The young man who attempted to take Donald Trump’s life at a rally in Bulter, Pennsylvania, was not politically motivated when he was planning the shooting, the FBI said on a call with reporters Wednesday. Instead, he had the markings of a mass shooter, namely that he was seeking attention through violence.
The intensive investigation into Thomas Crooks’s life showed an online history that was more indicative of someone looking for a high-profile target or a high-casualty count but settled on Trump when the former president announced a rally in a nearby city.
While Mr. Crooks’s motive remains opaque, his online searches reveal someone who was looking for an opportunity to pull off a spectacular attack that would garner widespread attention, by either inflicting mass casualties or killing someone famous. Thus far, that profile more closely resembles that of a mass shooter than a…
