The FBI’s investigation into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump has uncovered details about shooter Thomas Crooks’ activity before and during the July 13 campaign rally that left one man dead, reports Fox News. .On Wednesday, Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, told reporters during a press call that Crooks had "a sustained detailed effort to plan an attack on some event, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets," adding the agency has not established a definitive motive for the shooter or any potential co-conspirators with advanced knowledge of the attack. Rojek said the 20-year-old gunman "became hyper-focused" on Trump's rally in Butler when it was announced in early July, adding Crooks had no identifiable political ideology. The investigation found over the course of the month prior to the attack, Crooks made more than 60 searches related to both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. “In late September 2023, an account associated with Crooks searched the former president's campaign schedule and upcoming appearances in Pennsylvania," said Rojek, adding from April of 2024 up to July 12 Crooks searched campaign events for both former Trump andBiden, including events scheduled to take place in western Pennsylvania specifically on July 4. On July 6, he searched for specific details about Trump's event in Butler and on July 9, he searched ‘ballistic calculator,’" said Rojek. "The subject registered to attend the rally and that same day he specifically searched for, ‘How far was Oswald from Kennedy?,' ‘Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show,’ ‘Butler Farm show podium,’ and ‘Butler Farm show photos,'" said Rojek. "On July 8, the subject searched ‘AGR international.’ And on July 10, he searched ‘weather in Butler,' and in the 30 days prior to the attack, the subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump." Rojeck also noted "specific searches conducted on July 5 to include, ‘When is the DNC convention?’ and ‘When is the RNC in 2024?’" The FBI confirmed Crooks was seen walking outside the rally perimeter by a row of vendors at 4:26 p.m. on July 13, about an hour and a half before Trump began speaking. "Our overall finding is the subject was only on the roof for approximately six minutes prior to the shooting. Between 6:05 and 6:11 p.m. when he was neutralized,” Rojek said, later refuting rumors that there was a second shooter. The day of the rally, Crooks flew a drone for 11 minutes, between 3:51 p.m. and 4:02 p.m., Rojek told Fox News Digital. The FBI's observations from the drone's flight path show it "would have been helpful for our subject to assess the security posture at the event," said the special agent-in-charge. "However, we will never be able to determine the exact motivation for why the subject flew the drone," Rojek added. "We can only do that based on our assessment of the flight path and what we're able to determine through our analysis by the lab." According to the FBI, Crooks broke down his AR-15 rifle into two pieces so that he could stash it inside his backpack as he made his way through the Butler, Pa. rally crowd, the FBI announced Wednesday, according to a report from the New York Post. The bureau released the first photos of the semi-automatic DPMS DR-15 rifle, as well as the black backpack authorities recovered onsite featuring orange and white accents, reports the Post. “Thomas Crooks’ rifle broken down was likely done for transport and the backpack recovered onsite,” said Rojek. A separate photo showed the rifle fully assembled and positioned next to a ruler, which pegs its length at around 36 inches stock to barrel, says the Post. .The agency also released images of two improvised explosive devices in the trunk of Crooks’ car — with the receiver enabling remote detonation set in the “off” position. The bureau said the devices had “several problems with the way they were constructed.”
