The gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump mounted a "sustained, detailed effort" to attack a major gathering of some sort, before deciding to target the Republican presidential candidate at a Pennsylvania rally last month, according to the FBI.
On Wednesday, FBI officials said 20-year-old Thomas Crooks had searched for information about Trump and his rival President Joe Biden more than 60 times ahead of registering to attend the rally in Butler on July 13.
"We saw … a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets," Kevin Rojek, the FBI's top official in western Pennsylvania, said in a telephone briefing to reporters.
Mr Rojek said Crooks became "hyper focused" on the Trump rally when it was announced in early July "and looked at it as a target of opportunity".
More than a month on from the attempted assassination, the FBI has still not been able to determine what motivated the attack.
Officials have not found any evidence indicating Crooks had worked with other people, or had been directed by a foreign power.
Mr Rojek said his computer activity showed he had "no definitive ideology … either left-leaning or right-leaning".
The assassination attempt prompted questions about how Crooks was able to climb a nearby building and fire eight shots at the former president before being killed by a Secret Service sharpshooter.
A House of Representatives task force heading the investigation into the incident visited the rally site this week probing how the shooting played out, but said it was left with "more questions than answers".
The FBI, meanwhile, is investigating Crooks himself. Officials said they had gained some understanding of his mindset, even if they still did not know what motivated him.
It has been confirmed there were no traces of illicit drugs or alcohol in his system at the time.
FBI details search history, releases first photos of evidence
Crooks searched for Trump's campaign events as early as September 2023, FBI officials said, and began searching in April for campaign events for both candidates near where he lived in western Pennsylvania.
He also searched for the dates of both the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions that took place in July and August, with turnouts of close to 20,000 people.
In the days leading up to the July 13 rally, Crooks searched for information about the site, including where Trump would speak and details of the company that owned a nearby building where he would later fire the eight shots, one of which grazed Trump's ear.
Video evidence shows Crooks was only on the building's roof for about six minutes, from where he appeared to have a clear view of the stage.
The rooftop had been identified as a point of vulnerability days before the rally and there was also prior intel pointing to an armed person on the rooftop.
"The key [thing] was, get the former president of the United States off the podium, then there's nothing that has to take place," chairman of the investigating task force Mike Kelly said.
Crooks, who left several explosive devices in his car, had searched for information about bomb components as early as 2019.
Photos released by the FBI on Wednesday showed two improvised explosive devices, a semi-automatic rifle and a backpack belonging to Crooks that were recovered from the shooting site.
These are the first pieces of evidence released under the investigation so far.
The pictures showed the rifle intact — as it was found — as well as collapsed, which is how officials believe Crooks transported it in his bag. The explosives discovered in the 20-year-old's car trunk were said to have "several problems in the way they were constructed".
ABC/Reuters
