The shooter who tried to kill Donald Trump made "sustained and extensive efforts" to attack some large gathering before deciding to target the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July, FBI officials said today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
FBI officials said 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks searched more than 60 times for information on Republican presidential candidate and then-rival Democratic President Joe Biden before registering for a Trump rally in early July .
"We saw ... a sustained, extensive effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets," Kevin Rojack, the FBI's top official in the western part of the state of Pennsylvania.
According to Rojack, 20-year-old Crooks has become "hyperfocused" on the event featuring Trump when it was announced in early July "and viewed it as a possibility". According to him, the FBI has not yet been able to determine what motivated Crooks to try to kill Trump at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Crooks' computer activity shows that he was interested in a mix of ideologies, but does not strongly indicate that he was motivated by a particular left or right viewpoint, Rojack said.
FBI officials said they found no evidence that Crooks worked with other people or was directed by an outside force.