Trump's Pennsylvania rally was 'target of opportunity' for gunman, FBI says

PITTSBURGH — Authorities believe former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler last month presented a “target of opportunity” for Thomas Matthew Crooks, who FBI officials said searched online for campaign stops by both Trump and President Joe Biden.

“We saw through our analysis of his online searches a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event,” said Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office. “Meaning he looked at any number of events or targets and … when the Trump rally was announced early in July, he became hyper-focused on that specific event and looked at it as a target of opportunity.”

In a phone call with members of the news media Wednesday, Rojek and others offered new glimpses into the mindset of Crooks, who fired eight shots at Trump and those gathered at the Butler Farm Show Grounds for a July 13 rally. Trump and two spectators were wounded, and one spectator was killed.

Rojek said their investigation has uncovered “valuable insight into (Crooks’) mindset but not a definitive motive.” He said there is still no evidence of a co-conspirator or second shooter.

“We continue to see through our analysis (of Crooks’ life) a mixture of ideologies,” Rojek said. “I would say that we see no definitive ideology associated with our subject, either left-leaning or right-leaning.

“It’s really been a mixture and something that we’re still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on,” he said.

Despite police in and around the farm grounds building, Crooks was able to scale an exterior wall, move into position, confront a local law enforcement officer with his rifle and fire a deadly salvo into a crowd of rally-goers. Former firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed by the gunfire.

Rojek said investigators believe Crooks was on the roof for only about six minutes — from about 6:05 p.m. to when he opened fire at 6:11 p.m. He said Crooks spent three of those minutes walking across multiple roofs atop the connected buildings of AGR International.

“We believe the subject engaged in detailed attack-planning well in advance,” he said.

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