Trump rally shooter left message on gaming platform before shooting, sources say

Investigators trying to determine the motive for the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump have found a post on the gaming platform Steam that they believe was written by the suspect, in which he said that “July 13th will be my first, watch how this plays out,” according to three law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

Investigators also found internet searches for Trump and President Joe Biden on Thomas Matthew Crooks’ phone, people familiar with the investigation told ABC News. Crooks, 20, had searched for the dates of Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the people said.

The suspect’s phone was one of several devices that law enforcement investigators recovered as they worked to piece together the timeline of the assassination attempt on the former president at a rally Saturday.

“What’s beginning to emerge is a portrait of a troubled young person who turned to violence,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former intelligence chief at the Department of Homeland Security.

Cohen, an expert on mass shootings, added that investigators could never determine a single or specific motive for the attack. Sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News that a search of the suspect’s phone history revealed no indication of Crooks’ political views or a motive for the shooting. Investigators also found no digital fingerprints from the suspect that suggested any affiliation with international or domestic terrorist groups. They also were unable to identify any ideological ties to Trump and/or Biden, sources said.

“It was likely a combination of mental health issues, ideological beliefs and a sense of personal grievance, the same combination of factors that has been present in almost every school shooting and mass casualty attack in recent years. As with those incidents, the warning signs were there, but they weren’t recognized,” Cohen said. “The threat was real, but the people around him didn’t understand what they were witnessing or how it was going to unfold last Saturday.”

The FBI identified Crooks as the suspect early Sunday. The U.S. Secret Service said snipers killed Crooks at the scene. Firefighter Corey Comperatore, a father who was at the rally, was killed and two other people were wounded, authorities said.

The searches have compounded questions as investigators search for the reason for the shooting, including a possible political motive. Crooks was registered as a Republican voter, according to state records. But a $15 donation to a progressive group was also recorded under the name “Thomas Crooks” in January 2021, FEC records show.

Investigators analyzed the suspect’s phone and also looked at his search history, which included searches for Trump and Biden. But that search history does not appear to immediately reveal Crooks’ political views, sources told ABC News.

Law enforcement officials investigating the assassination attempt told lawmakers Wednesday that 20 minutes passed between the time Secret Service snipers first spotted Crooks on a rooftop and the time the first shots were fired, according to multiple law enforcement officials and lawmakers briefed on the case.