Trump shooter acted alone, but motive remains unknown

U.S. authorities say the man who tried to kill former President Donald Trump acted alone and there is no sign of foreign involvement.

But FBI officials stressed at a news conference Wednesday that the motive for the assassination attempt remained unknown, and they said Thomas Crooks – the 20-year-old attacker – had a “mix of ideologies.”

The law enforcement agency detailed Crooks’ search history and released photos of the weapon he used and improvised explosive devices found in his car.

On July 13, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks attempted to shoot the former president. He grazed Trump’s ear, killing one man and seriously wounding two others.

Kevin Rojek, head of the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, said Crooks began searching online for Trump campaign events starting in September 2023.

He searched for events involving Trump and President Joe Biden, who was still the Democratic candidate at the time of the shooting. He also searched for the locations of the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

“When… the Trump rally was announced in early July, he focused excessively on that specific event and viewed it as a target of opportunity,” Rojek said.

The scammers registered for the Trump rally a week in advance, Rojek said.

On the same day, the 20-year-old tried to find out how far away assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when the Marine veteran shot the US president in 1963.

Crooks also searched for “Where will Trump speak at the Butler Farm Show?” — the location of the rally. His search history showed he also tried to find instructions and ingredients for making a bomb, authorities said.

“We believe the suspect engaged in detailed planning of the attack,” Rojek said.

FBI officials said Crooks’ online activities showed a “mix of ideologies” and that they were continuing to investigate his online presence.

“We don’t see any definitive ideology associated with our subject, whether left or right,” Rojek said.

Crooks was a registered Republican. In 2021, he donated $15 to the liberal campaign group ActBlue.

Authorities said some of the anti-Semitic comments online “were associated with accounts associated with (Crooks)” and that they were working to determine whether he wrote them.

The FBI has previously said Crooks had at least two social media accounts that displayed conflicting ideological views. The content of those accounts has not been made public.

At the Butler rally, Crooks was on the roof of a nearby building for about six minutes. He fired eight shots at Trump, who was speaking on a stage, before a Secret Service sniper killed him.

At Wednesday’s news conference, FBI officials also responded to criticism from conservatives, including Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, that the agency cleaned up the crime scene and returned Crooks’ body to his family too quickly.

Mr Rojek said standard procedures were followed when cleaning up the site, Crooks’ body was returned after an autopsy and it is not normal to keep human remains indefinitely.

An autopsy revealed that Crooks had no trace of illegal drugs or alcohol in his system. The FBI said the Crooks family cooperated with the investigation.

A congressional task force, made up of both Republicans and Democrats, is investigating the security failures that led to the shooting.

Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service at the time of the shooting, resigned from his post last month after facing intense pressure from lawmakers.

She has since been replaced by Ronald Rowe as interim director.

At least Five Secret Service agents have been placed on administrative leave following the security breach.

Last week, Trump held an outdoor rally in North Carolina, his first since the assassination attempt. He appeared behind a podium surrounded by bulletproof glass.