rally by reverse engineering the metadata associated with the subject’s drone.
The ongoing analysis did not reveal any photos or video taken by the drone, as there was no memory card recovered inside the device when it and the controller were discovered in the subject’s vehicle.
The FBI is still working to determine if the subject was viewing footage on the drone’s controller and whether that may have revealed further insights that day into the security posture at the location from which he ultimately carried out his attack.
Just after approximately 4 p.m., he left the scene in his vehicle and appeared to drive throughout the area in the vicinity of the shooting for a period of time.
Shortly after approximately 5 p.m., we assess the shooter was identified by law enforcement as a suspicious person in the area of the AGR building and grounds.
A local officer took a photo of the subject and sent it to other SWAT operators on scene, as well as local command personnel.
Approximately 30 minutes later, shortly after 5:30 p.m., SWAT operators observed the subject using a range finder and browsing news websites on his phone.
The next confirmed observation is at approximately 5:56 p.m., when the subject was seen walking in the vicinity of the AGR building carrying a backpack.
At approximately 6:08 p.m., police dashcam video observed the subject walking along the roof of the business in the direction of where he ultimately fired his shots. [the video of him moving quickly along the roof?]
Our assessment is the subject climbed the HVAC and piping outside of the business, made it onto the roof, and then traversed across multiple rooftops to his ultimate shooting position.
At approximately 6:11 p.m., a local police officer was boosted onto the roof by another officer, where he encountered the subject.
The subject pointed the rifle at him, and the officer immediately drops to the ground.
After approximately 25 and 30 seconds after this encounter, the subject fired eight rounds before being successfully neutralized by a United States Secret Service counter-sniper.
After the shooting, the FBI identified eight shell casings at the scene, and we assess the subject fired eight rounds at the former president and into the crowd of attendees.