FBI technicians are working 24 hours a day to analyse the phone and computer of Thomas Matthew Crooks, as more details about the would-be assassin’s movements come to light.
Officials have yet to determine the 20-year-old gunman’s motive for carrying out the attack on former president Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
Shooter used phone to find photos of Trump, Biden and other high-profile officials
Senators were told Crooks used the phone found in his home to look up “major depressive disorder”, according to the New York Times, which cited sources involved in the call.
He had also allegedly searched for images of Trump, President Joe Biden, Mr Wray, Attorney General Merrick B Garland and a British royal family member, and looked up the dates of Trump’s public appearances.
The Butler, Pennsylvania rally was announced on July 3.
Political media outlet The Hill reported Crooks visited the rally site for 20-30 minutes on July 7.
He also reportedly visited the site again on the morning of the shooting, which happened in the evening.
Crooks, a registered Republican, was a member of a shooting club near his home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about an hour’s drive from the rally in the town of Butler.
Investigators say Crooks visited the shooting club the day before the shooting, and practised firing.
On that day he also stopped at a gun store in his hometown and purchased 50 rounds of ammunition, according to a joint FBI and Homeland Security bulletin.
Two homemade bombs were found in his car, and a third was found in his home.
The bulletin noted “multiple packages, including some marked as possibly containing hazardous material” had been delivered to the home in the previous months.
Crooks was flagged by security at the rally more than an hour before he began firing.
Security at the venue noted he was carrying a “rangefinder”, a device used by hunters and target shooters to measure distance.
Local police warned the Secret Service of a person carrying a rangefinder and a backpack, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Washington Post.
Mr Guglielmi said police also took a photograph of the person which was distributed electronically to other officers.
The FBI and Secret Service briefing left some senators angry officers did not intervene.
Republican senator John Barrasso said in a statement: “He had a rangefinder and a backpack. The Secret Service lost sight of him. No-one has taken responsibility.
“The head of the Secret Service needs to go.”
Searches of his online activity have so far not revealed any suspicious activity, instead showing an interest in chess, video games, and learning to code.
Despite being a registered Republican, the upcoming election would have been the first time Crooks was old enough to vote.
A National Security Council spokesperson said there was no known link between Crooks and any “accomplice or co-conspirator, foreign or domestic”.
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