BETHEL PARK, Pa.—Milford Drive in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, is usually like many other neighborhoods amid the hills of suburban Pittsburgh.
Mid-19th century middle-class homes adorned with American flags by the front doors sit along tree-lined streets. Retired couples relax on front porches and couples walk their dogs, exchanging hellos.
Tranquility in this community of 32,000 around nine miles south of Pittsburgh was abruptly interrupted hours after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was identified as the man who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, around an hour away.
Mr. Crooks lived on Milford Drive with his parents. The neighborhood is now the epicenter in the search for answers about why the he committed the act of violence from a rooftop about 150 yards from the former president. Mr. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Former President Trump suffered an injury to his right ear in the shooting, which also killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, a retired Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania, fire chief who shielded his wife and daughter from the gunfire; and injured Pennsylvania residents David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.
On July 15, less than 36 hours after the tragedy, several SUVs arrived outside the Crooks residence. Agents from the Pittsburgh FBI emerged and walked door to door around the neighborhood knocking on doors and speaking to residents.
A registered Democrat, Mr. Steele said he was stunned when he learned about the assassination attempt and even more shocked when it was disclosed that the suspect was 20 years old and lived down the street.
“This is a friendly neighborhood with many working-class families and retired people. Political views are mixed. If someone has a Trump sign and another a Biden sign, they might roll their eyes at each other, but there is no hostility,” Mr. Steele said.
Usually, the neighborhood is a peaceful place to live, Mr. Steele said as he looked a block away where the media gathered and Bethel Park police cruisers parked in front of a stop sign near the Crooks residence.
“It’s definitely not quiet today, but it’s what you would expect when someone in your neighborhood does what he did,” he said.
Dozens of media personnel from around the world encamped in yards across the street from the Crooks’ home. Multiple gazebos housing reporters and videographers from broadcast outlets were erected on well-manicured lawns.
Kelly Little, who lives across the street from the Crooks, sat on her front porch as journalists and cameramen stood in her front yard.
Ms. Little told The Epoch Times that around 11 p.m. on July 13, she was forced to evacuate her home along with other neighbors.
“They told us there was some sort of emergency. We had to leave and that it would take approximately two hours to resolve,” she said.
“They told us it was a state of emergency, no warning, just a knock on the door in the middle of the night.”
Federal and state authorities swarmed the Crooks’ home and discovered what they deemed suspicious devices, resulting in the Allegheny County Bomb Squad getting summoned.
Ms. Little and her neighbors were not permitted to return to their homes for around 24 hours.
“That was exhausting and frustrating. It was a relief when we were able to come home. It was stunning when we found out why we had to leave,” she said.
Steve Riviere lives down the street from the Crooks’ and Ms. Little. The IT professional moved to Bethel Park from Arizona in 2018 after living for years in the Western United States and Europe.
“My parents were originally from Pittsburgh, and we moved here for a change—for something different,” Mr. Riviere told The Epoch Times as he stood on Ms. Little’s porch with his dog, Rue.
“I think everybody is shocked and surprised, maybe not as surprised as we should be, but shocked this kind of thing happened,” he said. “We love this neighborhood. It’s a place where people are often out in their yards and walking up and down the steep hills getting exercise when the weather is good. This is a good place to call home. It’s surreal what is happening here right now.”
Multiple neighbors told The Epoch Times that the Crooks family is quiet and keeps to themselves.
Matthew Brian Crooks and Mary Elizabeth Crooks, the parents of Thomas Crooks, are licensed as professional counselors, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State Licensing System Verification service records.
Born Sept. 20, 2003, Thomas Matthew Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022 and received a national Math & Science Initiative Star Award.
Classmates have described Mr. Crooks as quiet, smart, and someone who didn’t seem to have many friends.
The Community College of Allegheny County confirmed that Mr. Crooks attended the school between September 2021 and May 2024, and graduated with an associate degree in engineering science.
Federal investigators have said that there is no indication that Mr. Crooks had mental health issues.
He does not have a criminal record in Pennsylvania, and there is no record of him in federal databases.
Mr. Crooks was a registered Republican, but federal campaign finance documents show that he donated $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021—the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Ms. Little told The Epoch Times that she had seen Trump signs in the Crooks’ yard.
Mr. Crooks worked as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation around a mile from his family’s house.
A nursing home spokesperson said in a statement that Mr. Crooks “performed his job without concern” and had a clean background check when he was hired.
Mr. Crooks belonged to the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, the organization confirmed.
At the July 13 rally, positioned on a building outside of the security perimeter established by the Secret Service, Mr. Crooks used a semi-automatic rifle and fired approximately eight shots from about 400 feet from the stage where former President Trump spoke, according to authorities.
The gun that was used was licensed by his father and purchased legally.
A local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and encountered Mr. Crooks, who saw the officer and turned the rifle in his direction, leading the officer to retreat down the ladder to safety, Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe said.
That is when Mr. Crooks fired his weapon and Secret Service snipers shot him.
Law enforcement arrived on Milford Drive within hours after Mr. Crooks’s identity was confirmed.
Almost 24 hours after the assassination attempt, neighbors Kathleen Andrews and Christine Snow stood in front of their houses, both of which have Trump signs displayed in the front yards.
Ms. Andrews grew up in the neighborhood and lives down the street from her childhood home with her husband and children. Her parents still reside where she was raised, a block away and near the Crooks’ house.
Several broadcast outlets initially mistakenly identified Ms. Andrews’s parents’ home as the Crooks’s residence, she told The Epoch Times.
“That was scary because you never know what could happen if someone is looking for retribution,” she said.
Ms. Andrews and Ms. Snow said they had seen the Crooks family walk in the neighborhood but said they had not spoken to them.
“I never imagined that someone who tried to assassinate President Trump would live a short walk away. It’s devastating for the community and the neighborhood, and tragic that someone was killed,” Ms. Andrews said.
Ms. Snow told The Epoch Times that “my nerves are shot and I’m sick to my stomach.”
“If President Trump had turned his head a matter of inches, this would be an even more tragic story,” she said.
