Nearly a month and a half after the attack that nearly cost the life of US presidential candidate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, investigators are still trying to establish the motive of the shooter, they revealed by sharing new photos from the investigation.
“When the Trump rally was announced in early July, he became hyper-focused on that specific event and viewed it as a target of opportunity,” Kevin Rojek, chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Pittsburgh field office, said Wednesday, according to CBS News.
But the investigation found that the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate former US President Donald Trump on July 13 from the roof of a building in Butler, Pennsylvania, had spent the previous months researching the various conventions, targeting both Democratic and Republican rallies.
The young man also presented a “mixture of ideologies” in his research, to the point where the FBI is still trying to put its finger on the motive for his attack.
It was in this context that he ended up targeting the July 13 rally by engaging in “detailed attack planning,” the FBI continued, according to the American media.
The investigation, however, revealed research into explosive devices, including “how to make a bomb out of fertilizer” and “how remote detonators work,” as early as 2019, Rojek reportedly said.
Incidentally, the FBI shared four new photos from the investigation on Wednesday, first showing the weapon used by Thomas Crooks, an AR-style rifle with a folding stock, which he likely had hidden inside his backpack, CBS News reported.
Authorities also reportedly found two “relatively crude” improvised explosive devices that had “several issues with the way they were constructed” in the trunk of Thomas Crooks’ vehicle, the statement said.
Courtoisie Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
A third was reportedly recovered from the shooter’s residence, according to the American media.
Finally, the FBI added an image of an air conditioning unit that Thomas Crooks likely used to climb onto the roof of the building on the day of the rally.
Courtoisie Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Donald Trump’s shooter, Thomas Crooks, likely climbed the white box on the right to access the roof, according to the FBI.
At this point, the federal investigation bureau has reportedly met with Trump and the parents of the young shooter, who have been “extremely cooperative,” Rojek said, according to CBS News. The investigation is ongoing.
