FBI agents are investigating 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks’ phone, searching for what may have compelled Crooks to shoot former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13. Trump survived the assassination attempt with an injury to his ear, one person in the crowd was killed and two others were critically injured.
According to the FBI, Crooks also had explosives in his car, which was parked near the Trump rally.
Two days after the shooting, investigators said they successfully unlocked Crooks’ phone at a lab in Quantico and are exploring his digital footprint.
Retired FBI Special Agent Scott Duffey told Fox News that the FBI’s surveillance team will download the contents on the phone to determine if Crooks was in contact with others before the shooting and to “piece together his whereabouts.”
Duffey also said the agency will be able to “gather information about what Crooks was reviewing, reading and researching,” and see if he left a manifesto or final note.
Investigators are also hoping to learn about Crooks’ political leanings and if he struggled with mental health.
Duffey said when a gunman is killed by law enforcement and the person cannot be questioned about their motive, “the motive ultimately and always resides in the head of the doer.”
So far in the discovery process, the FBI said Crooks was not on its radar. According to the agency, Crooks acted alone and rarely used social media.
Former classmates and people who knew Crooks have spoken to media outlets, describing Crooks as a quiet, loner kid who was often bullied in high school. They say he had a friend group but not many friends.
According to records, Crooks was a registered Republican who also made a monetary contribution to a Democratic-aligned political action committee the day President Joe Biden was sworn into office in 2021.
After Saturday’s shooting, it was disclosed that Crooks was wearing a T-shirt from the popular YouTube channel “Demolition Ranch,” a gun-themed YouTube channel with more than 11 million subscribers.
The channel’s creator, Matt Carriker, uploaded a video to his page Monday, July 15, saying he never encountered the shooter and that it would be impossible for his merchandise shop to vet every person who made an online purchase.
“This channel’s not about violence,” Carriker said. “This channel will never be and we never would condone that at all. I hate that.”
Carriker said he hates that someone lost their life and expressed condolences to the victim’s family.
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