The FBI has accessed the phone of the suspected shooter from Donald Trump’s rally and is examining its contents, as stated in a press release on Monday afternoon. The shooting, which resulted in one death and left Trump with an ear injury, is being treated as an assassination attempt.
Authorities are trying to understand the motive behind the attack at Trump’s campaign rally on Saturday, but no clear reasons have been identified yet. The shooter, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed during the incident.
On Sunday, federal investigators announced they had Crooks’s cellphone but had trouble bypassing its password. The phone was sent to a lab in Virginia, where agents successfully accessed it, according to the FBI.
As the investigation continues, little information has surfaced about Crooks, who didn’t leave a manifesto or detailed plan, unlike other attackers. He was registered as a Republican voter and had donated $15 to a Democratic-allied organization but didn’t have a significant online presence.
It’s unclear how authorities unlocked Crooks’s phone or what type of phone it was. In past cases, law enforcement has struggled with tech companies over accessing private data, like the 2015 San Bernardino shooting where the FBI had to turn to an Australian hacking firm to unlock an iPhone after Apple refused to help.
Besides accessing Crooks’s phone, the FBI announced on Monday that they have conducted nearly 100 interviews with law enforcement, event attendees, and other witnesses. They have also searched Crooks’s car and home.