The New York Times reported that retired FBI agent Michael Harrigan said that the photo taken by The New York Times photo reporter Doug Mills seems to show the path of a bullet that slid past former President Donald Trump.
While working at Donald Trump's campaign rally in Pennsylvania on the afternoon of July 13, Doug Mills - a veteran photographer for The New York Times - took a picture of a bullet running through the former President's head.
This is the assessment of Mr. Michael Harrigan, a former FBI agent with 22 years of experience working at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The photo is likely to show the movement of air caused by a bullet, Harrigan said in an interview on the evening of July 13 after reviewing the high-resolution photos taken by reporter Mills.
The angle may seem a bit low when Donald Trump passes the ear, but it is not impossible if the gunman shoots many shots, said Mr. Harrigan.
The former agent said that a simple ballistic calculation shows that taking a path for a bullet as photojournalist Mills did was possible.
Reporter Mills uses a Sony digital camera capable of taking photos at speeds of up to 30 frames per second. Mills took these photos at a screen speed of 1/8,000 seconds - extremely fast according to photography standards. With this speed, photographers can take photos of moving objects without being blurred or blurred at all.
The other factor is the speed of the bullet flying from the gunshot. Law enforcement recovered an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle at the scene from a white man who they believe is a shooter.
If a gunman shoots an AR-15 rifle, a 0.223 or 5.56 mm bullet will move at a speed of about 975 m/s when it leaves the gun sight, Harrigan said. And with a cruise speed of 1/8,000 seconds, this would allow the bullet to move about 12cm when the cruise was opened.
Most of the cameras used to capture bullets in flight are extremely high-speed special cameras that are not typically used for normal photography. Catching an orbit bullet like in the above photo would be one in a million times and it would be almost impossible to capture this moment even if the photographer knew the bullet was flying, Harrigan said.
In his final mission before retirement, Harrigan led the FBI's gun training unit. He is currently a consultant in the gun industry.
Reuters reported that the FBI identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The suspect fired multiple shots toward the stage from a high position outside the Trump campaign venue.
According to state voter records, Crooks is a registered Republican member.
The FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting in the direction of an assassination plot.
The US Secret Service said the shooter died, one campaigner was killed and two other spectators were injured.
