Trump shooter searched details about Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK assassination, FBI director says

More details have emerged about the man authorities said tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, including an ominous online search he conducted ahead of the shooting.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, did a Google search on July 6 for "how far away was Oswald from Kennedy," in reference to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on July 24 at a House Judiciary Committee meeting.

Wray said the alleged shooter also may have had a firearm with a collapsible stock, which would've made it easier to conceal the weapon as he moved through the crowd at a Trump campaign rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We haven't yet found anybody with firsthand observation of him with the weapon walking around beforehand," Wray said.

Crooks was killed by at least one Secret Service sharpshooter after firing multiple shots at Trump.

Eight bullet cartridges were found on the roof where the gunman was stationed, Wray said. The FBI director also testified that the shooter opened fire seconds after he noticed a local law enforcement officer on the ground had spotted him on the roof of a building.

The former president said he was grazed on the ear by one of the shots and rushed offstage by Secret Service members.

Wray also said it was possible Trump did not suffer a direct hit from a bullet, but that some shrapnel may have grazed his ear.

One member of the crowd, identified as Corey Comperatore, 50, a former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was fatally shot. Two other people were injured.

Authorities still "do not yet have a clear picture" of the alleged gunman's motive or why he flew a drone over the scene two hours before the event, Wray said.

"Our hypothesis is that he would've been live-streaming it," Wray said.

The FBI had no prior information about the alleged shooter, Wray testified.

What do we know about the suspect?

Scant details have emerged about Crooks, who had little social media presence.

Crooks was a member of a local gun club, Clairton Sportsmen’s Club in Pittsburgh. The shooter at the Trump rally used a semiautomatic rifle, three senior U.S. law enforcement officials told NBC News.

Investigators were looking into whether the gun belonged to Crooks' father and whether it had been purchased legally, two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News.

Crooks worked as a dietary aide at the Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Officials at the nursing home told NBC News in a statement that a background check on Crooks was clean and there was no "concern" about him on the job.

Crooks was a registered Republican, but it's not clear the last time he voted.

Jason Kohler, 21, who went to Bethel Park High School with Crooks, told NBC News he was a “loner” who wore hunting outfits to school and was an "outcast" who was regularly bullied.

How are authorities trying to determine a motive?

The shooter's cell phone was taken to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where FBI officials said agents broke through the phone's security to access it.

After a preliminary examination of the contents, they said they found nothing on the phone that points to a motive.

Multiple canisters and containers were also located in Crooks' vehicle found at his house. They have been described as rudimentary explosives and are also being tested at the FBI laboratory, according to NBC News investigative correspondent Tom Winter.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com