Overview

• Federal and state investigators have opened new inquiries into Thomas Crooks’s potential accomplices and encrypted messaging networks
• Congressional overseers and watchdogs accuse the FBI of withholding key evidence about Crooks’s planning and online activity
• Reviews of Secret Service and local law enforcement security in Butler, Pennsylvania revealed lapses that allowed Crooks to bring a loaded weapon and scale a building undetected
• Records show Crooks used aliases and encrypted channels to stockpile over two gallons of nitromethane and make at least 25 firearms purchases before July 13
• Analysts warn the case underscores gaps in spotting mental health warning signs and the influence of online radicalization on lone-actor violence