FBI reveals more details about shooter who tried to assassinate Donald Trump: he spent months looking for a target

A 2020 yearbook photo shows Thomas Matthew Crooks, the man accused of trying to kill Donald Trump (REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk/)

The shooter who tried to assassinate the former president Donald Trump searched the internet for events of both Trump and the president Joe Bidenrepeatedly sought information about explosives and viewed the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire last month as a “target of opportunity,” a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. FBI.

Researchers who have conducted nearly 1,000 interviews have no reason to Thomas Matthew Crooks20, shot Trump during a campaign rally on July 13, but they believe he carried out “extensive planning for the attack,” including seeking out campaign events involving both the current and former president, particularly in western Pennsylvania.

FBI officials said Thomas Crooks, 20,searched more than 60 times for information about the former president and his then rivalbefore registering for Trump’s rally in early July.

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The FBI’s analysis of online search history reveals a “sustained and detailed effort to plan an attack against some event, meaning it analyzed any number of events or objectives“he told reporters on Wednesday Kevin Rojekthe special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office.

Once a Trump rally was announced for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, “he became overly focused on that specific event and considered it a target of opportunity,” Rojek said. Crooks’ internet searches in the days leading up to the rally included queries about the ground where the rally would be held, “Where will Trump speak at Butler Farm Show?”, “Butler Farm Show Podium” and “Butler Farm Show Photos”.

Donald Trump is taken off the stage by the Secret Service after being injured (EFE/EPA/David Maxwell)

The new details add to an emerging portrait of Crooks as a man who investigators say had taken a Disturbing interest in explosives, important events and prominent political figuresbut whose internet searches for major parties have frustrated efforts to assign a simple motive.

“We have a clear idea of the mentality, but we are not prepared to make any conclusive statements about the motive at this time,” Rojek said.

The FBI confirmed that Trump was shot in the ear during the attack. Crooks, who was on the roof of a nearby building, He fired eight shots before being shot down. by a Secret Service sniper.

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Crooks’s computer activity indicated he was interested in a mix of ideologies, but did not definitively show he was motivated by a particular left- or right-wing viewpoint, he added.

FBI officials said they had not found no evidence to suggest that Crooks worked with other people or was directed by a foreign power.

(With information from KeynoteUSA and KeynoteUSA)

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