Crooks may have indeed brought a ladder to the shootout.
What appears to be a second, small ladder is visible in video of the building used by the would-be assassin of Donald Trump.
Yesterday I posted what struck me (and most of my readers) as a preposterous CNN report that the would-be assassin Allegedly Brought His Own Ladder to Event. As reported by CNN:
On Friday, he went to a shooting range where he was a member, and practiced firing, a law enforcement official told CNN. The next morning, Crooks went to a Home Depot, where he bought a five-foot ladder, and a gun store, where he purchased 50 rounds of ammunition, the official said.
Many readers seemed to think that I ascribed credibility to the CNN report, and were quick to point out that the ladder displayed in the image was far taller than five feet. However, shortly after I posted the essay, an old friend called and said:
I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if that kid showed up with his own ladder and carried it right up to that building without anyone saying or word or stopping him. Clearly no one was running security at that building.
It was just drawn to my attention that there does indeed appear to be a second, small ladder visible in the aerial video of the roof and entrance side of the building. I have marked with a black oval what appears to be a short ladder propped on top of a protruding structure on the wall next to the overhang above the right entrance. Use your Zoom function to obtain a closeup.
And so, it appears that the taller ladder was used by local enforcement to access the roof. What appears to be a small ladder may well have been purchased and brought to the shootout by Crooks.
Could Crooks have brought the small ladder and was able to get up there and the big ladder was placed by law enforcement agents before the event? It means law enforcement may have been on the roof with the ladder before or placed it after Crooks was shot dead. In either case, both ladders need extensive fingerprint work.
What if this poor kid was in contact with some "very important people," and thought he was playing with the big boys and would be protected? It probably never entered his mind that as soon as the deed was done, they would kill him. One thing is for sure, this kid wasn't the mastermind of this near-disaster.