More than two weeks after Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, federal investigators are still trying to determine the motive of the would-be assassin of the former president.
An initial investigation led by the FBI found that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was “highly intelligent” and had a growing interest in shootings, Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said Monday.
Rojek also said Trump has agreed to allow the FBI to interview victims, a standard part of any criminal investigation. Such interviews are voluntary.
Rojek said Crooks had been using false names to purchase firearms-related items online since the spring of 2023. Investigators said Crooks made “six online purchases of materials used to make explosives that were recovered in the suspect’s vehicle and home” in the first half of the year.
Investigators told reporters on Monday that the perpetrators used encrypted email accounts based overseas to buy firearms parts, chemicals and other explosives components.
CNN reported that text messages exchanged between police before the shooting began indicated some officers had made Crooks’ presence known at the rally more than 90 minutes before he climbed onto the roof and began firing at Trump.
According to text messages obtained by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley from the Beaver County Emergency Unit, a local counter-sniper first told a colleague he saw someone parked in a car and sitting at a nearby picnic table at 4:26 p.m.
Local police later said they had taken a photo of the same man, later identified as the gunman, and sent it to other officers in a group chat about 30 minutes before Crooks opened fire on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to messages first reported by The New York Times.
