FBI releases new photos and details of Trump assassination investigation, finding shooter had “an ideological mix”

Washington — The FBI on Wednesday released four new photos as part of its investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, as well as new information about what the bureau has learned about the shooter.

The FBI’s investigation into the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, is ongoing. The FBI said it has still not found a motive or evidence that the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was working with others.

Kevin Rojek, head of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, told reporters during a briefing that investigators “believe [Crooks] ended in a detailed attack plan.”

Rojek said Crooks was “hyper-focused” on Trump’s campaign rally in Butler after it was announced, and the FBI determined the shooter was associated with a “mix of ideologies.” Crooks was shot by a Secret Service sniper after firing eight shots. Trump was wounded by a shot to the ear, and two rally attendees were injured. One person was killed in the shooting.

“When this event, the Trump rally, was announced in early July, he was hyper-focused on this specific event and viewed it as a target of opportunity,” Rojek said.

Starting in late September 2023, an online account linked to Crooks was used to search for scheduled Trump campaign events in Pennsylvania, Rojek said. From April 2024 through July 12, the shooter searched for information about campaign events for both Trump and President Biden. After the Trump rally in Butler was announced, he searched for details about that venue, including “Butler Farm Show Podium,” Rojek said.

About a month before the attack, the gunman searched for topics related to Trump and Biden, including the dates of the Democratic and Republican party conventions.

As early as 2019, accounts linked to Crooks were searching for explosives, including “detonating cord,” “how to make a bomb out of fertilizer” and “how remote detonators work,” Rojek said.

FBI officials have identified some anti-Semitic comments online that are linked to an account associated with Crooks, and they are working to determine whether he posted those comments himself, Rojek said.

The new FBI photos

The first photo released by the FBI shows Crooks’ rifle found at the crime scene. The weapon was a DPMS Panther Arms AR-style rifle and had an extendable buttstock and a rail-mounted optical sight, the FBI said.

The second FBI photo shows Crooks’ rifle disassembled next to a backpack he was carrying at the site of Trump’s rally in Butler. FBI Director Chris Wray told members of the House of Representatives Last month, Crooks said his gun had a folding stock, which he said might explain why rally attendees didn’t see him with it.

Wray said the first people at the rally to see Crooks with a gun observed him as he was on the roof of the so-called AGR building and opened fire from there.

The third photo released by the FBI shows two explosive devices discovered in the trunk of Crooks’ car.

The FBI said the remote detonation receiver was set to “off” and the “devices had several design problems.”

Wray testified before Congress that the FBI had recovered a total of three “relatively primitive” explosive devices: two from Crooks’ vehicle and one from his apartment. The shooter had a transmitter that could have remotely detonated the explosive devices in his car, but the receivers were turned off, he said.

The fourth and final FBI photo shows the air conditioning unit that Crooks used to get to the roof of the AGR building. The photo is not evidence, but was taken during a tour of the rally site in the days following the assassination, according to the FBI.