Investigators have reportedly found more information about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
Crooks conducted online research on Ethan Crumbley, the mass murderer who killed four students and injured seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan. He also looked for information on Crumbley’s parents, who were recently prosecuted and convicted in connection with their son’s actions.
Investigators found that Crooks took a screenshot of Trump’s speech at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shortly before the shooting.
A week before the shooting, Thomas Matthew Crooks searched online for the date of the Democratic National Convention and the location where Trump planned to speak, as well as other searches for Trump and President Joe Biden.
Those details were released by FBI and U.S. Secret Service officials in a briefing Wednesday with lawmakers and others familiar with the investigation. The previously unreleased information documents the scope of the investigation, including a detailed chronology of the bomber’s actions leading up to his attack and the failure of law enforcement to prevent it.
Investigators remain baffled as to the possible motives for Saturday’s assassination attempt on the former president. They find little evidence that the attack was motivated by political or ideological intentions.
Investigators have combed through Crooks’ digital and real life to build a profile of the shooter. They seem to suspect that Crooks was planning mass murder and that Trump may not have been the only intended target.
A up-to-date theory from investigators, based in part on the timing and topics of his online searches, suggests that the shooter was planning a mass murder and that the proximity and timing of the Trump affair provided the best opportunity to do so, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.
Unlike other mass murderers who often leave manifestos or documents explaining their attacks, Crooks left no clues in his bedroom or on the Internet.
Crooks also researched other prominent politicians and looked for the date and, as mentioned above, the location of the Democratic National Convention. The FBI also found that Crooks had visited the site of the Trump rally about a week before the event and on the morning of the shooting.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Crooks had published a post on Steam, a popular gaming platform, but authorities later retracted that assessment.
Meanwhile, the Secret Service has come under criticism for failing to prevent the shooting despite being warned by people who saw Crooks on the roof of the building from which he shot Trump.
Now, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has learned from whistleblowers that most of the security guards at Saturday’s Trump event weren’t even Secret Service, but rather from the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative unit, raising further questions about the adequacy of their training and preparation for a major event involving a Secret Service-protected individual like the former president.
The motive for the shooting remains unclear, and law enforcement has been unable to determine Crooks’ political affiliation. Some reports suggested he was a Republican voter. Others indicate he made a donation to a progressive group. Still others suggested he may have disliked both parties and their politicians.
