Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks researched mass high school shooter Ethan Crumbley before attempting to kill the former president, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Ethan Crumbley, now 18, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing four students and injuring seven others at Oxford High School in Michigan in November 2021, when he was just 15 years old.
Crooks looked up Crumbley before carrying out the assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, the source told Fox News Digital.
Following Crumbley’s historic conviction, his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
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Prosecutors argued that the couple did not properly secure their guns and home and did not get their son the help he needed before the shooting. The parents even visited Oxford High School administrators to discuss their son’s disturbing drawings he made in glass the same morning of the deadly shooting.
Crooks’ other internet search history included photos of Trump and Biden, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and “major depressive disorder,” as The New York Times previously reported.
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Investigators learned of Crooks’ search history after cracking his phone, according to the Times.
FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed investigators’ findings during Wednesday’s congressional hearing, where he said the FBI has conducted 200 interviews and combed through 14,000 images on Crooks’ phone.
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Federal officials are still working to determine a motive behind Crooks’ assassination attempt against the former president, which left former Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Department chief Corey Comperatore, 50, dead and two others — David “Jake” Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver ,74 — critically wounded. They are now in stable but serious condition.
Crooks also visited the rally site at least one time before Saturday’s shooting, Wray reportedly said.
Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
