Motive still a mystery in Trump assassination attempt
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(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has been able to gain extensive analysis on the mindset of the suspected shooter who carried out the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, officials said Wednesday, but it has so far been unable to establish a clear motive.
In a media call Wednesday afternoon, the FBI said it has conducted nearly 1,000 interviews, served numerous search warrants, issued dozens of subpoenas and analyzed hundreds of hours of video footage as part of its investigation into the shooting.
As part of their investigation, officials said, they’ve found that Thomas Matthew Crooks engaged in a “sustained, detailed effort” to plan an attack on some kind of major event, but when the Trump rally was announced, he became “hyperfocused” on it as a “target of opportunity.”
In addition to a previously revealed online search conducted by Crooks on July 6 that stated, “How far was [Lee Harvey] Oswald from [John F.] Kennedy,” officials said he also searched “Where will Trump speak from at Butler Farm Show?” as well as “Butler Farm Show podium” and “Butler Farm Show photos.”
In the 30 days prior to the attack, Crooks reportedly conducted “more than 60 searches related to former President Trump and President Biden,” the FBI said.
Through a review of Crooks’ online activity dating back to 2019, investigators said they’ve also found he had conducted multiple searches related to explosive devices including, “How to make a bomb from fertilizer” and “How remote detonators work.”
The FBI released a picture in tandem with its briefing Wednesday showing an improvised explosive device it has said was found inside Crooks’ vehicle. The FBI said that after an analysis of the device, it determined the components were all purchased legally and “readily available online.”
Officials also provided an update to the timeline of the actions leading up to the moments of the shooting. According to video obtained from a local business, Crooks first climbed onto the roof of the AGR complex at 6:05 p.m. and traversed a series of rooftops before allegedly firing eight rounds at 6:11 p.m., officials said, meaning he was on the rooftop for a total of six minutes before he allegedly began firing and then was killed by a Secret Service countersniper.
(MAUI, Hawaii.) –Scientists say they still don’t understand the full extent of the damage the Maui wildfires did to the corals and marine ecosystem off the west coast of the island.
After an initial blaze sparked into a weeklong series of wildfires, the needs of those on land — resulting from at least 100 people dead or missing as well as entire neighborhoods obliterated — remained the priority in the months following, leaving little resources left to monitor the marine environment, researchers told ABC News.
“We almost felt like it was even inappropriate at first to talk about the research we were doing, just because there was so much pain on our island,” Liz Yannell, program manager at Hui O Ka Wai Ola, a citizen science network based in Maui, told ABC News.
The immediate concern for the coastlines was the debris that was washing into the water offshore, as well as any ash and other toxins that affect air and water quality being carried by the smoke, John Starmer, science director at the Maui Nui Marine Resource Council, told ABC News. In addition, the boats that sank were leaking fuel and other chemicals into the Pacific Ocean.
The murky water appeared so precarious that “nobody wanted to get in” to examine it, Starmer said.
“It was difficult to really get a sense of what the conditions were,” he said.
Researchers initially used a remotely operated vehicle and artificial intelligence to map the reefs off the coastline. Once there was less fear about contamination levels in the water, researchers began to conduct dive surveys. They have been testing the water quality for a suite of samples for metals and other general water quality parameters, like nutrients, Andrea Kealoha, assistant professor in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told ABC News.
It was clear from the onset of the fire recovery that the cleanup efforts would be long, difficult and arduous and that the wildfires would have lasting environmental impacts on the island.
When the fires struck, environmental advocates feared the first big rain that would come in the wet season — typically in November, which would have been just three months after the wildfires, Yannell said.
But mother nature was on Maui’s side this time, with the “first flush” not occurring until Jan. 10, giving crews much more time to clear piles of debris, she added.
Still, despite the delayed rains, massive plumes of sediment washed over the reefs in the runoff when the first big storm moved through, Starmer said.
“Once it hits the water, you can’t really do anything about it,” he said.
Researchers say they have found metals in the water — such as copper, which is often used to prevent barnacles from growing on boats.
Despite the widespread devastation and the gargantuan cleanup mission, there is no evidence that the corals or marine ecosystem as a whole in West Maui were physically damaged as a result of the fire, the researchers said.
Visually, there are no impacts, Kealoha said.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re out of the woods yet,” Starmer said.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography has established a monitoring site in Launiupoko, just south of Lahaina and adjacent to the dump site where they are putting the wildfire debris, following concern expressed in the local community about contamination from that dump impacting the nearby reefs at Launiupoko and Olowalu, the marine research institution announced last week.
Researchers cautioned against conflating the current lack of evidence with the possibility that the marine ecosystem in West Maui were left unscathed by the wildfires in the longterm.
Continued testing is starting to present evidence that there is chemical pollution and other residual environmental consequences of the fires, Starmer said. The toxins are likely bioaccumulating and moving up the food chain, with some fish testing positive for PCBs and PAHs — industrial chemicals — he added.
Complicating monitoring efforts is the fact that wildfires — especially urban fires than contain man-made chemicals — rarely occur near reef systems. Therefore, the researchers don’t know what to expect. They barely know what they’re looking for, they said.
“There’s not any substantial research that was easy to find about urban fires next to coastal waters and what that means for a coral reef ecosystem that’s already so delicate and already struggling,” Yannell said.
Globally, coral reef systems are struggling due to stressors like pollution and increasing ocean temperatures. Overall, the longterm health of the marine ecosystem in West Maui is unclear, and marine researchers will continue their quest to understand how the corals were affected and attempt to prevent runoff contaminated with toxins from rushing into the ocean.
But signs of a recovering marine ecosystem are present. The humpback whales have returned to the region on their annual migration routes, monk seals have taken up residence on their favorite beaches and crabs have reclaimed their favorite spots along the shore, Yannell said.
One of the silver linings of the wildfire aftermath is the reefs have “had a break from people,” such as tourists and surfers, similarly to what happened during the isolation measures of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kealoha said.
“While the world above water has completely changed, the reefs look fairly healthy and comparable to pre-fire coral cover data,” Orion McCarthy, a marine biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said in a statement. “It’s still too early to say there is no impact.”
Booking photo of Apalachee High School shooting suspect, Colt Gray, released by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office. — Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
(WINDER, Ga.) — Colt Gray, the 14-year-old accused of opening fire at his Georgia high school, made his first court appearance on Friday, where the judge informed him of the charges against him and ordered him held without bond.
Gray is charged with four counts of felony murder for allegedly shooting and killing two teachers and two students at Apalachee High School on Wednesday.
Another seven students and two teachers were injured. All of the injured victims are expected to make full recoveries, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
More charges against Gray are expected, the GBI said.
The 14-year-old will be tried as an adult, authorities said. His preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 4.
The teen’s father, Colin Gray, 54, was arrested Thursday and charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI said.
Colin Gray is accused of “knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said Thursday.
Investigators believe that Gray received the AR-style gun used in the shooting as a Christmas present from his father, according to sources.
Colin Gray also made his first appearance on Friday, in the same courtroom as his son.
A motive has not yet been determined and it is unknown if the victims were targeted, investigators said.
Gray’s aunt, Annie Brown, said her nephew was “begging for help from everybody around him.”
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — A Jordanian citizen living in Florida has been arrested and charged for allegedly carrying out multiple attacks on businesses in Orlando, as well as a solar energy facility, based on their perceived support for Israel, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 43, allegedly made numerous threats to carry out mass violence and at one point went through with an attack in late June on a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, where he spent hours destroying solar panels.
The attack “bore signs of premeditation and sophistication,” according to prosecutors, adding: “For example, whenever Hnaihen cut a wire, he would cut so close to the panel that it was impossible to splice in a new wire, permanently decommissioning the entire panel. And as Hnaihen worked across row after row, he identified and selectively destroyed the lead panel in a daisy-chained series of panels, taking the entire chain offline.”
The attacks on the solar panels are estimated to have caused more than $700,000 in damages, prosecutors said.
Hnaihen began targeting various businesses in the Orlando area in June, prosecutors said, wearing a mask and placing “Warning Letters” after smashing doors and windows at businesses. The letters were addressed to the U.S. government and included a threat to “destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel.”
Hnaihen was identified and arrested on July 11 after placing another warning letter at an industrial propane gas depot in Orlando.
Further heightening concerns, prosecutors said Hnaihen attempted to purchase a gun and ammunition in February and lied on paperwork stating he was not a foreign citizen — which the government says “fortunately” was discovered to be false during the background check process so he never obtained the gun.
Hnaihen entered a not guilty plea to the charges during an arraignment hearing on Monday, court records show. At a detention hearing on Wednesday and is being held pending trial, according to the Justice Department.
He faces four counts of threats to use explosives and one count of destruction of an energy facility.
“We allege that the defendant threatened to carry out hate-fueled mass violence in our country, motivated in part by a desire to target businesses for their perceived support of Israel,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “Such acts and threats of violence, whether they are targeting the places that Americans frequent every day or our country’s critical infrastructure, are extremely dangerous and will not be tolerated by the Justice Department.”
ABC News has reached out to the attorney representing Hnaihen for comment.
