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The FBI and Secret Service on Sunday are continuing to investigate the possible motive of the gunman who opened fire during former President Donald Trump’s rally, grazing the former president’s ear while leaving one bystander dead and two critically wounded.
More details emerged Sunday about the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who was killed by a Secret Service sniper after he opened fire. Rudimentary bomb-making material was found at the gunman’s home and in his vehicle. He was the member of a local gun club, and a former classmate said that he had tried out for the high school rifle team but failed to make it.
The FBI is investigating whether Crooks was a politically motivated homegrown domestic violent extremist, but a motive is not yet known and investigators are still combing through his background. Justice Department officials told reporters that investigators have Crooks’ phone and were examining it at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.
Law enforcement sources said bystanders spotted Crooks with a rifle on a roof during Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and reported his presence to authorities. The sheriff of Butler County said a local police officer was hoisted by another officer to look onto the roof. Crooks pointed his rifle towards the officer, who let go and fell off. Crooks then turned toward the rally and fired six to eight rounds using an AR-style weapon, approximately 400 feet from where Trump was speaking.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday morning, saying it “was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
President Biden is continuing to receive updates from top administration officials and is set to address the nation from the Oval Office at 8 p.m. ET. He ordered an independent review of the security at the rally to assess what took place, and said he directed the Secret Service to examine security measures for this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump will be formally named as the party’s nominee. Trump landed in the city Sunday evening.
Trump and Mr. Biden spoke Saturday night in what a White House official characterized as a “good, short and respectful” call.
