The man who shot former President Donald Trump in the ear and killed one of his supporters at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, used foreign-based encrypted email accounts to purchase firearm components, chemicals and other explosive components, the FBI revealed on Monday.
“We believe the subject made significant efforts to conceal his activities,” FBI officials said during a Monday morning conference call that included journalists.
Kevin Rojek, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh field office, said investigators are still looking into Thomas Matthew Crooks’ motive after conducting more than 450 interviews and examining more than 2,100 tips, including images, videos, documents and audio recordings.
Starting in the spring of 2023, Rojek said the shooter used an alias to make more than 25 firearms-related purchases from an online vendor. He also used aliases to make “chemical precursor-related purchases” online in order to build the explosives found in his car and his home after the shooting, authorities said.
In a review of Crooks’ gaming sites, messaging apps, social media and online search history, the FBI said the shooter searched power plants, mass shooting events, information on IEDs and the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister earlier this year.
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Crooks engaged in “careful planning ahead of the campaign rally,” the FBI said. He visited the area near the rally site the week before the shooting and went to a shooting range the day before the attack to practice with the same weapon he used in the attack, authorities said.
That AR-15-style firearm, they said, had been legally transferred to him by his father last year. It was purchased, legally, by the shooter's father in 2013, according to the FBI. Authorities said the shooter’s parents told investigators they had no prior knowledge of his plans.
Authorities continued to describe the shooter as having little social media presence. They said he was a gamer but rarely interacted with other players online on the gaming platforms he used. They described him as a “loner” whose primary social circle was his immediate family.
The FBI said it requested a standard interview with Trump and the former president has agreed. The FBI described the upcoming interview as “consistent with any other victim interview that we do.”
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