2024-07-30 23:15:15
Thomas Crooks, 20, who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, began buying weapons and bomb-making materials more than a year ago.
As reported by Day.Az with reference to RBC, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports this, citing a statement by an FBI representative.
As the newspaper notes, this is strong evidence that the shooter had been preparing his assassination attempt on the former president for a long time.
According to the FBI, Crooks made 25 different online gun purchases between the spring of 2023 and the first half of this year, and six purchases of materials used in explosives. He used aliases and at least several encrypted accounts to communicate, according to The Washington Post (WP), whose reporter was also present at the briefing with the FBI official.
The intelligence agency added that over the past year, Kruks had searched the Internet for information about power plants, mass shootings and an assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. His motives are still unclear, the intelligence agency noted. No evidence linking other people to the attack has been found.