More than 24 hours after a lone gunman tried to assassinate former U.S. President Donald Trump, the shooter’s motivations remain a mystery.
FBI agents have descended on Butler, a small city in a rural part of western Pennsylvania trying to piece together why 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed to the top of a roof overlooking a Trump campaign rally and fired multiple shots, injuring the former president, while killing one spectator and critically injuring two more.
Officials said late Sunday they are treating Saturday’s shooting both as an attempted assassination and as a domestic terrorism incident, adding that while investigators have been able to gain “limited insights” into Crooks’ recent communications, the calls and texts have yet to shed light on why he chose to act.
“Our number one goal here is to identify the motive of the subject and determine whether he had any other associates or anyone else that was involved at this point,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters during a phone briefing Sunday.
“It appears that he was a lone actor,” Rojek said. “We have not identified an ideology associated with the subject, but I want to remind everyone that we're still very early in this investigation.”
Looking for insight into the shooter
Secret Service agents killed Crooks at the scene, but law enforcement officials are hoping they may be able to get additional insights soon.
Along with an AR-style rifle recovered alongside Crooks’ body, they recovered a mobile phone during a search of Crooks’ vehicle. The phone has been sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis.
Officials are optimistic they will be able to access the contents, perhaps revealing more about Crooks’ mindset.
“We are working hard to determine the sequence of events related to the subject and his movements and the hours, days and weeks prior to the shooting,” Rojek said.
The phone’s contents might help shed light on what officials described as a rudimentary explosive device, found in Crooks’ car, and additional explosive material found at his home.
The FBI said Crooks’ family has been cooperating, including the father, who legally purchased the gun used in the attempted assassination.
“We do not know specifically how he accessed the weapon and whether he took it without his father's knowledge,” Rojek told reporters, adding the FBI is trying to understand the shooter’s “affinity for weapons and how much, if any, times he went to the range.”
Officials said they scoured Crooks’ social media account, which so far has shown no indications of threatening language. Crooks had not previously been brought to the FBI’s attention and there are no indications he suffered from any mental health issues.
Ongoing probe
U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the investigation earlier Sunday.
"There is no place in America for this kind of violence," Biden said, briefly addressing reporters at the White House Sunday afternoon, adding the attempted assassination “is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation.”
"I've instructed that this investigation be thorough and swift, and that the investigators will have every resource they need to get this done," Biden added.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, speaking separately, called the Trump assassination attempt “absolutely despicable.”
“The men and women of the FBI are working tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened,” Wray told reporters. “We will leave no stone unturned.”
In addition to the ongoing examination of the site of the shooting, the FBI has been encouraging anyone who has information or may have been at the rally and took photos or video to contact them.
Officials said they have received more than 2,000 tips, which are all being analyzed.
Threat landscape
The FBI warned Sunday that while the shooter acted alone, the threat landscape has become more perilous than before.
“Although the rhetoric regarding threats of violence has already increased online, we're seeing that tick up in the aftermath of this event,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, who warned some individuals have gone on social media, fanning tensions by pretending to be the shooter.
Abbate said the FBI is watching for additional streams or chatter which could indicate threats to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week or the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.
“We're also focused on the continuing efforts, which were already substantial given that their national special security events, on the upcoming conventions in Chicago and Milwaukee to work with Secret Service in the lead to play our part in protecting the people and the facilities and the events there, as well,” he said.
Watch related report by Arash Arabasadi:
Apparent security lapses
Meanwhile, President Biden has ordered a separate investigation into the apparent security lapses that allowed a would-be assassin to get within shooting range of a former president.
According to witness accounts and videos posted online, the shooter was seen holding a rifle and crawling up the roof of a nearby building moments before the shots rang out. Several bystanders could be heard yelling to get the attention of nearby police.
Some officials also expressed concern that the shooter fired five to six times before being stopped.
Key lawmakers Sunday labeled the attempted assassination as a security failure and said they are seeking answers.
“How is it that someone could get on a roof with a superior position, with a weapon, and attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump? It's just unthinkable, unfathomable” said Representative Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
“We need to know, is this a protocol failure? Is this a resources issue? Or is this just a failure of those who were on site that day?” Turner told CNN, adding his committee had yet to be briefed on the developments.
Turner also raised concerns about the threat landscape going forwar“I am with Director Wray of the FBI, where he said we're at the highest level, threat level, that we have had since 9/11,” said Turner. “I believe that the threat is continuing. It's not just this one individual's assassin's attempt.”
The House Homeland Security Committee chairman, Republican Representative Mark Green, spoke late Sunday with U.S. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, a committee source told VOA.
The source said Cheatle “committed to providing requested documents to the Committee promptly,” and plans to brief the entire committee Monday.
Green "continues to seek answers to the many questions the American people deserve to know," the spokesperson said.
Green also sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, asking for documents related to the security plan and screening procedures for the rally and what sort of additional protective measures had been asked for, or given to, the Trump campaign.
