Thomas Matthew Crooks’ final internet search on his cellphone was reportedly for pornography before opening fire on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump last Saturday, according to the Daily Beast.
A senior law enforcement source told the outlet that online skin flicks were the last thing the 20-year-old gunman viewed before unleashing a hail of fire that killed one bystander and seriously wounded two others at a western Pennsylvania rally.
Crooks’ apparent target suffered a wounded ear.
It’s unclear what kind of porn Crooks allegedly viewed. The Daily Beast’s insider said “it’s not unusual” for people who commit these types of heinous acts to have an interest in explicit and often extreme material. Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza reportedly had an interest in pedophilia and possessed compact discs containing pornographic images.
Investigators reportedly learned about Crooks’ final search for porn after the FBI’s Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Va., examined the suspect’s encrypted Samsung cellphone.
Crooks’ phone also contained text messages from his parents who were trying to find out his whereabouts on the afternoon before his assassination attempt on the 78-year-old Republican Party leader.
The gunman lived with his folks roughly 50 miles from the event space where the shooting took place.
ABC News reported Thursday that it appeared Crooks’ posted an ominous warning that he might to something drastic on a gamers’ message board before he shot at Trump, but CBS News sources said the message appeared to be a fake.
