The FBI said on Sunday that the shooter at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania acted alone and that it is still actively investigating the shooter’s background – including working to gain access to his phone, CNN reported.
“We are working to get access to the phone,” Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said. “We have shipped the phone to our lab at Quantico.”
Rojek also said the FBI has “not identified an ideology associated with the subject,” but cautioned that “we’re still very early in this investigation.”
He added the FBI doesn’t “have any kind of fidelity right now on the shooter’s actions immediately prior to him engaging the former president.”
He also stated that the shooter’s family has been cooperative in the investigation.
Rojek confirmed the gun used in the shooting was an AR-style rifle that was purchased legally. He also said law enforcement located a “suspicious device” in the suspect’s car and the device was “rendered safe and is being analyzed.”
Bobby Wells, assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C, said the FBI is investigating this as an assassination attempt, but also looking into it as a potential domestic terrorist attack.
The former President was attending a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday night, when shots rang out. Trump was shot in the ear and taken to the hospital.
A bystander at the rally was also shot in the head and died.
The shooter has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man who was located on the roof of a manufacturing plant about 130 yards from Trump's location.
The attempted assassin was killed by Secret Service members, and an AR-style rifle was recovered from the scene.
Earlier on Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that authorities found explosives in the vehicle belonging to Crooks.
According to the report, police received multiple reports of suspicious packages near the area where the shooter was, which led them to dispatch bomb technicians. Investigators were still working to make sure the scene was clear well into the night. They also searched Crooks’ home and spoke with his family.