Trump shooter ‘elusive enigma’ – AP

Investigators have not established a motive after talking to 100 people, the agency reports

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has so far failed to establish what drove a 20-year-old man to open fire at US presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday, the Associated Press (AP) news agency has reported. 

The FBI has conducted an extensive search in the three days following the assassination attempt, cracking into Thomas Matthew Crooks’ mobile phone, scouring his computer, home, and car, as well as interviewing more than 100 people, but the “mystery” motive remains as “elusive” as the moment the shooting happened, AP wrote.

According to a law enforcement official briefed on the ongoing investigation who spoke to the agency on condition of anonymity, the shooter’s phone had not immediately yielded any meaningful clues about his motive.

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Crooks’ high-school classmates described him as a “smart” but “odd” young man who was bullied almost daily for wearing hunting outfits, and for continuing to wear a mask after the Covid-19 pandemic was over. He reportedly did not talk to anyone.

So far, neither a suicide note nor any writings or social media posts have been uncovered that could explain his reasons for targeting Trump, AP said.

Crooks is said to have been a member of a local shooting club for at least a year. The day before the shooting, he went to the rifle range to practice, AP reported, citing a federal intelligence briefing.

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Armed with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, Crooks opened fire at Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday while lying on the roof of a nearby building. A spectator was shot and killed, while a bullet grazed Trump’s ear. Two other people were seriously wounded. Crooks was killed with a shot to the head by a Secret Service counter sniper.