New Details Emerge On Trump Shooter’s Social Media Presence, Internet History

While FBI investigators have stated that they are still working through would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ phone and internet history in order to determine a motive, details are beginning to emerge about the deceased gunman’s online footprint.

Investigators have uncovered very little evidence of a social media presence for Crooks, who was 20-years-old when he was killed by Secret Service counter snipers. The messaging and social media company Discord has confirmed that Crooks did have an account with their platform, though it has already been deleted.

Discord is an instant messaging platform that allows communication through voice calls, video calls, text messaging and media. Communication can take place through direct messages, or in groups known as “servers.”

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Primarily used for gaming communities to chat while playing online, Discord differs from popular social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Unlike those platforms, Discord is a server-based messaging system where users congregate in communities that aren’t easily searched or shared outside of an individual servers’ active members, especially if people are using a private server to communicate, gaming website Kotaku explained.

“We have identified an account that appears to be linked to the suspect; it was rarely utilized and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident or discuss his political views,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to Kotaku. Crooks’ account was deleted not long after he was identified as the gunman who nearly killed former President Trump and did succeed in killing one innocent bystander.

Discord was criticized in the 2022 grocery store shooting in Buffalo, when a gunman murdered 10 people. The attack was planned for months in a Discord server, prompting criticism of the platform from New York law enforcement officials for what they deemed to be insufficient monitoring of threats.

Additional details have emerged surrounding the timeline of events leading up to the assassination attempt.

On Friday, Crooks went to a local shooting range where he held a membership and practiced firing, one law enforcement official told CNN. The next morning, he went to a local Home Depot, where he purchased a five-foot ladder that was used to access the roof from which he opened fire. He also went to a gun store on Saturday, where he purchased 50 rounds of ammunition, investigators said.

After gathering materials that would be used in the shooting, Crooks drove his Hyundai Sonata about an hour north of his home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania to the township of Butler, where Trump was set to hold a rally.

Investigators have stated that Crooks’ car was rigged with an improvised explosive device hidden in his trunk, which was wired to a transmitter he was carrying, investigators said. From there, investigators believed he carried his newly purchased ladder to a building located roughly 130 yards from the former president’s podium.

He then used the ladder to scale the roof despite the fact that the location was noted as a high-level security threat. Law enforcement personnel were also stationed inside the building and took notice of him as he surveyed the area. When he returned with a backpack and started looking at his phone, a Secret Service counter sniper took a photo.

The ladder used by would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks

Officials believe that Crooks may have planned to blow up his car in order to create a distraction that would give him an opportunity to carry out his attack.

It is unclear how Crooks was able to construct the explosive devices that were found in his car. Investigators have not found any evidence that he researched how to build explosive devices or how to wire them to a transmitter. Instead, they have found very little pointing to planning or a motive.

The “AR-style rifle” used in the attack was purchased by the gunman’s father, Matthew Crooks. It was one of more than 20 weapons registered to the elder Crooks’ when a search was conducted of the family’s home on Saturday.

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