Thomas Matthew Crooks, who Attempted assassination of Donald Trump FBI Director Christopher Wray said a man who attended an election rally on July 13 had searched online for information about the 1963 assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy – known as JFK – in the days before the attack.
Testifying before a congressional committee on Wednesday, Ray said the 20-year-old would-be assassin had Googled “How far was Oswald from Kennedy?”, a reference to the assassination of Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.
“This is obviously significant in terms of his mental state,” the FBI director told the committee.
Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed John F. Kennedy from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository on Nov. 22, 1963, as the then-35th president was traveling in a motorcade through Dallas.
Oswald opened fire on Kennedy’s motorcade from a distance of about 88 yards (about 81 meters). Thomas Crooks was even farther away, about 130 yards (about 119 meters).
Christopher Ray stated that Thomas Matthew Crookes had “made a lot of discoveries about public figures in general” but that there was no clear pattern to this research.
The FBI director further said that around July 6, Thomas Crooks’ focus became focused on former President and Republican Party’s presidential candidate Donald Trump and his election rally in Pennsylvania.
Ray said that was the same day that Thomas Crooks registered to attend a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The FBI chief told members of the House Judiciary Committee that investigators have not determined a motive for the shooting but that the federal agency is “working hard because that is one of the central questions for us.”
Thomas Crooks fired eight shots at a Pennsylvania rally, hitting 100. Donald Trump was shot in the face and missed his ear. Three other rally attendees were injured as a result, and a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter was killed. A Secret Service agent immediately shot and killed the 20-year-old man.
During his testimony, Christopher Ray said that no evidence had yet emerged to suggest that Thomas Crookes had any accomplices or co-conspirators, and that he appeared to have been a “loner”.
The FBI chief also said that Gunman flies drone over rally site The activity lasted about 11 minutes, about two hours before Trump arrived on stage on July 13. Ray said the drone was not flown directly over the stage, but from about 200 meters away.
The FBI chief said the drone and its controller were found in Thomas Crooks’ car, along with two “relatively crude” explosive devices. Another explosive was found in his residence.
In addition, Thomas Crooks had purchased a ladder on the day of the shooting, but it appears he did not use it. Instead, he climbed onto the roof using mechanical equipment and vertical piping on the ground.
Ray also said the 20-year-old AR-style gun had a collapsible stock, which could explain why rally-goers or law enforcement officers I did not see him with a weapon before the shooting.
Thomas Crooks visited the Pennsylvania rally site at least three times – about a week before the shootings, for about 70 minutes on the morning of July 13, and again that afternoon. He purchased 50 rounds of ammunition on the day of the attack and went to the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club to practice shooting the previous day.
(with inputs from agencies)
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