To me, the bullet from the secret services guy hit Crooks just above his mouth (you can see a darker circular spot), slightly on the right, took away most of his teeth and exited on the back of the neck. That’s where you can see most of the blood on his face came from. The bump on the skin in the back of the neck indicates the exit wound, caused by the bullet starting to rotate after it encountered a bit of resistance from human tissue.

I agree with all three of your questions, although I have some speculations (but the whole thing stinks):

First – people will take photos of anything and everything nowdays. Photos leak, even if it’s supposed to be confidential or supposed to be common decency, like leaking the photos of Kobe Bryant and his daughter after the chopper crash.

Second – photo probably taken by someone with the authority to be up there? Like local law enforcement?

Third – You are right about the fact that it was supposed to be front entry wound, above the LEFT eyebrow as reported. Don’t see anything in this photo to suggest it was a front entry wound. Even if there was time for blood to dry on the cheek and forehead, that looks like very old dried blood, not fresh, like the other blood on the deceased. Blood that cracks across flesh is old – this looks days old as compared to the blood on his shirt and ground – I know people have been saying it was because his body was on it and he was flipped over but this dried blood, obviously very old.

Listen to Benny Johnson on Youtube. He posted a video of a forensic sound/bullet expert saying there were three different types of weapons used, and that Crooks did not act alone.

Also, TMZ has the cell phone video of the shooter just before his shots at Trump, then him getting shot by SS snipers. So it is indeed the same person.

Geoff PR,

For reference, if there is a conspiracy, I see much more reason to question that gaping hole in the security environment.

Most of us have heard the old saw, “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.” And while that may be true in general, I lean toward malice when Democrats are facing off against Republicans. In this particular case I believe that malice is more likely than incompetence.

Geoff PR,

I was/am being suspicious. Since I typed my comment, I queried a close contact who has fairly extensive education (both informal and formal) in forensic science. My contact believes that it would typically take a long time (hour or more) for the blood to darken, dry, and crack on the decedent’s face. My contact also stated that it is entirely plausible that law enforcement did not take that photo until a long time later–making sure to be slow and careful in their investigation. The apparent quality of sunlight in the closeup photo also suggests a low sun angle which would mean it was about 8:15 p.m. local time which is a “long time” after the fatal shot as well.

I am by nature skeptical and critical of government investigations. It looks like this close-up photo can very well be in-line with the simple story that this 20 year-old scaled the roof, crawled into position, started shooting, and then promptly absorbed a bullet in his head.

Note that I have not seen any video of him crawling around on the roof, shooting, and then taking a bullet in his head. That obviously seals the deal if it exists.

Probably because when you bleed like that you’re not just bleeding a little, it will be blood that left the body more recently. Additionally, the blood on his face is more exposed to the sun and air to dry faster