Thomas Matthew Crooks has been identified as the man who shot at Donald Trump at the Pennsylvania campaign rally, where Trump was hit in the ear. The now-deceased 20-year-old is said to have searched online for a long time for a larger event. American investigators have found searches going back to September 2023, writes the Reuters news agency. School portrait Thomas Matthew Crooks. Photo: Bethel Park School District / AP More than 60 times, Thomas Matthew Crooks searched for information about former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in the last 30 days before he struck. The dates for the Republican and Democratic national conventions were also checked. – We see traces of a persistent and detailed plan to attack one or another arrangement, which means that he considered different arrangements and different targets, FBI official Kevin Rojek told a press meeting with American media. The young man is said to have searched the web for explosives as far back as 2019. Overview image of the place where Trump’s election campaign meeting was held. Photo: Gene J. Puskar / AP Became hyperfocused on Trump meeting In the spring of this year, Crooks tried to find election campaign meetings near where he lived in western Pennsylvania. In early July, Crooks signed up for the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. – He became “hyperfocused” on Trump’s election meeting when it was announced, Rojek stated. According to Rojek, Crooks looked up information about the location where the outdoor meeting was to be held, where Trump was supposed to stand and details about the company that owned the building that was in the line of sight of the meeting location. Video footage shows that Crook was on the roof for around six minutes before he started shooting. He managed to fire eight shots before he himself was shot and killed by the police. A Trump supporter who attended the election rally was killed, two others injured. Former President Donald Trump being held down. Photo: ANNA MONEYMAKER / AFP Neither right-wing nor left-wing According to the FBI official, the 20-year-old did not appear to be either right-wing or left-wing, but must have shown a mixed set of ideologies. The FBI has previously said that they have found Crook’s accounts on social media. “The content of some of these comments are anti-Semitic and hateful to immigrants, defense of political violence and are described as extreme,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, when he testified during a Senate hearing. Security guards pounce on Donald Trump after he was shot. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP Although the FBI has tried to find out about Crook’s actions and thinking, they still cannot determine the actual motive for the incident. The FBI states that it has found nothing to indicate that Crooks collaborated with anyone else or was instructed by a foreign power. There were also no traces of alcohol or drugs in the blood. The security service Secret Service has had to endure harsh criticism for not having full control over all the buildings in the immediate vicinity. The service is being investigated for its handling of Trump’s security on July 13. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle had to resign as a result of the incident. Listen to the latest election podcast from news’s foreign editors: Published 28/08/2024, at 19.55 Updated 28.08.2024, at 21.42
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Trump shooter started searching for election meetings in September 2023 – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
