Washington:

United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI, which is investigating the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at the Republican rally in Pennsylvania last month, has revealed that the gunman Thomas Crooks acted alone.

The FBI said it has found no evidence of any foreign involvement in the case. The investigating agency however said that the motive behind the assassination attempt still remains unclear.

Sharing details about the gunman’s search history, the FBI said, Thomas Crooks, 20, has varied ideologies. They also also shared photos of the weapon used and said they had found Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs in his vehicle.

Speaking about Thomas Crooks’ search history, the FBI revealed that he had searched more than 60 times for information about the Republican presidential candidate, as well as his then-rival, Democratic candidate and President Joe Biden. The gunman’s online searches date as far back as September 2023. After nearly a year-long extensive search, the gunman chose to register for the Trump rally.

The FBI explained that the gunman had mounted a “sustained, detailed effort” to attack a major gathering of some sort before finally deciding to target the Republican presidential candidate at the rally in Pennsylvania in July.

“We saw a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets,” Kevin Rojek, the FBI’s top official in western Pennsylvania, told reporters.

Mr Rojek further said that Crooks became “hyper-focused” on the Trump rally when it was announced “and looked at it as a target of opportunity.”

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump took place on July 13, 2024 when the former president was addressing a Republican campaign rally in Buttler, Pennsylvania. The shooter Thomas Crooks, was from Bethel Park, a village 40 miles south of where Trump’s rally was held.

Crooks fired multiple gunshots from an AR-15-style rifle during the rally, of which, one grazed Donald Trump’s ear. The shooter planted himself on the roof of a manufacturing plant located around 130 yards away from the stage at Butler Farm Show grounds. While Donald Trump survived the assassination bid with the US Secret Service agents storming the stage to protect him, the shooting led to the death of one civilian and caused severe injuries to two others.

Thomas Crooks was shot dead at the rally by the US Secret Service Counter Sniper Team. His motive remains unknown to this date.
 

Washington:

The gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump mounted a “sustained, detailed effort” to attack a major gathering of some sort before deciding to target the Republican presidential candidate at a Pennsylvania rally in July, FBI officials said on Wednesday.

FBI officials said Thomas Crooks, 20, searched more than 60 times for information about the Republican presidential candidate and his then-rival, Democratic President Joe Biden, before registering for the Trump rally in early July.

“We saw … a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets,” Kevin Rojek, the FBI’s top official in western Pennsylvania, said in a telephone briefing to reporters.

Rojek said Crooks became “hyper focused” on the Trump rally when it was announced in early July “and looked at it as a target of opportunity.”

Rojek said the FBI has not yet been able to determine what motivated Crooks to try to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

Crooks’ computer activity showed he was interested in a mix of ideologies, but did not show definitively that he was motivated by a particular left-leaning or right-leaning point of view, Rojek said.

FBI officials said they had not found any evidence indicated that Crooks had worked with other people, or had been directed by a foreign power.

There were no traces of illicit drugs or alcohol in his system.

The assassination attempt prompted questions about how Crooks was able to climb a nearby building and fire eight shots at the former president before being killed by a Secret Service sharpshooter. Several congressional and government probes are examining the event’s security measures.

The FBI, meanwhile, is investigating Crooks himself. Officials said they had gained some understanding of his mindset, even if they still did not know what motivated him.

Crooks searched for Trump’s campaign events as early as September 2023, FBI officials said, and began searching in April for campaign events for both candidates near where he lived in western Pennsylvania.

He also searched for the dates of both the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions, they said.

In the days leading up to the July 13 rally, he searched for information about the site, including where Trump would speak and details of the company that owned a nearby building where he would later fire the eight shots, one of which grazed Trump’s ear. Video evidence shows Crooks was only on the building’s roof for about six minutes.

Crooks, who left several explosive devices in his car, had searched for information about bomb components as early as 2019.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)