To be clear:
- The text message Woods sent did not describe Crooks.
- Woods didn’t testify that it was Crooks.
- Nicol’s CNN testimony suggested it was Crooks, but didn’t state it directly. (Intentional misdirection or just assumed?)
- The FBI did state it was “the suspect” who was sighted. (Based on interview with Woods and/or Nicol?)
- The “fake news” went with it being Crooks.
I had it figured as Crooks based on Nicol’s CNN interview statement, but dropped that after the Vendor Alley sighting was confirmed accurate. Here is Nicol’s CNN statement:
“Nicol thought little of the text at the time, he said. Nor did he immediately connect it to a slightly built, long haired young man he saw sitting below the window where he was stationed at AGR about 45 minutes later.”
The assumption being he subsequently connected it to Crooks.