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FBI provides updates on Trump rally shooting in Butler County

This image provided by the FBI shows Thomas Matthew Crooks' rifle broken down as was likely done for transport and the backpack recovered at the scene of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Connoquenessing Township on July 13. Crooks searched online for events of both Trump and President Joe Biden and saw the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire as a “target of opportunity,” a senior FBI official said. FBI via AP

While analysis has provided insight into the mindset of the shooter who fired eight rounds at former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Connoquenessing Township, no motive or definitive political ideology has been identified, the FBI reported Wednesday, Aug. 28.

Leading up to the shooting, which killed one rallygoer, seriously injured two others and grazed Trump’s ear, Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter, made a sustained, detailed effort to research a number of events and targets, including the Democratic National Convention, Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, told news outlets during a phone call.

No definitive political ideology, either left leaning or right leaning, has been determined, according to Rojek. FBI analysis points to a mixture of ideologies, he said.

The rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, which the shooter registered to attend, was a “target of opportunity,” the agency said.

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