The 20-year-old gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump in July was dead set on carrying out an attack but appears to have seen the former U.S. leader and current Republican presidential candidate as a “target of opportunity.”
Investigators who have conducted nearly 1,000 interviews do not have a motive for why 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump during a July 13 campaign rally but they believe that he conducted "extensive attack planning," including looking up campaign events involving both the current president and former president, particularly in western Pennsylvania.
The FBI hosted a media call Wednesday afternoon to provide the latest updates on its investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
One rally attendee was killed in the shooting and two others were injured by the eight bullets fired by Crooks before he was killed.