Six weeks after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the FBI still doesn’t know what motivated the shooter.
“Extensive analysis of the subject’s online search history as well as his specific online activity has provided us valuable insight into his mindset, but not a definitive motive,” Kevin Rojek, the head of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, told reporters Wednesday.
So far, he added, the FBI sees “no definitive ideology … either left-leaning or right-leaning” associated with the shooter, Thomas Crooks.
Rather, Crooks had “a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event” and considered multiple targets, according to Rojek. He became “hyper-focused” on Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after it was announced. Crooks fired eight shots at Trump from a rooftop that day, killing one person in the crowd, injuring two others and injuring Trump’s ear. Within seconds, a Secret Service sniper shot and killed Crooks.
There are no signs that Crooks had any co-conspirators or had links to foreign entities, officials said.
The FBI has accessed and analyzed material from encrypted email accounts he used, officials added.
In September 2023, an account connected to Crooks was used to search for Trump’s campaign schedule and upcoming Pennsylvania appearances. Then, from April through July of 2024, Crooks searched for campaign events for both President Joe Biden — who was running for reelection at the time — and Trump. On July 6, he registered to attend Trump’s rally in Butler and searched, “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?” That day, he also searched for “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show?” “Butler Farm Show podium” and “Butler Farm Show photos.”
In the 30 days before the attack, Crooks conducted more than 60 internet searches related to Biden and Trump, including for the locations of the Democratic and Republican conventions, authorities said.
And as far back as September of 2019, he searched for information about explosives, including how to make a bomb from fertilizer and how remote detonators work. Crooks had two homemade explosives in his car at the time of the shooting, and the FBI lab concluded that the materials he used to build them were legal to buy and readily available online.
Crooks flew a drone over the Butler event grounds from 3:51 p.m. to 4:02 p.m. on the day of the shooting, Rojek said. Based on its flight pattern, Crooks could have gleaned insight about the “security posture” at the event.
“We will never be able to determine exact motivation for why the subject flew the drone,” he added.
The FBI also concluded that Crooks moved across multiple roofs at the rally site from 6:05 to 6:11 p.m. on the day of the shooting, based on camera footage from a local business, as well as police dash cam and body camera footage.
