Trump Rally Gunman Started Buying Weaponry a Year Ago: FBI

The Trump rally shooter who killed one and injured others, including Donald Trump himself, at a Pennsylvania rally earlier this month had been stockpiling bomb-making materials and equipment related to guns for more than a year, according to FBI officials. Starting in spring of 2023, the gunman made 25 purchases related to firearms and six purchases of materials used to make explosives, the officials say, per the Wall Street Journal. He used aliases to make the orders, and stored the chemicals and gun-related equipment at his parents' Pennsylvania home. The FBI special agent in charge of Pittsburgh says the 20-year-old's parents were not concerned because he'd long been interested in science and experiments.

"We believe the subject made significant efforts to conceal his activities," the special agent says. "Additionally, we believe his actions can also show careful planning ahead of the campaign rally." After the gunman carried out the shootings with an AR-15 rifle and was killed by a sniper, two "relatively crude" remote-controlled homemade bombs were found in his car, but the receivers were in the "off" position, the special agent says. A transmitter was found on the shooter's body. (A lawmaker says the gunman had an escape plan.)