Would-be Trump assassin searched internet about JFK killer Lee Harvey Oswald, FBI director says

The Pennsylvania man who attempted to kill former President Donald J. Trump at an election rally July 13 used a laptop computer to search the internet for information on “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” FBI Director Christopher Wray told a U.S. House committee on July 24.

Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that based on a search of his phone, would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, generally had a high level of interest in public figures but turned his attention in earnest to Trump around July 6.

Wray’s statement about the Google search done on a laptop associated with Crooks was among the biggest disclosures to date about the shooting of Trump at the Butler Farm Show Inc. fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Crooks’ alleged search was a reference to gunman Lee Harvey Oswald and the shots he fired from the Texas School Book Depository at President John F. Kennedy as Kennedy’s motorcade rode through Dealey Plaza in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Kennedy died from wounds suffered in the shooting.

Several hundred FBI agents and analysts are working the assassination case, Wray said, including evidence-response teams, the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, and the FBI Behavioral Response Unit. "It's all hands on deck," Wray said.

To date, the FBI has not found an indication that Crooks had help. “We have not identified any accomplices, co-conspirators or anything along those lines,” Wray said. So far, however, "We do not yet have a clear picture of his motive."

Trump was addressing tens of thousands of supporters on a hot July evening in Butler when Crooks opened fire from a rooftop some 130 to 150 yards away from the dais. Trump was struck in the ear and dropped to the ground. Retired firefighter Corey Comperatore was shot in the head, suffering a fatal wound. Two other rally participants were seriously wounded.

The gunman fired eight shots, Wray said. The bullet casings recovered near Crooks' body matched his rifle.

Although bystanders near Building 6 spotted Crooks crawling up the sloped roof with his rifle about two minutes before shots were fired, police countersniper units did not see Crooks in a prone shooting position until "just seconds" before he opened fire on Trump and the crowd, Wray said.

A local police officer who got a boost from a colleague and hoisted himself up to peer at roof level saw that Crooks had the rifle pointed at him. That officer ducked and fell to the ground seconds before shots rang out.

11-minute drone flight

Wray told the committee that Crooks was flying a drone in the area of the Trump rally more than two hours before the shooting. A drone recovered from Crooks’ vehicle flew in an area approximately 200 yards from the Trump speaking stage for 11 minutes, starting around 3:50 p.m., Wray said.

Crooks appeared to be live streaming video from the drone, Wray said, but he did not say whether anyone was watching the video stream.

No still images or video from July 13 were recovered from the drone, he said. The FBI was able to “re-engineer” the drone’s flight path, Wray said.

Would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks' legs are visible as local police tactical officers guard the roof scene of the July 13 shooting of former President Donald Trump and three rally-goers in Butler, Pa. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service countersniper. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

Records obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggest that a counter-drone specialist was part of the law-enforcement staffing plan for the July 13 rally. In a letter to the U.S. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security, Grassley asked the agencies to confirm the accuracy of the document and whether counter-drone technology was used on July 13.

It isn’t known if the Secret Service or other law enforcement agencies employed anti-drone technology on July 13, although such capabilities are often a part of security planning for high-risk public events. Such systems would likely have prevented Crooks from doing surveillance with his drone near the property that day.

Wray disclosed that the FBI recovered three “relatively crude” explosive devices: two from Crooks’ vehicle and one from the Crooks family residence.

A transceiver recovered from under Crooks’ body on the roof of Building 6 at the American Glass Research complex north of the fairgrounds likely could not have detonated the devices found in Crooks’ auto, Wray said.

Police located 14 firearms in the Crooks family home, Wray said. Federal officials have previously said the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack was purchased legally in 2013 by Matthew Crooks, the shooter’s father.

Wray said Crooks’ parents have been cooperative with FBI agents.

Wray said the AR-style rifle used by Crooks had a collapsible stock, which might explain why he was not observed on the ground with the rifle before the shooting. The rifle did not have a scope, Wray said.

The five-foot ladder that Crooks purchased at Home Depot the morning of the shooting was not used at the crime scene, Wray said. Crooks accessed the roof “using some mechanical equipment on the ground” and climbed up pipes on the side of the building, he said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated.

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