As Thomas Matthew Crooks neared his date with destiny, he could not resist telegraphing that something was in the works.
According to information shared at a briefing for senators on Wednesday night, Crooks posted a message on Steam, a platform where video game enthusiasts communicate.
“July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds,” he posted, according to Fox News.
Senators were told that this month, Crooks searched for information about former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, the date of the Democratic National Convention and the Trump rally in Pennsylvania where Crooks would wound Trump before being shot dead by a counter sniper.
The search of Crooks’s laptop has failed to find a political ideology that could have motivated Crooks, Fox reported.
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During the briefing, federal officials told senators Crooks had two cell phones.
One phone was found with his body. The second was found at his home. The 27 contacts on the second phone are now being interviewed, the FBI told senators.
A report in The New York Times said, senators were told they have found no evidence Crooks had partners, either domestic or foreign.
The Times reported that Crooks searched “major depressive disorder” on one of his phones.
In recent months, Crooks received multiple packages, including some labeled “hazardous material,” the Times reported, citing a federal law enforcement memo it obtained.
Could this shooting have been prevented?
One explosive device was found in Croooks’s home; two others were in his car at the Trump rally.
The devices in Crooks’s car could have been detonated by a radio-controlled system used for fireworks.
John Cohen, former head of intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, said pieces of a familiar pattern are emerging, according to ABC.
🚨🇺🇸BREAKING: TRUMP’S SHOOTER HAD A TRANSMITTER WITH HIM ON THE ROOF
Photos of a cell phone and transmitter found next to Thomas Crooks’ body, the shooter in the Trump assassination attempt.
Crooks had explosives in his car.
Crooks was on the roof for less than 7 minutes… pic.twitter.com/KFlHC2FbjU
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 17, 2024
“What is beginning to emerge is a portrait of a troubled young person who turned to violence,” he said.
“Likely, it was a combination of mental health issues, ideological beliefs and a sense of personal grievance, the same combination of factors present in almost every school shooting and mass casualty attack over the past several years,” he said.
“As with those incidents, the warning signs were there, they were just not recognized,” Cohen said. “The threat was real, but people around him did not understand what they were witnessing or how it would play out last Saturday.”
