Investigators are trying to unlock the phone of the man who shot former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The FBI reported in a statement that he took the perpetrator's phone "for examination". Officials told reporters in a conference call Sunday, as the New York Times reports, that agents in Pennsylvania were unable to get through to the phone. The device is currently being sent to the FBI's lab in Quantico, Virginia, where the FBI hopes to crack the phone's password protection, the Times reports.
Investigators are still looking for information on the motive of the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Kevin Rojek, the FBI special agent in charge in Pittsburgh, told the Times and other media that the agency has access to some of Crooks' text messages, but they do not yet know his convictions.
The brand of phone Crooks had is not yet known. Although authorities are often successful in unlocking suspects' phones, there are cases where they struggle and seek help. In 2015, Apple refused to help the FBI bypass the encryption on the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone of California, arguing that to meet the government's request, Apple would have to write custom software that would undermine the security of all iPhones.
The FBI finally managed to open the phone with the help of an Australian security company.
