Around two weeks after the failed attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, new details are emerging about the shooting and the days leading up to it.

The perpetrator, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who authorities say acted alone, was fatally shot within seconds of opening fire.

According to FBI Director Christopher Wray, at least 700 FBI agents are involved in the investigation into the matter—the first attempted assassination of a U.S. president in more than four decades. Two other reviews into the Secret Service’s security failure are ongoing.

While these investigations are underway, a clearer image of the incident has come into focus—though many questions, including the shooter’s motives, remain unanswered.

New details were disclosed in testimonies to Congress in the week of July 22 by Mr. Wray, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris.

So far, more than 100 interviews have been conducted, and more than 1,000 pieces of evidence have been cataloged, according to Col. Paris.

Mr. Crooks searches on the internet for how far away Lee Harvey Oswald was from President John F. Kennedy when Oswald shot the president.

“That’s a search that’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Mr. Wray told the House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Crooks registers for the Butler rally on July 6.

“I think, a week before, he spent roughly 20 minutes there,” Mr. Wray testified.

On the morning of the rally, Mr. Crooks returns to the site of the rally and spends around 70 minutes there. It was the second of his three visits to the site, according to Mr. Wray.

Mr. Wray said that the FBI has learned this purchase took place at around 1:30 p.m. ET, approximately 5 hours before the shooting.

The drone, Mr. Wray said, afforded the gunman a “rearview mirror” of the scene behind him and a better assessment of the angle toward the podium.

The FBI has recovered the drone.

This sniper is one of two posted inside the American Glass Research (AGR) building, the same building from which Mr. Crooks fires an hour later.

The sniper who notices Mr. Crooks doesn’t immediately report it.

In her testimony, former Secret Service Director Cheatle said that the rally was allowed to proceed because Mr. Crooks was deemed as suspicious but not as a threat.

According to body camera footage taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, a Beaver County sniper caught images of Mr. Crooks arriving via bicycle.

Local officers notice Mr. Crooks has a rangefinder, a device used to calculate distances for firearms, a little less than an hour before shots are fired.

Mr. Crooks is not yet considered a threat by the Secret Service, and isn’t until moments before the shooting.

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Col. Paris said local officers deem Mr. Crooks suspicious because he is “milling around that area in front of the AGR building” but not entering the rally venue.

At the time, the officer is asked to report it to the Butler emergency services command center, which is in charge of distributing communications.

Notably, according to Mr. Johnson’s report, communications were siloed by agency, limiting communication between local and state police and the Secret Service. This means that the local sniper is unable to immediately communicate it to the Secret Service.

Col. Paris said multiple people were identified as suspicious at the rally.

Snipers stationed in a building overlooking the roof of the nearby AGR building leave their post to look for Mr. Crooks around the same time, Col. Paris said.

Mr. Crooks could have and should have been apprehended around this timeCol. Paris says at the hearing.

“I would say Mr. Crooks could have been encountered and intercepted. That would have been the ideal,” Col. Paris said.

Ms. Cheatle said in her testimony that rangefinders, which can offer a zoomed-in image to users, aren’t prohibited items and carrying one wasn’t enough on its own to label Mr. Crooks a threat.

Mr. Crooks “climbed onto the roof using some mechanical equipment on the ground and vertical piping on the side of the AGR building,” Mr. Wray said.

The FBI discovered later that Mr. Crooks had previously purchased a ladder, though Mr. Wray said that the FBI does not believe that he used this ladder to scale the building, as no ladder was found at the scene of the incident.

“Look, they’re all pointing,” one says.

“Yeah, someone’s on top of the roof,” another says.

The video zooms in on the shooter: “Yeah, he’s right there, you see him? He’s laying down; you see him?”

“Officer!” one shouts.

“He’s on the roof!” one woman says, sounding exasperated. “Right here, right on the roof.”

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) mentioned this during a July 24 hearing, citing briefings from law enforcement officials.

As the officer grabs onto the roof’s ledge to get on the roof, the shooter turns and aims his gun at the officer.

After the first shot rings out, the former president whips his hand to his ear, appears to notice blood, and quickly drops to the ground.

In later comments on the incident, former President Trump said he “knew something was wrong” almost immediately, particularly when he saw the blood.

According to Mr. Wray and Col. Paris, eight shell casings were recovered, indicating that Mr. Crooks fired as many rounds.

Ms. Cheatle reported that the countersniper who neutralized Mr. Crooks fired a single shot.

Some of the agents’ comments are picked up by the microphone.

“What’re we doing, what’re we doing?” one female agent says. “Where are we going?”

Two Secret Service personnel carrying military grade rifles take to the stage, scanning the crowd as Secret Service agents determine their next move.

Several agents shout, “Shooter down.”

“Shooter down, are we good to move?” a female agent asks.

“Shooter’s down,” a male agent replies. “We’re good to move.”

At this point, former President Trump begins to slowly stand up, still largely covered by agents. His shirt and hair are disheveled, and streaks of blood run down the right side of his face.

As he stands up, agents continue to shield his body.

Moments later, he says, “Wait, wait, wait.”

The former president then raises his fist to the crowd and is seen saying the words, “Fight, fight, fight!”

He is taken by agents to a nearby vehicle, which pulls away.

Former President Trump is taken to Butler Memorial Hospital to receive medical attention, while several patients in the ER pray.

Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter is killed during the shooting as he shields his wife and daughter from gunfire. Two other men are seriously wounded, including 74-year-old James Copenhaver, of Moon Township, and 57-year-old David Dutch, of New Kensington.

In addition, a “detonation device” is discovered on the shooter’s body, according to Col. Paris.

Few other details about the explosive devices have been released.

Aside from the joint investigation being conducted by the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police, the Secret Service plans to issue its own investigation report in about 60 days, according to Ms. Cheatle before she resigned.

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office has opened an investigation into the Secret Service’s “process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.”

The House voted unanimously on July 24 to pass a resolution creating a special task force to investigate the attempted assassination.

“We are announcing a House Task Force made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats to thoroughly investigate the matter,” Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries wrote in a joint statement.

“The task force will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again.”