Royal family, FBI pop up on Trump shooter's search results: ‘Scoping’ out assassination targets

FBI's latest insight into the Trump assassination attempt investigation has found Thomas Crooks to have searched several high-profile figures before the attack.

The FBI was battling against a limited digital footprint of the would-be assassin who tried to kill former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler County, Pennsylvania. The 20-year-old gunman was reportedly killed by the US Secret Service on Saturday after he targetted the Republican presidential nominee.

This June 3, 2022 still image taken from video provided by the Bethel Park School District shows student Thomas Matthew Crooks in the 2022 Bethel Park High School Commencement in Bethel Park, Pa. (The Bethel Park School District via AP)(AP)

Investigators had turned up empty-handed even days after the initial stages of the investigation didn’t point them towards a possible motive for the attack. Recent reports claim Crooks seemingly searched online while “scoping out” numerous high-profile figures as targets of assassination. According to the FBI, these search results also included an unnamed member of the royal family.

FBI's investigation continues to look for a possible motive for Thomas Crooks' attack on Trump

Since the day of the Trump assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, FBI agents have downloaded the content of the two mobile phones owned by the gunman.

Further investigation of his devices revealed that he also searched about the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, and US Attorney General Merrick Garland. Moreover, photos of Trump and President Joe Biden were saved on his phones along with pivotal dates surrounding the two re-election bidders, including the former president’s rallies and the Democratic National Convention, set to take place next month in Chicago.

Several conspiracies have shaped up since the attack, with added pressure on the US Secret Service, facing severe allegations of negligence. Their failure to protect Trump beforehand has especially been a major point of discussion in the headlines since an eyewitness claimed to have alerted them about a suspicious presence near the stage an hour before the shots were fired.

Although Crooks was initially removed from the venue after a metal detector red-flagged him, he reportedly perched himself high with a “direct line of sight” on Trump from outside the rally’s secure zone. He used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, with other explosives found in his car.

While Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has admitted to the Secret Service’s incompetence, the Secret Service director Kimberley Cheatle has since received calls to resign once she acknowledged no snipers were stationed on the roof due to health and safety reasons, claiming it was a sloping platform and dangerous.