President Donald Trump. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Washington:

Former US president Donald Trump has agreed to meet with the FBI for a “victim interview” about this month’s assassination attempt, bureau officials said Monday.

Providing an update on the status of the probe into the July 13 shooting, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials said they have still not determined a motive for the attack by the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks.

They said Crooks, who was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper after firing eight shots during Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, appeared to be a “loner” and they have not identified any co-conspirators.

FBI special agent Kevin Rojek said the interview with Trump will be “a standard victim interview like we would do for any other victim of crime under any other circumstances.

“We want to get his perspective on what he observed,” Rojek said.

FBI officials said they have interviewed dozens of people who knew or interacted with Crooks, including family members, co-workers, former teachers, classmates and others.

“We have learned the subject was highly intelligent, attended college and maintained steady employment,” Rojek said. “His primary social circle appears to be limited to his immediate family as we believe he had few friends and acquaintances.”

The FBI officials said Crooks’s parents have said they had no advance knowledge of their son’s plot. “We do find that to be credible at this stage,” Rojek said.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifying before a congressional committee last week, said Crooks had searched online for details about the November 1963 shooting of US president John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for, quote, ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?'” Wray said.

Rojek said the investigation has revealed that Crooks “also made searches related to power plants, mass shooting events, information on improvised explosive devices and the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister earlier this year.”

– ‘Suspicious person’ –

Crooks was perched on the roof of a nearby building and opened fire on Trump with an AR-style assault rifle shortly after 6:00 pm, as the Republican White House candidate was addressing the rally in Butler.

Trump was wounded in the ear, two rally attendees were seriously injured and a 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter was shot dead.

Rojek said Crooks was identified as a “suspicious person” by law enforcement about an hour before the shooting.

“A local officer took a photo of the subject and sent it to other SWAT operators on scene, as well as local command personnel,” he said.

SWAT operators observed Crooks about 30 minutes later, shortly after 5:30 pm, using a range finder and browsing news websites on his phone, he said.

At approximately 6:08 pm police dashcam video observed Crooks traversing the roof of the building from where he ultimately fired his shots, Rojek said.

“At approximately 6:11 pm a local police officer was boosted onto the roof by another officer where he encountered the subject,” he said.

Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer, who “immediately dropped to the ground,” he said. “Approximately 25 to 30 seconds after this encounter, the subject fired eight rounds before being successfully neutralized.”

US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last week after acknowledging the agency had failed in its mission to prevent the assassination attempt.

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

Police tape blocks a street in Bethel Park, Pa., that they say is near a residence of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected shooter of former President Donald Trump, Sunday, July 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Law enforcement officials tell The Associated Press that bomb-making materials were found inside the vehicle of the man suspected in the Trump rally shooting. There were also bomb-making materials found at his home.

The two officials were not authorised to speak publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

On the heels of an apparent attempt to kill him, former President Donald Trump called Sunday for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide recoiled from the shooting that left him wounded but “fine” and the gunman and a rally-goer dead.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee said the upper part of his right ear was pierced in the shooting. His aides said he was in “great spirits” and doing well.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he wrote on his social media site. “Much bleeding took place.”

In a subsequent post on Sunday, Trump said “it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”

“In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win,” his post said.

The FBI early Sunday identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as it pressed its investigation. An FBI official said investigators had not yet determined a motive.

Secret Service agents fatally shot Crooks. The gunman attacked from an elevated position outside the rally venue at a farm show in Butler, the agency said.

One attendee was killed, and two spectators were critically wounded, authorities said. All were identified as men.

Investigators believe the weapon had been purchased by Crooks’ father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials said. Federal agents were still working to understand when and how his son obtained the gun and to gather additional information about Crooks, the officials said.

The officials were not authorised to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Rising political violence

The attack was the most serious attempt to kill a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. It drew new attention to concerns about political violence in a deeply polarized U.S. less than four months before the presidential election. And it could alter the tenor and security posture at the Republican National Convention, which begins on Monday in Milwaukee.

Organizers said the convention would proceed as planned.

Trump flew to New Jersey after visiting a local Pennsylvania hospital, landing shortly after midnight at Newark Liberty International Airport.

A video posted by an aide showed the former president leaving his private jet flanked by Secret Service agents and heavily armed members of the agency’s counter-assault team, an unusually visible show of force by his protective detail.

Biden, who is running against Trump, was briefed on the attack and spoke to Trump several hours after the shooting, the White House said. “There’s no place in America for this type of violence,” the president said. “It’s sick. It’s sick.”

Biden late Saturday cut short a weekend at his beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, to return to Washington.

Many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that sustained attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment. They pointed in particular to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.”

Officials said the counter-assault team killed the shooter. The heavily armed tactical team travels everywhere with the president and major party nominees and is meant to confront any active threats while other Secret Service agents focus on safeguarding and evacuating the person at the center of protection.