Thomas Matthew Crooks practiced firing at a shooting range on Friday.
The 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former US President Donald Trump at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania made a series of stops to stock up on ammo before the attack, the CNN reported.
Thomas Matthew Crooks also practised firing at a shooting range on Friday, a day before the Trump rally. The next morning, Crooks went to the Home Depot to buy a five-foot ladder. He then bought 50 rounds of ammunition from a gun store, the report said.
Sources say he used the same ladder to climb the building from where he opened fire at the 78-year-old Republican nominee.
Crooks was gunned down by the Secret Service agents after he attacked Trump. Investigators are trying to piece together a timeline of his actions leading up to the failed assassination bid. The motive remains unknown.
Even after breaking into his phone and searching his computer, officials still haven’t found evidence that would suggest political or ideological impetus for the shooting, law enforcement sources told CNN.
Trump survived with a nicked ear during his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at him. The attack left him with a bloodied face as the former president said the bullet pierced his “upper part of right ear”.
The early details that have emerged about Thomas Matthew Crooks show that he was a math whiz, working an entry-level job near his hometown in Pennsylvania.
He graduated high school in 2022 with a reputation as a bright but “quiet” classmate.
His counselor at Bethel Park High School described him as “respectful” and said he never knew him to be political.