Explorer

FBI Says Trump's Shooter Had No 'Consistent Political Focus', Releases Photos of Gun Used In Assassination Bid

Thomas Matthew Crooks, who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania, had researched about both Trump and Biden's campaign events.

After sifting through five years’ worth of online activity by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks -- who tried to assassinate Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump at a July campaign rally in Pennsylvania -- the American investigators found that the gunman did not display a consistent political focus and had researched campaign events of both the former President as well as President Joe Biden. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said investigators conducted nearly 1,000 interviews but were not able to find yet what motivated Crooks to try to assassinate Trump. 

Officials also released photos of the gunman’s rifle and backpack, and homemade bombs found in his car trunk, according to a report by Associated Press. Trump was struck in the ear by a "bullet or a bullet fragment" in the assassination attempt on July 13. A rallygoer was killed and several others injured after Crooks fired eight shots from an AR-style rifle.

As per the report, the federal investigators said that during the probe it was found that the would-be assassin looked up information about explosives over the last five years and eyed the Pennsylvania campaign rally, where he opened fire last month, as a “target of opportunity".

Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters Wednesday that Investigators believe Crooks conducted “extensive attack planning,” including looking up campaign events involving both the current president and former president, particularly in western Pennsylvania.

Once a Trump rally was announced for July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, “he became hyper-focused on that specific event and looked at it as a target of opportunity,” Rojek said, as per the AP report.

As per the FBI, In the 30 days before the attack, the gunman did more than 60 internet searches related to Biden and Trump, leading up to queries about the grounds where the rally was held. 

According to Bobby Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch, investigators have a “clearer idea of mindset” but that “at this time, the FBI has not identified a motive, nor any co-conspirators or associates of Crooks with advanced knowledge of the attack.”

Investigators also stressed that “we have not seen any indication that Crooks was directed by a foreign entity.”

Earlier, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that one week before the shooting, the gunman searched “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” That’s an apparent reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.

This adds up to the emerging portrait of Crooks as a "highly intelligent" and "reclusive man" who had taken an eerie interest in explosives, violence and prominent public figures in the years before the shooting, the FBI said.

but whose internet searches of Democrats and Republicans alike have frustrated efforts to assign a simple political motive or to establish why Trump himself would have been targeted.

Crooks, who was positioned on the roof of a building less than 150 yards away, was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper after he opened fire at Trump's Pennsylvania rally.

View More
Advertisement

IPL Auction 2025

Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Virat Kohli
₹21 CR
Josh Hazlewood
₹12.50 CR
Phil Salt
₹11.50 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Rishabh Pant
₹27 CR
Nicholas Pooran
₹21 CR
Ravi Bishnoi
₹11 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Jasprit Bumrah
₹18 CR
Suryakumar Yadav
₹16.35 CR
Hardik Pandya
₹16.35 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Heinrich Klaasen
₹23 CR
Pat Cummins
₹18 CR
Abhishek Sharma
₹14 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Ruturaj Gaikwad
₹18 CR
Ravindra Jadeja
₹18 CR
Matheesha Pathirana
₹13 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Shreyas Iyer
₹26.75 CR
Arshdeep Singh
₹18 CR
Yuzvendra Chahal
₹18 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Sanju Samson
₹18 CR
Yashaswi Jaiswal
₹18 CR
Riyan Parag
₹14 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Venkatesh Iyer
₹23.75 CR
Rinku Singh
₹13 CR
Varun Chakaravarthy
₹12 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Rashid Khan
₹18 CR
Shubman Gill
₹16.50 CR
Jos Buttler
₹15.75 CR
View all
Most Expensive Players In The Squad
Axar Patel
₹16.50 CR
KL Rahul
₹14 CR
Kuldeep Yadav
₹13.25 CR
View all
Advertisement
25°C
New Delhi
Rain: 100mm
Humidity: 97%
Wind: WNW 47km/h
See Today's Weather
powered by
Accu Weather
Advertisement

Top Headlines

Rajasthan 'Maharaja' & BJP MLA Clash Over 'Right' To Royal Throne Of Udaipur; Stone-Pelting Outside Palace
Rajasthan 'Maharaja' & BJP MLA Clash Over 'Right' To Royal Throne Of Udaipur; Stone-Pelting Outside Palace
Navjot Singh Sidhu Shares Wife's Diet Plan To 'Cure' Cancer Amid Backlash By Doctors
Navjot Singh Sidhu Shares Wife's Diet Plan To 'Cure' Cancer Amid Backlash By Doctors
As Race For Maharashtra CM Post Heats Up, Eknath Shinde Upset Over BJP's 'Claim' For Top Post: Sources
As Race For Maharashtra CM Post Heats Up, Eknath Shinde Upset Over BJP's 'Claim' For Top Post: Sources
Schools In Delhi-NCR To Go In Hybrid Mode After Supreme Court Directive On Air Pollution
Schools In Delhi-NCR To Go In Hybrid Mode After Supreme Court Directive On Air Pollution
Advertisement
ABP Premium

Videos

FIR Filed Against Sambhal MP Ziaur Rahman, Statement Released Amidst ControversyFIR Filed Against Sambhal MP Ziaur Rahman and Local MLA's Son in Controversial CaseSambhal Violence Sparks Political Firestorm, Congress MP Imran Masood's Strong Remarks | ABP NewsBreaking News: SP Leader Ram Gopal Yadav Reacts to Sambhal Violence | ABP News

Photo Gallery

Embed widget