Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – The final online search made by failed Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks before the shooting at a Pennsylvania rally last weekend was for pornography, according to a report.
The FBI gained access to Crooks’ encrypted Samsung phone and discovered his last search, which was for pornography, as confirmed by a senior law enforcement official. Initial attempts to unlock the Android device at the Pittsburgh field office were unsuccessful, requiring the phone to be transported to Quantico for further investigation.
Aside from the porn search, the only other recent activity found on Crooks’ phone were texts from his parents inquiring about his whereabouts. The messages began around 1 p.m. and continued throughout the afternoon, with his parents assuming he had taken his father’s AR-15 rifle to a local shooting range.
The day of the shooting, around 6 p.m., Crooks opened fire at the Trump rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds, causing injuries to multiple attendees. Crooks was swiftly shot dead by a Secret Service sniper on the scene. Agents uncovered four rifle magazines and a remote control near his body, which could detonate the explosives in his car nearby.
Investigators are delving into Crooks’ online history, which includes searches related to mass shooters like Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley. The FBI has completed its examination of Crooks’ phone and is now focusing on analyzing his laptop and hard drives discovered in his bedroom.
Law enforcement officials are looking into the possibility that Crooks was fixated on orchestrating a mass-casualty event and saw the Trump rally as a convenient target due to its proximity to his residence in Pennsylvania. Crooks had also conducted online searches related to Trump, President Biden, and other political figures in the days leading up to the shooting.