FBI reveals gunman viewed Donald Trump rally as ‘target of opportunity’

WASHINGTON: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Wednesday revealed that the gunman who attempted to kill former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally last month viewed the event as a “target of opportunity”, Al-Jazeera reported.

Thomas Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired shots, one of which grazed Trump in the ear at an outdoor rally in Butler. Thomas Matthew Cooks was planted on the roof of a manufacturing plant located over 130 yards away from the stage at Butler Farm Show grounds, the New York Post had reported, citing sources.

According to FBI officials, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks had mounted a “sustained, detailed effort” to attack a major gathering of some sort before deciding to target the Republican presidential candidate at a Pennsylvania rally in July.

FBI officials said Thomas Crooks searched more than 60 times for details about Trump and his then-rival, Democratic President Joe Biden, before registering for the Trump rally.

“We saw … a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some events, meaning he looked at any number of events or targets”, Kevin Rojek, the FBI’s top official in western Pennsylvania, said in a telephone briefing to reporters on Wednesday, according to Al-Jazeera.

Rojek further said that Crooks became “hyper-focused” on the Trump rally when it was announced “and looked at it as a target of opportunity.”

Notably, after the assassination attempt, the US Secret Service snipers had shot Crooks and an AR-style rifle was later recovered. Bethel Park is a village 40 miles south of where Trump’s rally was held in Butler.

Donald Trump was on stage at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania’s Butler before gunshots rang out and Secret Service agents stormed the stage, The Hill had reported. (ANI)