Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, disclosed on Wednesday that the gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald J. Trump appeared to have used a drone for about 11 minutes to survey the site of the shooting in the hours before Mr. Trump took the stage.
“It appears that around 3:50 p.m., 4:00, on the day of the shooting, that the shooter was flying the drone around the area,” Mr. Wray said during his testimony, noting that it was “not over the stage, but about 200 yards, give or take, away from that.”
The gunfire on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., left Mr. Trump’s ear bloodied, killed a rallygoer who had been sitting in the stands and seriously injured two others.
Mr. Wray said the would-be assassin operated the drone about two hours before Mr. Trump spoke at the rally.
Secret Service snipers killed the gunman, Thomas Crooks, 20, after locating him on a nearby roof. Mr. Crooks was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and had magazines for the rifle and a bulletproof vest in his car. Mr. Wray confirmed that the F.B.I. recovered eight bullet cartridges from the roof where the gunman opened fire.
So far, Mr. Wray said, the F.B.I. has not found a motive for the shooting even as the investigation evolves. But the bureau continues to examine the gunman’s electronic devices for additional clues about Mr. Crooks’s mind-set and movements beforehand.
