Remarks as delivered.

Thank you, deputy director.

My name is Kevin Rojek, and I’m the special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office.

Our office is the lead investigative office since the incident occurred in our area of responsibility.

I want to again offer my condolences to all the victims of this heinous act.

To the family of heroic fire fighter and father Corey Comperatore who lost his life; to David Dutch and James Copenhaver, whose recoveries continue; and to former President Trump, who was also struck by a bullet fired from the subject’s weapon.

I would also like to offer my support and gratitude to the seven local law enforcement officers injured either as a result of the shooting or from their actions during the initial response.

Scope of Investigation

Regarding the scope of the FBI’s investigation, our mission is to attempt to identify a motive for the shooting and whether the subject acted alone or conspired with others to commit this act.

The FBI’s role is not to investigate any failures in security or determine fault of any agency.

This investigation has involved a monumental effort by the FBI, as well as our partners in the Pennsylvania State Police and the United States Attorney’s Office.

First, I want to acknowledge the incredible team at FBI Pittsburgh who have been working around the clock since the night of July 13.

More than 50 agents, intelligence professionals, and professional staff employees from across the FBI also travelled to Pittsburgh to assist.

Employees from approximately half of the FBI’s field offices, nearly all of our Headquarters divisions, and employees from several of our international offices have lent their expertise and assistance in some capacity to this case.

To date, the FBI has conducted over 450 interviews, with more likely to occur.

We served legal process requests to 64 different companies related to accounts associated with the subject, meaning legal requests to these companies to provide the data and contents associated with these accounts.

As part of our normal investigative process, we interview victims of crime to offer our support and learn about their perspective regarding their experience.

To that end, we have contacted former President Trump, and he has agreed to participate in a victim interview.

As part of our investigation, we have examined over 2,100 tips from the public through our digital media tipline, including images, videos, documents, and audio recordings.

This partnership and support from the public is critical after events like this, and I want to thank everyone who has sent in their tips thus far.

Your information has proved to be invaluable.

I encourage people to continue to submit any information they may have related to this investigation.

To date, the vast majority people we have approached—from law enforcement to people attending the event on July 13—have been extremely cooperative.

The Investigation

Our investigation quickly yielded a positive identification of the subject.

Subsequent steps have been focused on better understanding what led him to execute this attack.

Investigators have interviewed dozens of people who knew or interacted with the subject.

This includes family members, co-workers, former teachers, classmates, and others.

We also consult with specialists assigned to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, or BAU, to offer their expertise as we work to develop a profile of the subject.

We have learned the subject was highly intelligent, attended college, and maintained steady employment.

His primary social circle appears to be limited to his immediate family, as we believe he had few friends and acquaintances throughout his life.

We’ve identified our subject’s interest in shooting began as a hobby and progressed into formal firearms training courses, particularly since September 2023.

We continue to analyze his electronic devices and social media accounts for additional information and insight into his psyche.

We have searched, and are continuing to search, multiple cell phones related to the subject, as well as other electronics including laptop computers, a router, and memory cards.

The FBI is looking into email accounts, gaming accounts, messaging platforms, social media accounts, as well as online search engines, in an attempt to determine a possible motive and whether the subject acted alone or worked with co-conspirators.

From our subject’s internet search history, we determined the subject specifically searched "how far away was Oswald from Kennedy."

Additionally, our investigation has revealed he also made searches related to power plants, mass shooting events, information on improvised explosive devices, and the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister earlier this year.

Another point of clarification: The investigation has revealed searches of nationally elected officials, including the current and former presidents, and a detailed analysis of those searches is ongoing.

All other images associated with searches of key American political figures appeared as cached images, likely as the result of the subject reviewing news stories and media coverage online and not specific searches associated with these individuals.

While the FBI’s investigation may not have yet determined a motive, we believe the subject made significant efforts to conceal his activities.

Additionally, we believe his actions also show careful planning ahead of the campaign rally.

The Weapon and Improvised Explosive Devices

We have identified the model of rifle he used: a DPMS AR-15 style firearm designed to shoot 5.56mm ammunition.

Thanks to our partners at ATF, we know the weapon was purchased legally in 2013 by the subject’s father, and our investigation has shown it was legally transferred to our subject last year from his father.

The FBI currently is analyzing the rifle at the FBI Lab at Quantico and is working to confirm that the shell casings found at the scene were indeed fired from that rifle.

The weapon had a collapsible stock, and we know the subject carried a backpack with him as he made his way to the position on the roof.

However, we are still working to determine how the subject was able to conceal the rifle until the minutes immediately prior to the shooting.

Regarding explosive devices, we recovered two explosive devices from the trunk of the subject’s vehicle near the site of the rally and one explosive device discovered in the subject’s room at his residence.

These devices consisted of ammunition boxes filled with explosive material with wires, receivers, and ignition devices connected to them.

The FBI Laboratory has determined that both IEDs recovered from the subject’s vehicle did not explode adjacent to the site of the rally due to the receivers both being in the OFF position.

Explosive experts in the FBI lab assessed the devices from the subject’s vehicle were capable of exploding; however, the magnitude of the damage associated with an explosion is unclear.

As recovered, the IED from the subject’s residence was determined to be non-functional due to missing initiation system components.

The Lab continues to analyze bullet and bullet fragments from the scene, the explosive devices located in the subject’s vehicle and home, the drone located in his car, and physical evidence including fingerprints and foot impressions.

Incorrect Reporting

Regarding the subject’s use of a ladder, the investigation has revealed the subject purchased a ladder at a hardware store the day of the attack.

That same ladder was not present with the subject at the Farm Show grounds at the time of the shooting.

Our investigation has revealed the ladder was left at a location near his home, approximately 50 miles away from the site of the rally in Butler, and to clarify again, it was not used during the course of the attack on July 13.

Through analysis by our Evidence Response Team, or ERT, we believe the subject accessed the roof by scaling HVAC equipment and a pipe outside of the business.

Numerous media outlets have reported a bicycle and a backpack attributed to the subject, but the FBI’s investigation has determined those do not belong to the shooter.

In fact, we have positively identified and interviewed the owner of those items.

Timeline

I know there are many questions surrounding the timeline of events.

Again, I want to be clear the purpose of our investigation is not to identify security failures of any agency that day.

I want to provide some details about what we’ve gleaned about the subject’s movements and planning activities prior to the attack.

Starting in the spring of 2023, the subject made more than 25 different firearm-related purchases from online firearms vendors using an alias.

Throughout the first half of 2024, the subject made six chemical precursor-related purchases online of materials used to create the explosive devices recovered in the subject’s vehicle and home, again using aliases.

On July 3, the campaign announced its intention to hold a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and on July 6 the subject registered to attend the event.

That same day, the investigation revealed our subject used an internet search browser to query "how far away was Oswald from Kennedy."

July 7, the subject traveled from his home to the site of the rally, spent approximately 20 minutes in the area, including the area around the AGR buildings in what we believe was an early surveillance of the site before heading back home.

July 12, the day before the rally, the subject visited a local shooting range and practiced with what we believe was the same weapon used in the attack.

July 13, Day of the Attack

The following timeline of events highlights confirmed significant sightings of the subject in and around the rally site that day, established through an exhaustive review of police dash camera video and from cameras of six local area businesses.

This timeline does not take into account much of the information from known radio communications between law enforcement on the ground, as the FBI is still working to confirm the exact timeline based on that information; however, we have included some information here to help explain his movements.

We assessed the ammunition used the day of the attack was purchased legally that day. The subject bought 50 rounds at a local gun store.

The morning of July 13, the subject traveled from his home to the site of the rally at approximately 11 a.m. and spent over an hour in that area before traveling home again.

At approximately 1:30 p.m., the subject obtained the rifle from his residence and informed his parents he was heading to a nearby shooting range.

At approximately 3:45 p.m., the investigation confirmed the subject again arrived in Butler at the site of the rally.

He parked his vehicle and began flying his drone in proximity to the rally site from about 3:50 p.m. to just after 4 p.m. for approximately 11 minutes.

The investigation found this drone flight was conducted approximately 200 yards from the site of the rally by reverse engineering the metadata associated with the subject’s drone.

The ongoing analysis did not reveal any photos or video taken by the drone, as there was no memory card recovered inside the device when it and the controller were discovered in the subject’s vehicle.

The FBI is still working to determine if the subject was viewing footage on the drone’s controller and whether that may have revealed further insights that day into the security posture at the location from which he ultimately carried out his attack.

Just after approximately 4 p.m., he left the scene in his vehicle and appeared to drive throughout the area in the vicinity of the shooting for a period of time.

Shortly after approximately 5 p.m., we assess the shooter was identified by law enforcement as a suspicious person in the area of the AGR building and grounds.

A local officer took a photo of the subject and sent it to other SWAT operators on scene, as well as local command personnel.

Approximately 30 minutes later, shortly after 5:30 p.m., SWAT operators observed the subject using a range finder and browsing news websites on his phone.

The next confirmed observation is at approximately 5:56 p.m., when the subject was seen walking in the vicinity of the AGR building carrying a backpack.

At approximately 6:08 p.m., police dashcam video observed the subject walking along the roof of the business in the direction of where he ultimately fired his shots.

Our assessment is the subject climbed the HVAC and piping outside of the business, made it onto the roof, and then traversed across multiple rooftops to his ultimate shooting position.

At approximately 6:11 p.m., a local police officer was boosted onto the roof by another officer, where he encountered the subject.

The subject pointed the rifle at him, and the officer immediately drops to the ground.

After approximately 25 and 30 seconds after this encounter, the subject fired eight rounds before being successfully neutralized by a United States Secret Service counter-sniper.

After the shooting, the FBI identified eight shell casings at the scene, and we assess the subject fired eight rounds at the former president and into the crowd of attendees.

Final Remarks

While the FBI’s investigation may not have yet determined a motive, we believe the subject made significant efforts to conceal his activities.

Additionally, we believe his actions also show careful planning ahead of the campaign rally.

I want to thank the public for their assistance as we continue to carry out our investigation.

I want to thank the many law enforcement agents and officers, victims, and witnesses who have cooperated with our investigation.

We know there are still lingering questions but be assured the FBI will continue this investigation for the foreseeable future.