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Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks appears to have scoped out the site of the former president’s campaign rally six days before he went to the Butler, Pennsylania, event and opened fire, according to a report.
The FBI provided an update on the shooting investigation to Senate and House lawmakers on Wednesday, revealing new details about the 20-year-old gunman’s actions prior to the shooting.
Sources told CNN that Crooks’ online search history revealed he had looked up information on Ethan Crumbley, the school shooter who killed four students at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021. A screenshot of Crumbley’s arrest photo was also found on Crooks’ personal cellphone, the outlet reported.
The gunman had also looked up instructions for making simple bombs and for information about the Democratic National Convention.
In April, three months before the assassination attempt, Crooks also looked up information about major depressive disorders and depressive crisis treatment.
Geolocation data taken from Crooks' cellphone also indicated placed him near the scene of the rally site nearly a week before the event, the New York Times reported – indicating he may have staked out the site in preparation.
One day before the shooting, Crooks is believed to have visited a gun range.
He also bought a ladder from a Home Depot that day, though officials do not believe he used it to climb to the location where he opened fire. He also purchased rounds at a nearby gun story, Allegheny Arms and Gun Works.
Crooks told his boss at the nursing home where he worked that he needed the day off on July 13 to do something important, officials familiar with the investigation told the New York Times.
Trump was speaking at the Butler Farm Show on July 13 when Crooks, prone on top of the roof of a nearby warehouse, fired several shots at the former president. Two rallygoers were injured, one was killed, and Trump was struck in the ear.
Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service snipers.
Following his death, investigators searched Crooks and his car. Inside the vehicle, they reportedly found a bulletproof vest, several magazines for his rifle, and a makeshift explosive device.
The FBI also reportedly told lawmakers that the Secret Service had omitted the warehouses north of Trump’s stage – including the one used by Crooks – from its security zone.
Investigators are still searching for a clear motive for the shooting.
Voter records show Crooks was a registered Republican, but there is said to be no evidence to indicate his political beliefs motivated his attack.
One theory investigators are reportedly considering is that Trump was more a target of convenience than a specific ideological target.
