The 20-year-old man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump left behind few clues after he opened fire at a Pennsylvania rally over the weekend.
In the wake of the shooting that killed one spectator, investigators said they are searching for anything that might have driven Thomas Matthew Crooks, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, to try to kill the former president on July 13.
The FBI said it was investigating it as a potential act of domestic terrorism, but so far, officials have not publicly disclosed a motive in the case.
State and federal records show Mr. Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania. However, federal campaign finance reports show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee, ActBlue, on Jan. 20, 2021, on the day President Biden was sworn into office.
In an FBI search of his home and vehicle, “suspicious devices found at both locations have been rendered safe by bomb technicians and are being evaluated at the FBI Laboratory,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Sunday, July 14.
The firearm, described by FBI special agent Kevin Rojek as an AR-style rifle, was purchased legally. And Mr. Crooks was not on law enforcement’s radar before Saturday’s shooting, the FBI said, while adding that the bureau believes he acted alone.
The FBI is “working to determine the sequence of events and the shooter’s movements prior to the shooting, collecting and reviewing evidence, conducting interviews, and following up on all leads,” the bureau said, adding that agents have acquired his phone for examination.
Video footage and photos taken during the shooting show Mr. Crooks was wearing a T-shirt that had the text “Demolition Ranch,” a highly popular gun-related channel on YouTube.
The host of the channel, Matt Carriker, wrote on social media that he will issue a public statement on the matter in the near future but is “still just in disbelief honestly.”
Neighbors of Mr. Crooks and a phone associated with his Pennsylvania home did not respond to multiple requests for comment via telephone. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN on Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on” and won’t speak about his son until he communicates with law enforcement officials.
Over the weekend, Mr. Rojek told reporters that the Crooks family is cooperating with the FBI’s investigation.
What Happened
Greg Smith, who attended the rally but only observed from the perimeter, told The Epoch Times that he witnessed the shooter “bear-crawling up the roof” with a rifle during the rally.“I had a direct line of sight, directly to the backside of that roof,” he said.
Mr. Smith said that he tried to alert officers nearby about the shooter. “I stood there for about one or two minutes, pointing at the guy on the roof. And the police were running around, down and around the bottom of the building,” he said.
After that, Mr. Crooks “crawled up to the peak and took about four shots. I don’t know how many shots it was exactly. That’s what we saw,” Mr. Smith said.
The gunman had been seen by rally attendees on the roof of a building outside the rally perimeter for Secret Service, and the area was being guarded by local law enforcement, Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe told The Associated Press and CBS Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Butler Township officers started a search of the area after receiving information of a suspicious person on a roof near the event, the sheriff said. As the officer began to climb onto the roof to inspect it, the gunman, who was lying prone on the roof turned and aimed his weapon at him. The officer was then forced to move back down to the ground for cover, he said.
“All I know is the officer had both hands up on the roof to get up onto the roof, [but] never made it because the shooter had turned towards the officer. And rightfully and smart-fully, the officer let go,” Mr. Slupe said.
Mr. Slupe told the AP that a local officer climbed to the roof and encountered the shooter, who saw the officer and turned toward him just before the officer dropped down to safety. The officer couldn’t have wielded his own gun under the circumstances, he said.
The chatting app Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games, said Mr. Crooks appears to have had an account but used it rarely and not in the last several months. There is no evidence he used his account to discuss his political views, a Discord spokesperson said.
It’s also not clear if Mr. Crooks had an active account with Facebook, X, YouTube, TikTok, or another social media platform.
Mr. Crooks graduated from Bethel Park High School in 2022. The school district said it is cooperating fully with investigators.
In a video of the school’s graduation ceremony posted online, Crooks can be seen crossing the stage to receive his diploma, appearing slight of build and wearing glasses.
He worked at a nursing home as a dietary aide, a job that generally involves food preparation. Marcie Grimm, the administrator of Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation, said in a statement that she was “shocked and saddened to learn of his involvement.”
Ms. Grimm added that Mr. Crooks had a clean background check when he was hired.
Several students who had attended the high school, including one who spoke with an Epoch Times reporter on Sunday, said that Mr. Crooks was bullied while he attended.
Antanas Kubilius, a former student who said he graduated in 2021, told The Epoch Times that he wasn’t in the same class but was familiar with Mr. Crooks. “All I know was that he got bullied at school” because “he was the quiet kid,” he remarked.
“He was bullied almost every day,” Jason Kohler, who had attended the same high school as the suspect, told reporters. “He was just an outcast, and you know how kids are nowadays.”
