The New York Times reported that retired FBI agent Michael Harrigan said the photo taken by The New York Times photographer Doug Mills appears to show the path of a bullet grazing former President Donald Trump. Trump.
While working at Donald Trump's campaign rally in Pennsylvania on the afternoon of July 13, Doug Mills - veteran photographer for The New York Times - captured an image of a bullet grazing 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 can absolutely show the displacement of air caused by a bullet,” Mr. Harrigan said in an interview on the evening of July 13 after reviewing high-resolution photos that reporter Mills captured.
"The angle seems a bit low when it grazed Donald Trump's ear, but it's not impossible if the gunman fired multiple shots," Mr. Harrigan said.
The former agent said that simple ballistics math shows that capturing the path of a bullet like photojournalist Mills did is possible.
Reporter Mills used a Sony digital camera capable of shooting at up to 30 frames per second. Mills took these photos with a shutter speed of 1/8,000 second - extremely fast by photography standards. At this speed, photographers can capture fast-moving subjects without blurring at all.
The remaining factor is the speed of the bullet flying out of the muzzle. Law enforcement recovered an AR-15-type semi-automatic rifle at the scene from a deceased white man they believe was the shooting suspect.
“If the gunman fired an AR-15 style rifle, the .223 or 5.56 mm caliber bullet would be traveling at about 975 m/s when it left the muzzle,” Mr. Harrigan said. And with a shutter speed of 1/8,000 second, this would allow the bullet to travel approximately 12cm with the shutter open.”
“Most cameras used to capture bullets in flight are special ultra-high-speed cameras that are not typically used for general photography. Capturing a bullet in a trajectory like in the photo above would be a one in a million shot and it is almost impossible to capture this moment even if the photographer knows the bullet is coming," said Mr. Harrigan. .
In his final assignment before retiring, Mr. Harrigan led the FBI's firearms training unit. He is currently a consultant in the firearms industry.
Reuters reported that the FBI identified the shooting suspect as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20 years old, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The suspect fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside the venue of Mr. Donald Trump's campaign rally.
According to state voter records, Crooks is a registered Republican.
The FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting as an assassination attempt .
The US Secret Service said the shooting suspect was dead, one person attending the election rally was killed and two other spectators were injured.
