Could Crooks' AR15 have been in this position, when he was shot, by someone other than Aaron Zaliponi?
The rifle has been shown only where it was moved to, away from Crooks' body, east, by the first officer on the roof, Washington County SWAT officer Matt Shaffer(not to be confused with local countersniper, Ben Shaffer)

Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins has claimed that Sgt. Aaron Zaliponi's 'ninth shot' hit the buttstock of Crooks' rifle.
But, from the Washington Post's 11 July 2025 Zaliponi interview:
"Higgins said the FBI told his office that a reconstruction of the buttstock indicated that the Secret Service countersniper's round was responsible for the damage. Higgins said he was skeptical and called that a 'magical bullet' theory."

North Carolina journalist, Ken Silva, published a book, June 2026, on amazon.com for US$32, in which he claims or suggests that 'bullet fragments' in Crooks' shoulder could be from Zaliponi's shot.
That seems unlikely, given that Zaliponi identified his 1 bullet fired that day as a Hornady Tap Barrier, 62gr, a bullet for busting concrete and other obstructions, to the target.
Zaliponi has said, in his Fox Nation interview, he's sure he wounded, and mortally wounded, his suspect.
And a quote from Crooks' autopsy, released by Silva, describes those fragments:
"X-rays additionally show multiple small, retained bullet fragments in the mid and right inferior aspects of the head, posterolateral right neck, and right shoulder/upper back."
Crooks' 1 and only bullet hit a tooth and grazed a bone on it's way through his neck.
Predictably, fragments of his only bullet ended up in his lower head, neck, right shoulder, and upper back.

From the interview. page 101, of David King, who's credited for killing Crooks, King couldn't see any wounding or mortal wounding of Crooks, before King fired his shot:

Question:"...through you rifle scope before you fire your weapon, did it appear that Mr. Crooks was in any sort of distress, injured, anything of that nature?"
Answer:"It didn't appear so."
Question: Okay. What was he doing?
Answer:"It still looked like he was aiming out in his rifle. And from what I could tell, it was on his right shoulder facing out, and he was down like he was aiming through it. So it looked like he was attempting to fire again."
Question:"Okay. And did it look like he was having any issues or malfunctions with his weapon, or it looked like he was in a position to shoot?"
Answer:"He was in a position to shoot."

President Trump's claim of a 400 yard shot could be true.
His claim of "4.2 seconds" seems unrelated to any event on 13 July 2024.
Local Butler countersniper Aaron Zaliponi shot someone, and Zaliponi said "mortally wounded" someone "5.55 seconds after Trump's ear was shot.
Secret Service Countersniper David King fired his only shot 10 seconds later.
The suppressed shot I hear was 0.95 second before King's shot.

Update 04 June 2026: Erik Prince's long range shot to Crooks claim

July 2024 x.com post by Erik Prince:
"The only positive action was an apparent 488yd shot by one USSS sniper, which dispatched the assassin, but after the assassin launched at least 5 rounds, wounding DJT and killing and severely others in the crowd."

In the first view available, the head of Thomas Matthew Crooks isn't facing the south barn position of Secret Service Countersniper David King.
Crooks's head could be at least 45° offcourse, to west, from the position of David King, who was 189 yards south of Crooks final body position.

President Trump, Erik Prince(founder of the Blackwater private army) and journalist Steve Baker(based on 'scope' data), all claimed that the shot that hit and killed Crooks was fired from a long distance of 400 meters or more.
All 3 of those claims have become more difficult to find in google searches, and it seems that the claim or even possibility of a long shot at Crooks isn't wanted.
I can hear the sound of a suppressed gunshot, the long range claims were made, and now those claims seem unwanted, but hiding those claims may be part of the coverup.
The audio below is from Dayve Stewart's phone, when Dayve was under his tree, and with his phone recording 'north'.
If this is the mystery gunshot, claimed by Trump, Prince, and Steve Baker, what was the range, and where was the gun?
Crooks was hit by only 1 bullet, which entered his left upper lip, knocked out at least 1 tooth, then exited his neck, and then re-entered his right upper back, as he has hit lying down, and obviously facing the shooter.
Very few people seem to hear a gunshot, or maybe they think the sound is a squirrel, sneezing.
Whether it was a squirrel sneeze or a gunshot, it was ~0.95 second before South Barn US Secret Service Countersniper David King's only shot, which also may have been Crooks' 1 and only, and fatal, gunshot.

What we know about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the lone gunman at President Trump's 13 July 2024 Butler Pennsylvania rally:
We know that Thomas Matthew Crooks was a patsy, whose job was to distract from a team of 11 or more enemy shooters, 13 July 2024, on the rooftops of the American Glass Research building, in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Thomas Matthew Crooks also is innocent of any crime, because he's "innocent until proven guilty".
He'll never be proven guity, because dead men can't be put on trial.
The one dead body on the AGR roof was not Maxwell Yearick, in my opinion, and it was Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The body's clothing is the same as seen worn by Thomas Matthew Crooks, before he was on the roof, and the face looks like Thomas Matthew Crooks in a rare, unblurred video frame, shown below.
Thomas Matthew Crooks was on the roof, to be seen and to distract, but he fired no gunshots that day.