Gunman likely motivated by 'combination of factors,' expert says
As investigators continue to work to decipher a motive in the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, one expert said the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was likely motivated by a "combination of factors."
"What is beginning to emerge is a portrait of a troubled young person who turned to violence," said ABC News contributor John Cohen, the former head of intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security who specialized in the radicalization and the phenomenon of mass shooters.
"Investigators may never determine a single or precise motive for the attack. Likely, it was a combination of mental health issues, ideological beliefs and a sense of personal grievance -- the same combination of factors present in almost every school shooting and mass casualty attack over the past several years," Cohen said. "As with those incidents, the warning signs were there, they were just not recognized. The threat was real, but people around him did not understand what they were witnessing or how it would play out."
