Gunman in Trump assassination attempt also searched online for Biden events, FBI official says
WASHINGTON — The gunman in the assassination attempt on former President Trump searched online for events of both Trump and President Biden, repeatedly looked up information about explosives and saw the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire last month as a “target of opportunity,” a senior FBI official said Wednesday.
Investigators who have conducted nearly 1,000 interviews have not identified a motive for why Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot at Trump during a July 13 campaign rally, but they believe he conducted “extensive attack planning,” including looking up campaign events involving the current president or the former president, particularly in western Pennsylvania.
The FBI analysis of his online search history reveals a “sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets,” Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field
office, told reporters Wednesday.
The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?”
Once a Trump rally was announced for July 13 in Butler, Pa., Crooks “became hyperfocused on that specific event and looked at it as a target of opportunity,” Rojek said.
Crooks’ searches on the internet in the days leading up to the rally included queries about the grounds where the rally was held, “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show?” “Butler Farm Show podium” and “Butler Farm Show photos.”
The new details add to an emerging portrait of Crooks as a man who investigators say had taken an eerie interest in explosives, major events and prominent political figures, but whose internet searches across major parties have frustrated efforts to assign a simple motive.
“We have a clear idea of mindset, but we are not ready to make any conclusive statements regarding motive at this time,” Rojek said.
The FBI has confirmed that Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet during the attack. Crooks, who was positioned on the roof of a nearby building, fired eight shots before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Tucker writes for the Associated Press.
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