According to statements made by FBI Director Christopher Wray, the assailant who shot and killed Donald Trump at a campaign rally earlier this month conducted research on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in the days preceding the incident.
On Tuesday, Mr. Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the shooting that occurred on July 13 at the Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign.
Trump’s right ear was hit by a bullet, resulting in the death of one rally attendee and serious injuries to two others.
Mr. Wray said that the gunman also used a weapon with a “collapsible stock,” which probably made it easier to hide.
The director of the FBI referred to the attempted assassination of President Trump as “an attack on our democracy and our democratic process” in his opening remarks.
He stated to lawmakers, “We will not and do not tolerate political violence of any kind, particularly a despicable account of this magnitude.”
According to Mr. Wray, the shooter registered for the Trump rally on July 6, a week before the incident, after conducting an online search for “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy.”
In 1963, President Kennedy was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Tuesday, the head of the FBI stated that the agency still does not have a motive for the attempted assassination, but that the shooter appeared to have become “very focused” on Trump a week prior to the incident.
The gunman had also searched for news articles about other public figures, according to the investigators.
According to Mr. Wray, the assailant fired at least eight shots. On the roof where the gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was found, officials found eight cartridges.
During the incident, Crooks was killed by a countersniper.
A collapsible stock, which can make a weapon shorter and easier to transport, was used in the shooting.
According to Mr. Wray, the gunman was already on the roof, where he fired, when the first people saw him with a rifle. He went on to say that a policeman in the area had seen the gunman just before he opened fire.
The gun’s location on the roof and whether or not Crooks brought it there in advance are being investigated.
Additionally, the FBI director confirmed that the assailant flew a drone over the rally approximately two hours prior to the incident.
Also, the FBI viewed as three “moderately rough” unstable gadgets – one in the shooter’s home and two others in his vehicle.
Mr. Wray stated that the gunman had a transmitter and these devices could be detonated remotely.
He added that it did not appear that the Crooks could have detonated them from the roof where he was perched at the time of the shooting.
The gunman also went to a shooting range the day before the rally, where he fired an AR-style rifle, according to the investigation. The FBI believes that it is the same weapon that was used in the attempt to kill someone.
According to Mr. Wray, there is no evidence that the gunman and others planned the attack.
Adding that the shooter fits the description of a “loner” and had few contacts on his phone, he stated that investigators are looking into a number of Crooks’ digital devices.
Officials discovered approximately 14 firearms associated with him and his family after searching his home.
Mr. Wray told the committee that the FBI is handling the criminal investigation into the attempted assassination and that the agency will “leave no stone unturned.”
“The people of the FBI will keep on working enthusiastically to make quick work of what occurred,” he said.
After giving testimony earlier this week to a different congressional committee, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday.
After the contentious hearing, when she refused to answer questions about the attempted assassination, lawmakers became increasingly enraged and Democrats and Republicans both called on her to resign.
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